Great, profound song. To me, this hits on frequent Andy Partridge themes of despairing about human cruelty and stupidity, mixed with the ecstatic (XTC!), or perhaps manic attempt to embrace and accept humanity and the world we've made as is. We are animals, but we are rich, and you can look at the ugly side or the beautiful aspects of our nature as you choose. "Human riches I'll release" is the line I see as the attempt to integrate the beautiful with the crude ugliness that dominates these lyrics. We think we are so sophisticated, and perhaps we are, but we are also base and beastly, ready to kill, oppress and selfishly use each other as routine and even culturally accepted patterns. See "The Smartest Monkeys" - it's quite similar in tone, although written by Colin Moulding.
Great, profound song. To me, this hits on frequent Andy Partridge themes of despairing about human cruelty and stupidity, mixed with the ecstatic (XTC!), or perhaps manic attempt to embrace and accept humanity and the world we've made as is. We are animals, but we are rich, and you can look at the ugly side or the beautiful aspects of our nature as you choose. "Human riches I'll release" is the line I see as the attempt to integrate the beautiful with the crude ugliness that dominates these lyrics. We think we are so sophisticated, and perhaps we are, but we are also base and beastly, ready to kill, oppress and selfishly use each other as routine and even culturally accepted patterns. See "The Smartest Monkeys" - it's quite similar in tone, although written by Colin Moulding.