Peter Murphy said the song was about Marilyn Monroe. A particularly dark (obviously) look at her life as it was. She was Marylin on screen, she was Marylin at home and Marilyn at parties. I saw a documentary on her where a person told her not to take pills with alcohol and she said “it hasn’t killed me yet“. “ In the can” is the term for a wrapped up, finished, bit of film. Reels of film used to be stored in film canisters. A fall guy is a term often used for stuntman but also for a sucker or a scapegoat. Marilyn had many. I think this song is about Peter Murphy‘s perspective on the tragedy that Norma Jean actually became Marilyn Monroe. Perfect, but, soulless; because she was not real. It wasn’t a role in a film, it wasn’t even just her Hollywood persona. She became Marilyn and played Marylin almost all the time making it difficult to tell where the acting ended and life began.
Peter Murphy said the song was about Marilyn Monroe. A particularly dark (obviously) look at her life as it was. She was Marylin on screen, she was Marylin at home and Marilyn at parties. I saw a documentary on her where a person told her not to take pills with alcohol and she said “it hasn’t killed me yet“. “ In the can” is the term for a wrapped up, finished, bit of film. Reels of film used to be stored in film canisters. A fall guy is a term often used for stuntman but also for a sucker or a scapegoat. Marilyn had many. I think this song is about Peter Murphy‘s perspective on the tragedy that Norma Jean actually became Marilyn Monroe. Perfect, but, soulless; because she was not real. It wasn’t a role in a film, it wasn’t even just her Hollywood persona. She became Marilyn and played Marylin almost all the time making it difficult to tell where the acting ended and life began.