There's a lot of references to the legend of the Great Flood. The blackbird and dove were sent out from Noah's Ark to find dry land as the floodwaters receded. Babel is the biblical name for Babylonia, a region in Mesopotamia, which is the modern country of Iraq, and the origin of the oldest written epic poem known today, the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic includes a description of a great flood which probably inspired the account of the flood of Noah.
When this song was being recorded, the US was occupying Iraq. The war was justified partly due to allegations that Iraq was importing yellowcake uranium as a source for nuclear weapons. However, the yellowcake that Iraq did have in its possession needed a lot of refining before it could be used in nukes. And in any case, the Iraqi military abandoned warehouses full of barrels of yellowcake during the invasion. Iraqi civilians found the yellowcake and only knowing that it was something important enough to be guarded by the Army, took it from the warehouses. Several people were poisoned by it. Lighting Roman Candles on the Yellowcake is a metaphor for the triumphalism of the Bush Administration following the invasion, as the poison was unknowingly spread among innocent people. And while they were doing this, they were shaking the American public on down for money and power.
The Serengeti verse is a reference to what is called the "Serengeti Strategy" by interests allied to the Bush administration, where they would publicly attack scientists working in Climate research, to make examples of them and discredit them. The flood is all of the woes that come from this disregard for human health and welfare.
There's a lot of references to the legend of the Great Flood. The blackbird and dove were sent out from Noah's Ark to find dry land as the floodwaters receded. Babel is the biblical name for Babylonia, a region in Mesopotamia, which is the modern country of Iraq, and the origin of the oldest written epic poem known today, the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic includes a description of a great flood which probably inspired the account of the flood of Noah.
When this song was being recorded, the US was occupying Iraq. The war was justified partly due to allegations that Iraq was importing yellowcake uranium as a source for nuclear weapons. However, the yellowcake that Iraq did have in its possession needed a lot of refining before it could be used in nukes. And in any case, the Iraqi military abandoned warehouses full of barrels of yellowcake during the invasion. Iraqi civilians found the yellowcake and only knowing that it was something important enough to be guarded by the Army, took it from the warehouses. Several people were poisoned by it. Lighting Roman Candles on the Yellowcake is a metaphor for the triumphalism of the Bush Administration following the invasion, as the poison was unknowingly spread among innocent people. And while they were doing this, they were shaking the American public on down for money and power.
The Serengeti verse is a reference to what is called the "Serengeti Strategy" by interests allied to the Bush administration, where they would publicly attack scientists working in Climate research, to make examples of them and discredit them. The flood is all of the woes that come from this disregard for human health and welfare.