The Sign Of The Southern Cross Lyrics

Lyric discussion by TheMagnificentVoid 

Cover art for The Sign Of The Southern Cross lyrics by Black Sabbath

One line that EVERYONE has gotten wrong is, "given (or give a) life to those who died." It's "give a knife to those who died."

In many culture's ancient folklore, giving the gift of a knife is considered bad as it will severe the relationship between giver and recipient.

In the case of this song the line, "Give a knife to those who died." is preceded by, "Reach above your dreams of pleasure." The entire meaning of both lines together being, "live not your life through sin (a doomed or dead soul) and sever yourself from the relationships with those who have."

Oh, and by the way, the southern cross, here, is the inverted cross - the rejection of christ and his message of light and innocence (prominent in the young). Song message: Be warned and make sure you are not part of the time of the southern cross.

And no I'm not religious. But I do study up on it all (and I do mean ALL) ... and I know how to interpret lyrics. ;)

@TheMagnificentVoid Just a thought, but there could be a problem with seeing the inverted cross as a rejection of Christ. The inverted cross, traditionally, is a Christian symbol normally referred to as the Petrine Cross or the Cross of St. Peter. It's one of the more meaningful Christian emblems signifying Peter's rejection to even be executed in the way Christ was preferring to be crucified upside down i.e. "I am not even worthy to be executed like Christ".

One can argue that the author didn't know this to be the case, but from what I've read, the...

@TheMagnificentVoid I'm inclined to agree with you regarding the knife. But I'm not sure the southern cross IS a religious symbol.

I've come back to this song after doing much research on the happenings in Laurel Canyon in the 60's and 70's (Manson-Tate murders-Bands of non-musicians hitting super stardom weeks after forming-Jim Morrison son of Real Admiral Morrison, fleet commander during Gulf of Tonkin-etc.) Th Byrds, the first band out of the weird Laurel Canyon factory, had their first hit song "Eight Miles High". I'd always wondered where that came from, even though I'm 50 now, I was unfamiliar with...

@TheMagnificentVoid I'm inclined to agree with you regarding the knife. But I'm not sure the southern cross IS a religious symbol.

I've come back to this song after doing much research on the happenings in Laurel Canyon in the 60's and 70's (Manson-Tate murders-Bands of non-musicians hitting super stardom weeks after forming-Jim Morrison son of Real Admiral Morrison, fleet commander during Gulf of Tonkin-etc.) Th Byrds, the first band out of the weird Laurel Canyon factory, had their first hit song "Eight Miles High". I'd always wondered where that came from, even though I'm 50 now, I was unfamiliar with...