Heartland

Well, you probably have noticed that we - me and Manuel from Fawlty Towers are not particularly good in English. But we do our best. Recently, surfing in eBay, I found that item:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Merciful-Release- ... dZViewItem

And now we (me and Manuel) want to know - is it a common knowledge that Merciful Release is an euphemism of 'euthanasia'? Are we 2 the only ones who didn't know it?
I feel quite stupid - all those years, being a Sisters fan and enjoying Eldritch kind of humour I have missed that joke

qué?

It might also mean that Von had just done a much-needed dump.

Possibly an amalgamation of assisted death and little death? I always saw it as a sexual euphemism.

so this is a well-known expression, meaning euthanasia? (now i see that it's not a rocket science to understand it )

The phrase certainly pre-dates the Sisters, and is generally used to mean "a welcome death".

Not well known, but easily deduced, I guess.

I'd never contemplated/realised it, to be honest, Indrek.

i'm confused

Bartoszek wrote:i'm confused

Get up, come on get down with the sickness .....

9while9 wrote:

Bartoszek wrote:i'm confused

Get up, come on get down with the sickness .....

Disturbed ?

Bartoszek wrote:

9while9 wrote:

Bartoszek wrote:i'm confused

Get up, come on get down with the sickness .....

Disturbed ?

We all are............

Evrything should be merciful. So why not releases?

Motz wrote:Possibly an amalgamation of assisted death and little death? I always saw it as a sexual euphemism.

In my mind it's always had the sexual meaning, just punning on release of a record.

Ozpat wrote:Evrything should be merciful. So why not releases?

Perhaps it's a bit of a joke because they've released nowt for the last couple of decades?

Obviousman wrote:

Ozpat wrote:Evrything should be merciful. So why not releases?

Perhaps it's a bit of a joke because they've released nowt for the last couple of decades?

You mean knew right away how the whole thing would turn out

Well maybe not Von, but the Dok certainly did. After all He is God.

TBH the meaning of the the name has never been a concern of mine. It's a label, they "release" records, and it's the Sisters'. Plus it leaves the door open to speculation, which is always a bonus. I guess it's all there is to it. Call me shallow.

The fact that Von constantly complains about the fans' inability to understand the subtlety of the lyrics doesn't mean that everything must have some secret, hidden meaning.

lazarus corporation wrote:The phrase certainly pre-dates the Sisters, and is generally used to mean "a welcome death".

Paul got it right.

Badlander wrote:The fact that Von constantly complains about the fans' inability to understand the subtlety of the lyrics doesn't mean that everything must have some secret, hidden meaning.

"Merciful Release" is just another term for euthanasia. The last word of the band name is "Mercy", so the two just go together.

Honestly, kids.. looking for hidden meaning everywhere..

See if you can tell why our label's called ThornCult then..
f**ked if I can remember why I named it that..

James Blast wrote:

lazarus corporation wrote:The phrase certainly pre-dates the Sisters, and is generally used to mean "a welcome death".

Paul got it right.

Yep that's what I've always assumed it to mean.

Is this not really more for Sisters chat, or one of the many dictionaries of English idioms that can be found on t'internet?

I never thought about it.

But I see now. Merciful release, euthanisia, yes. Could just the fact they wanted to link the label to the band and thought, sisters of mercy do things mercifully, so releasing records would be done like that. Add a hint of irony because the music is hardly calm and gentleness that mercy would imply.

Euthanisia wasn't a prevelant in the early 80s as it is these days. I'll stick with my 'a happy death'.
I could go further... I will.

I watched a friend die of lung cancer and I was glad when she expired because in the last week she was no longer a 'human being'. Drugged to the hilt and existing in some nether world.
When she finally croaked, I was so upset yet happy for her.

A Merciful Release

The following is from 'Melody Maker', January 1983, p20.

Do you advocate self-destruction?

Andy: "Under certain circumstances, yes. Nietzsche once said that a man's greatest power is the power to decide the time of his own death, and that seems perfectly reasonable. I wouldn't hold that suicide is necessarily a symptom of unsoundness of mind, or being not in possession of all one's faculties."

Gary: "Which is one of the connotations of the name of the group. It was picked because it had several strong images, not just one."

"The name's nice and ironic," said Andy with a thin grin, "very corporate. A nice 50-50 balance between nuns and prostitution, which seemed like a very suitable metaphor for a rock band. All this pseudo-faith business and high ritual, and yet - prostitution."

And Mericful Release?

"Suitably pompous," chortled Gary.

"Vincet Price delivered the line very well once," said Andy. "And it's a nicely self-deprecating way of releasing stuff. When you make a Merciful Release it's like, 'Well, that's out of the way, the agony is now over.'"

Motz wrote:I'd never contemplated/realised it, to be honest, Indrek.

Ditto. Don't worry, Indrek, you're in good company.

Francis wrote:

Motz wrote:I'd never contemplated/realised it, to be honest, Indrek.

Ditto. Don't worry, Indrek, you're in good company.

If even a man who saw the first moves of the baby band in all those green rooms says it... oooh, I feel much better Thank you.

I never considered the Sisters to be a thinking man's band.