It’s another song on the album telling us the end is near, but in this case it’s not talking about nuclear war but environmental apocalypse. The sentinels mentioned are a number of species highly vulnerable to environmental changes. Tokyo kitty for example refers to the so called dancing cats fever in Japan, which was the first symptom of mercury poisoned fishes. Swallows, roses and canaries are also sentinel species. Calling out various groups of people in the refrain is clearly a message that when the disaster strikes, it will affect everyone and even the so called higher classes will break too.
It’s another song on the album telling us the end is near, but in this case it’s not talking about nuclear war but environmental apocalypse. The sentinels mentioned are a number of species highly vulnerable to environmental changes. Tokyo kitty for example refers to the so called dancing cats fever in Japan, which was the first symptom of mercury poisoned fishes. Swallows, roses and canaries are also sentinel species. Calling out various groups of people in the refrain is clearly a message that when the disaster strikes, it will affect everyone and even the so called higher classes will break too.