Come Together - Eldritch Finds God!

Got any interesting thoughts on a set of lyrics? Any that don't involve the word "indeed"? Find yourself struggling to decipher all those obtuse references Von makes? Read "1959 And All That" and still no clearer? Nope, us neither. Postcards found lying in a skip around the back of the Chemists can be found here... Don't say you weren't warned.
Post Reply
User avatar
Erudite
Slight Overbomber
Posts: 1952
Joined: 24 Apr 2002, 01:00
Location: Lost In Space

In the course of one of my many researches, I recently stumbled across
this:

Isaiah 1:18 (King James Authorised Version)

'Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.'

Obvious connection to the line 'Though your fins be scarlet'.

The scarlet in question is related to prostitution, presumably another
pun on sister of mercy.

The above Biblical quote also forms the chorus of Original Trinity Hymnal # 465:

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/t/h/thoyours.htm

Funky stuff! :wink:
You are what you drink - I'm a bitter man!
User avatar
markfiend
goriller of form 3b
Posts: 21181
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 10:55
Location: st custards
Contact:

The Devil can cite scripture in his own defence ;)
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
User avatar
simond666
Road Kill
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Jun 2005, 12:40
Location: Scotland

Does anyone have the lyrics to 'Crash and Burn' figured out?
*sig*
User avatar
mugabe
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 682
Joined: 28 Sep 2003, 13:31
Location: Avesta
Contact:

simond666 wrote:Does anyone have the lyrics to 'Crash and Burn' figured out?
Check the thread "Crash & Burn".
Nothing ventured, nothing lost
User avatar
simond666
Road Kill
Posts: 14
Joined: 23 Jun 2005, 12:40
Location: Scotland

I meant 'Come Together' (ouch) It was a long day when I posted... If anybody tells me there already is a Come Together thread, I think I'll top myself! I've looked I tell thee!
*sig*
User avatar
mugabe
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 682
Joined: 28 Sep 2003, 13:31
Location: Avesta
Contact:

It would seem not, so feel free to do it. Here are some lines to get you going:

Some wild idea and I head back home
Swing low, sweet Jesus
Come to carry me
Carry me home
Swing low
Carry me home
Nothing ventured, nothing lost
User avatar
robertzombie
Overbomber
Posts: 4382
Joined: 05 Sep 2005, 12:49
Location: London

what the hell does 'Though your fins be scarlet' mean :?:

Sometimes I hear 'Through your fins sweet scarlet' but that doesn't make sense either :?
aims
Overbomber
Posts: 3211
Joined: 27 Mar 2005, 13:16
Location: in between

l always heard it as sins.

The transcriptions for this song are quite possibly the dodgiest except for Still and it's been around for 13 years now :urff:
User avatar
robertzombie
Overbomber
Posts: 4382
Joined: 05 Sep 2005, 12:49
Location: London

and it's my favourite "new" song :(
User avatar
mh
Above the Chemist
Posts: 8123
Joined: 23 Jun 2003, 14:41
Location: A city built on rock 'n' roll

Little child look up at the sky
A white wedding dress and a black maria
Some wild idea and I head back home
Swing low, sweet Jesus
Come to carry me
Carry me home
Swing low
Carry me home

Come together, home
Come together, home
Interesting pun. "Come Together"/"come to get her"

From here it gets dodgy, but "Though your fins be scarlet" sounds absolutely bang on (wish I'd discovered this thread before!)
Carrion/Carry on/Carrying (????) angel
No one can (hold??? haunt???) you down
Though your fins, though your fins be scarlet

Come together, home
Come together, home

Various whispery bits:
"khhhahhhhhhhh....!" etc

Though your fins, though your fins be scarlet

Come together, home
Come together, home
If I told them once, I told them a hundred times to put 'Spinal Tap' first and 'Puppet Show' last.
User avatar
mandrake
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 265
Joined: 27 Feb 2006, 20:07
Contact:

According to the dictionary 'fins" can also mean : "The cardinal number that is the sum of four and one" And if you look up "Cardinal" you get; "A variable color averaging a vivid red" or (Roman Catholic Church) one of a group of more than 100 prominent bishops in the Sacred College who advise the Pope and elect new Popes. Still makes no sense, but great tune indeed, one of my faves..just wish I had a cd single of it ;>
User avatar
robertzombie
Overbomber
Posts: 4382
Joined: 05 Sep 2005, 12:49
Location: London

Anyone know what he says in the first verse?
aims
Overbomber
Posts: 3211
Joined: 27 Mar 2005, 13:16
Location: in between

Approx:
A little child and a [cold missile]/[friendly smile]
I wipe her face, I dry her eyes
Some vile idea and head back home
To no sweet Jesus come to carry me home
Come to carry you home
User avatar
robertzombie
Overbomber
Posts: 4382
Joined: 05 Sep 2005, 12:49
Location: London

Motz wrote:Approx:
A little child and a [cold missile]/[friendly smile]
I wipe her face, I dry her eyes
Sounds about right.
Motz wrote:Approx:
A little child and a [cold missile]/[friendly smile]
Some vile idea and head back home
To no sweet Jesus come to carry me home
Come to carry you home
I'm pretty sure its:
Some wild idea and I head back home,
Swing low, sweet Jesus...
aims
Overbomber
Posts: 3211
Joined: 27 Mar 2005, 13:16
Location: in between

Swing low sounds better, but I still think that the idea is "vile". Seems like a commentary on child abuse to me.

A little child and a friendly smile
I wipe her face, dry her eyes
Some vile idea, I head back home
Swing low, sweet Jesus...


Note the parallel to the Mish's "Amelia"

Daddy says "Dry your tears and give me a smile"
Daddy says "If you're good, I'll hold you a while"


Which incidentally is my favourite of Hussey's lyrical endeavours. When he cuts the pithy mystical crap, he can write damn fine songs 8)

The "swing low, sweet Jesus" and "though your sins be Scarlet" seem to be regarding an "Oh sh!t, what have I done?" moment. Probably not a perfect interpretation, but certainly not one which requires major leaps of logic.
User avatar
mugabe
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 682
Joined: 28 Sep 2003, 13:31
Location: Avesta
Contact:

I believe there are more parallels to "Driven like the Snow" than to "Amelia".
Nothing ventured, nothing lost
centurionofprix
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 538
Joined: 25 Jun 2010, 18:44
Location: Finland

I'll be damned. From UTR.

'"Come Together" is a new song. Words and music by Andrew Eldritch. It's about taking acid and "merging" with the traffic on the freeway. "Though your fins be scarlet..."'

http://www.myheartland.co.uk/gallery/de ... ode=search

I guess the statement of its being "about" something on a basic level still doesn't decipher what it's saying about/through it, though.

Isn't War On Drugs about the same thing, more or less?
paint it black
Black, black, black & even blacker
Posts: 4966
Joined: 11 Jul 2002, 01:00

I think you've linked the wrong page?

Anyway, for what it's worth, there is a chapter in 'fear and loathing' which seemed to me to fit the song very well. even to the specific wording, but it was a longtime ago now..
Goths have feelings too
centurionofprix
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 538
Joined: 25 Jun 2010, 18:44
Location: Finland

It seems to go to the right place (Correspondence Thing, UTR #11, page 8), for my browser anyway - the short comment about Come Together is on the top left, Andrew answering a question from the previous page about whether this was a new Sisters song or a Beatles cover.

It's some direction for interpreting the song, at least. I thought scarlet fins/sins was used in the sense of the crossword clue for kingfish, and some symbolism related to the animal. Now it's a proper Sisters lyric.
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15271
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

It's a very sweet and lovely song ... compared to facts that could emerge ... Eldritch in dreaming mode ... :wink: ...
User avatar
FMAMMY
Road Kill
Posts: 75
Joined: 06 Nov 2006, 09:31
Location: Söderhamn, Sweden
Contact:

I've listened to some different videos now and I hear these lines:

A little child and a cold Messiah (not Missile)
Lower your fence (not "Though your fins")

what do you think?
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15271
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

Sounds very reasonable ... :) ... I've put these as alternatives into the SistersWiki ... :) ...
User avatar
sultan2075
Overbomber
Posts: 2379
Joined: 04 Mar 2005, 19:17
Location: Washington, D. C.
Contact:

This is one of those songs that I know will likely never find its way back into the setlist, even though I really wish it would.
--
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside.
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15271
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

sultan2075 wrote: 20 Apr 2023, 12:09 This is one of those songs that I know will likely never find its way back into the setlist, even though I really wish it would.
True, though hey, it wouldn't look too bad among the current new songs ... :wink: ...
User avatar
sultan2075
Overbomber
Posts: 2379
Joined: 04 Mar 2005, 19:17
Location: Washington, D. C.
Contact:

I agree, it would fit quite nicely, actually.
--
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside.
Post Reply