Heartland

I was asked this question about half an hour ago.
My take.
Given that it's on VT:
It could be the narrative of a soldier who has been killed in a missile/rpg attack or by "friendly fire" on his way to the afterlife and remembering his sweetheart who, if you take some of the lyrics literally, had lovers all over the place while the soldier was serving overseas, that was "wearing her ribbons" (the yellow ribbon being supposedly worn by wives/ partners waiting to welcome home their soldier sweethearts.)
My guess is the "teachings" are things he's told her before his deployment (that he prolly didn't really understand either).
The flowers are likely on the razor wire at a military post or installation and the red is either blood or for a "scarlet woman"
As for "walk on air", those lines are sung with an almost desperate tone. Almost as if he's not entirely sure he's dead or dreaming & pleading for her to join him floating toward the sky.


Romantic huh?

I definitely like that read, especially taking it as

I tried to tell her
'bout Marx' and Engels' guardian angels ...

realistic rather than romantic, I'd say ...

Lovely, isn't it ... ...

http://www.mod.gov.il/pages/heritage/Ca ... ibbons.asp

I always thought that this song was sung from the perspective of a serial killer (Peter Sutcliffe??)

Flowers on the razor wire / Ribbons - torn flesh

I tried to tell her about Marx and Engels, God and Angels - Peter Sutcliffe was trying to "save" Prostitutes

Her lovers queued up in the hallway - reference to her being a prostitute

Incoming - the knife (murder weapon?) going into her flesh

Her eyes were cobalt red - blood shot

Her lips were cobalt blue - lips are blue when you're dead

We are few and far between - there's not many serial killers



Overall story of the song - he's luring another victim in to die... Incoming is her death...

Curious take

Welcome to the forum

Hello and welcome!

Your first post is that... should we be worried?

Hard stuff, Soopra ... ... though not too far fetched ... ...

Welcome here, anyway! ... ...

Let's all hope for consensual violence...

It occurred to me recently that it might not (just) be about a woman, but rather about a bomb. Maybe "the" bomb? The 1959 wiki links cobalt to a proposed cobalt bomb.
But that might just be because I don't want my more or less favourite Sisters song to be yet another treatise on murdering women.

(I just hope the hallway in this song is a different kind than the one in Flood II. Because... ew?)

Edit: are there any military traditions of putting ribbons on, say, warships or the like? What requires cobalt blue and makes a loud noise?

Edit 2: Ooooh, look what I found, another possible drugs/no drugs link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ribbon_Week

Edit 3: because I couldn't just stop googling things to try to unravel the mystery: cobalt chloride is blue when dry and purplish-red when wet, and therefore used as a humidity indicator. It's harmful to living organisms.

Then, if the song is in any way connected to the War On Drugs: cobalt is used to test for cocaine, also because of its colour changing properties.

Then there are some drugs which turn users' mouths blue (I only got so far googling it because TSoM lyrics have already made me look up so many things that have probably put me on several watchlists), and I presume drug abuse will give people bloodshot eyes.

Being645 wrote:Hard stuff, Soopra ... ... though not too far fetched ... ...

Welcome here, anyway! ... ...

thank you

Pista wrote:Curious take

Welcome to the forum

thank you

markfiend wrote:Hello and welcome!

Your first post is that... should we be worried?

probably

Soopra wrote:

markfiend wrote:Hello and welcome!

Your first post is that... should we be worried?

probably

Me likey

If the murder angle wasn't clear enough;

http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/sisters-interview.html
"I tried to tell her about Marx and Engels, God and angels/I don't really know what for/But she looked good in ribbons." - Sisters Of Mercy, "Ribbons" Read that *sliced* to ribbons. Cruel and absurd. Must be Andrew Eldritch.

"I love that line. Great line, isn't it?" The tiny man smiles, dead-tired skin streched parchmentlike around his mouth, eyes that look a million years old nervously darting about the room. Another drag off an endless procession of cigarettes, and he'll probably collapse into his own emaciated flesh.

"It's so rational, but undeniably psychotic," he furthers. "I can see a better-read Norman Bates thinking to himself before he flings open the shower curtain: *I've tried, I've really tried, but she'll just never get the point.* And then everything turns red. Delicious, utterly delicious. Who else could sing that and make it work?"

Dressed in black and steeped in an even darker humor, Andrew Eldritch, the brains, guts and soul behind eminent gothsters Sisters Of Mercy, really might pepper his bedroom talk with the Marxist approach to Bach or a heady discussion of Vienesse fin de diecle literature. A true eccentric.

"I don't think you can separate violence and intelligence from sensuality," he declares. "They're all wrapped up in the same whole. That, to me, is a very 20th-century notion, a very post-modernist attitude. For me, at least, sex has got to have an element of violence in there to be truly great."

I don't think that excludes the cobalt stuff from alluding to the bomb, or many splintered thing from alluding to Chinese Communists, tho.

centurionofprix wrote:If the murder angle wasn't clear enough;

http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Text/sisters-interview.html
"I tried to tell her about Marx and Engels, God and angels/I don't really know what for/But she looked good in ribbons." - Sisters Of Mercy, "Ribbons" Read that *sliced* to ribbons. Cruel and absurd. Must be Andrew Eldritch.

"I love that line. Great line, isn't it?" The tiny man smiles, dead-tired skin streched parchmentlike around his mouth, eyes that look a million years old nervously darting about the room. Another drag off an endless procession of cigarettes, and he'll probably collapse into his own emaciated flesh.

"It's so rational, but undeniably psychotic," he furthers. "I can see a better-read Norman Bates thinking to himself before he flings open the shower curtain: *I've tried, I've really tried, but she'll just never get the point.* And then everything turns red. Delicious, utterly delicious. Who else could sing that and make it work?"

Dressed in black and steeped in an even darker humor, Andrew Eldritch, the brains, guts and soul behind eminent gothsters Sisters Of Mercy, really might pepper his bedroom talk with the Marxist approach to Bach or a heady discussion of Vienesse fin de diecle literature. A true eccentric.

"I don't think you can separate violence and intelligence from sensuality," he declares. "They're all wrapped up in the same whole. That, to me, is a very 20th-century notion, a very post-modernist attitude. For me, at least, sex has got to have an element of violence in there to be truly great."

I don't think that excludes the cobalt stuff from alluding to the bomb, or many splintered thing from alluding to Chinese Communists, tho.

Oh hell, thanks for the reminder ... above all it reminds me of the fact that to-date humanity has obviously no idea what to do with themselves apart from squeezing each others blood though money and love. And who would ever step beyond? No matter, they won't get far.

Von wrote: "I don't think you can separate violence and intelligence from sensuality," he declares. "They're all wrapped up in the same whole. That, to me, is a very 20th-century notion, a very post-modernist attitude. For me, at least, sex has got to have an element of violence in there to be truly great."

Just an S&M thing or something more disturbing?

stufarq wrote:

Von wrote: "I don't think you can separate violence and intelligence from sensuality," he declares. "They're all wrapped up in the same whole. That, to me, is a very 20th-century notion, a very post-modernist attitude. For me, at least, sex has got to have an element of violence in there to be truly great."

Just an S&M thing or something more disturbing?

We shall never know... (unless, of course, someone who's had sex with him were to disclose anything, which would probably be considered pretty rude.)

The actual reason for my post, though: I'm SUCH a numpty. Red ribbon = AIDS. Another possible point of reference...
(I am seriously amazed that I didn't make that connection any sooner. After all, I reside in the city that holds the Life Ball every year /faceplam)

rien wrote:

stufarq wrote:

Von wrote: "I don't think you can separate violence and intelligence from sensuality," he declares. "They're all wrapped up in the same whole. That, to me, is a very 20th-century notion, a very post-modernist attitude. For me, at least, sex has got to have an element of violence in there to be truly great."

Just an S&M thing or something more disturbing?

We shall never know... (unless, of course, someone who's had sex with him were to disclose anything, which would probably be considered pretty rude.)

The actual reason for my post, though: I'm SUCH a numpty. Red ribbon = AIDS. Another possible point of reference...
(I am seriously amazed that I didn't make that connection any sooner. After all, I reside in the city that holds the Life Ball every year /faceplam)

VT was released in 1990. AIDS red ribbon wasn't created till 1991.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_ribbon ... ess_origin

stufarq wrote:

rien wrote: The actual reason for my post, though: I'm SUCH a numpty. Red ribbon = AIDS. Another possible point of reference...
(I am seriously amazed that I didn't make that connection any sooner. After all, I reside in the city that holds the Life Ball every year /faceplam)

VT was released in 1990. AIDS red ribbon wasn't created till 1991.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_ribbon ... ess_origin

Ah. It crossed my mind that it may not work with the dates after I posted it, but I didn't follow that up. Thanks for the clarification!

rien wrote:

stufarq wrote:

rien wrote: The actual reason for my post, though: I'm SUCH a numpty. Red ribbon = AIDS. Another possible point of reference...
(I am seriously amazed that I didn't make that connection any sooner. After all, I reside in the city that holds the Life Ball every year /faceplam)

VT was released in 1990. AIDS red ribbon wasn't created till 1991.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_ribbon ... ess_origin

Ah. It crossed my mind that it may not work with the dates after I posted it, but I didn't follow that up. Thanks for the clarification!

Interesting. That's new to me too! I thought it was older.

Good, you checked it, stufarq ... ...

Wouldn't have known for sure without checking, but my memory was that AIDS awareness was only just beginning around then, so it sounded a bit early.

red ribbons have something to do with gypsies and revenge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarkia_concinna ... ...

I always thought the red ribbon was an obscure reference to this - or at least to the yellow ribbon practice in general.

markfiend wrote:I always thought the red ribbon was an obscure reference to this - or at least to the yellow ribbon practice in general.

Yes. That seems most likely to me as well. Also considering they made Crash And Burn decades later ... ...

markfiend wrote:I always thought the red ribbon was an obscure reference to this - or at least to the yellow ribbon practice in general.

Yeah, me too.