I listened to this song tonight for the first time in many years, and realised just how great it is! On looking at the lyrics at first, and knowing that Siouxsie was very much a figure of the early UK punk movement, rebelling against suburban conformity, my feeling was that there was an element of a war between the generations about them, the voices and laughter the child hears presumably belonging to its parents or other adults. Contrasted with the helplessness of the child, these adults seem to be shown in a sinister light. Reading other folks' interpretations enlightened me as to the religious aspect. I recognise the part about throwing the parents down the stairs for not saying their prayers from a nursery rhyme my mother used to read me when I was small, Goosey Goosey Gander. Apparently this rhyme was associated with the propaganda campaign against the catholic church in the time of King Henry the Eighth.
Putting all of the above together, my own guess would be that this lyric has to do with the older generation selling religion to the child while simultaneously and hypocritically failing to live by the tenets of their faith.
I listened to this song tonight for the first time in many years, and realised just how great it is! On looking at the lyrics at first, and knowing that Siouxsie was very much a figure of the early UK punk movement, rebelling against suburban conformity, my feeling was that there was an element of a war between the generations about them, the voices and laughter the child hears presumably belonging to its parents or other adults. Contrasted with the helplessness of the child, these adults seem to be shown in a sinister light. Reading other folks' interpretations enlightened me as to the religious aspect. I recognise the part about throwing the parents down the stairs for not saying their prayers from a nursery rhyme my mother used to read me when I was small, Goosey Goosey Gander. Apparently this rhyme was associated with the propaganda campaign against the catholic church in the time of King Henry the Eighth.
Putting all of the above together, my own guess would be that this lyric has to do with the older generation selling religion to the child while simultaneously and hypocritically failing to live by the tenets of their faith.
Excellent commentary on a disturbing song.
Excellent commentary on a disturbing song.
(The Minstrel Boy to the war has gone in the ranks of death you'll find him...)
(The Minstrel Boy to the war has gone in the ranks of death you'll find him...)
@TheMinstrelBoy Thank you NomadMonad!
@TheMinstrelBoy Thank you NomadMonad!