Some thoughts on two stanzas from Vision Thing.

[nick the stripper]

it’s a small world and it smells bad
I’d buy another if I had
back what I paid
for another motherfucker in a motorcade

Here Von is speaking of the greatest con in the book: religion. As Nietzsche said, religion is nihilism; denying meaning in this life, through a focus on the afterlife and its supposed rewards. For those the world has treated with cruelty, religion holds great promises. The ‘motherfucker in a motorcade’ is referring to, I believe, the pope; who makes his money off people’s hungering for something more.

what do we need to make our world come alive?
what does it take to make us sing?
while we’re waiting for the next one to arrive?
one million points of light
one billion dollar vision thing

This stanza comes off as mocking the ‘one billion dollar vision thing’ known as organised religion. ‘What do we need to make our world come alive/what does it take to make us sing?’ (by ‘sing’ I assume he means ‘to celebrate life’) is the cries of nihilists, those who have given up on this life, searching and hungering for something more. And ‘one million points of light/one billion dollar vision thing’ is that something more they have been searching for, offered up on a plate by the con for merely a dollar ninety-five.

[Quiff Boy]

its more a dig at american politics than religion

it’s a small world and it smells bad
I’d buy another if I had
back what I paid
for another motherfucker in a motorcade

Here Von is speaking of the greatest con in the book: religion. As Nietzsche said, religion is nihilism; denying meaning in this life, through a focus on the afterlife and its supposed rewards. For those the world has treated with cruelty, religion holds great promises. The ‘motherfucker in a motorcade’ is referring to, I believe, the pope; who makes his money off people’s hungering for something more.

i disagree.

in its bluntest terms, he's suggesting that he sanctioned and paid for the john f. kennedy assassination (allusions to the main character in the rolling stones' "sympathy for the devil" here?), presumably in the hope of being able to "buy" a better world (better only for him, one assumes. not better for everyone else!)

and it sounds like he is unhappy with the resulting "world", ie: "its a small world and it smells bad".

he's saying if he got back he paid for the kennedy assassination job, he would this time use the money to buy another world.

what do we need to make our world come alive?
what does it take to make us sing?
while we’re waiting for the next one to arrive?
one million points of light
one billion dollar vision thing

This stanza comes off as mocking the ‘one billion dollar vision thing’ known as organised religion.

nope. politics again. see george bush snr's "vision thing"

http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/q ... sionthing/

‘What do we need to make our world come alive/what does it take to make us sing?’ (by ‘sing’ I assume he means ‘to celebrate life’) is the cries of nihilists, those who have given up on this life, searching and hungering for something more.

yep. he's asking what it takes to get people of their arses and out of the selfishness and apathy they have descended into

And ‘one million points of light/one billion dollar vision thing’ is that something more they have been searching for, offered up on a plate by the con for merely a dollar ninety-five.

i disagree again. i read it as von suggesting that such is the general selfishness and apathy of americans (or von's view of them anyway), their only get excited by OTT american defence projects



well, thats my take on it anyway

[markfiend]

I always read "another motherf-ucker in a motorcade" as a reference to JFK -- who was, after all, assassinated in a motorcade; Eldritch is perhaps calling for the assasination of George Bush the First here.

Isn't the "vision thing" line from a Bush1 speech too?

Edit: Bah. QB beat me to it.

[paint it black]

Before the thread becomes ‘contaminated’ by puerile foolishness

‘The phrase “a thousand points of light,� written for Bush by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, was used on various occasions during the 1988 presidential campaign. The words are not original, echoing similar phrases by Charles Dickens and Thomas Wolfe, among others. As president, Bush initiated a “Points of Light� reform program in June 1989.’

It’s a small world is of course a sick-inducing Disney song

Personally, i'd like to I'd like to build the world a home

[nick the stripper]

I figured everyone already knew of the political undertones to the song, and we all know Sisters songs can have more than one meaning, so I figured that it could quite possibly have some religious undertones too while I was listening to the song and reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". *shrugs* I guess not though.

[Dan]

in its bluntest terms, he's suggesting that he sanctioned and paid for the john f. kennedy assassination

Good job he's got such a great alibi (what with only being 4 years old at the time), people have been arrested for saying less.

[James Blast]

I figured everyone already knew of the political undertones to the song, and we all know Sisters songs can have more than one meaning, so I figured that it could quite possibly have some religious undertones too while I was listening to the song and reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". *shrugs* I guess not though.

Pretentious, moi?

[Pat]

Here was me thinking he was just trying to come up with some catchy choruses ,so he could sell a few records.Seem to have missed the point,haven't I ?

[nick the stripper]

I figured everyone already knew of the political undertones to the song, and we all know Sisters songs can have more than one meaning, so I figured that it could quite possibly have some religious undertones too while I was listening to the song and reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". *shrugs* I guess not though.

Pretentious, moi?

What did you expect? I'm European.