XTC – The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead

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  Song Meaning:One final comment I forgot to add. The "died grinning on live TV" cannot refer to Jesus, again, because no TV existed. EvolutionBeanFeast has the best explanation on this song. Props. My other favorite XTC song is "Senses Working Overtime".

  Flag ortzmanon December 27, 2012   Link

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  Song Meaning:It's not about Jesus because the Vatican, which is a Catholic institution, did not exist in Jesus' time. Also, the "nailed to a chunk of wood" refers to crucifixion obviously, but Jesus was not the only one crucified. St. Peter was crucified also (upside down in fact) and crucifixion was a regular way of putting to death criminals. I also don't think that the band XTC or its members are particularly fond of religion (see the lyrics to "Dear God"), so they certainly wouldn't be singing a song that makes Jesus look good. The disdain towards organized religion or anything that remotely has to do with it seems to be a common core amongst these band members and the songs they sing. Besides, it's a British band. If anything, they're Anglican and don't particularly like the Catholic church anyway, hence the lyrics of this song. Not sure about the JFK angle. I'll have to see the video.

  Flag ortzmanon December 27, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:It's clearly about JFK if you watch the video, they couldn't have been more obvious.

  Flag soundhunteron November 21, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:One also has to deal with the fact that the song's turning point (and the video's) is on the line :
  
  "Peter merely said
  Any kind of love is alright"
  
  ... which doesn't exactly bring JFK to mind.
  And does to me bring Jesus to mind, but maybe 50% of his followers would dispute that.
  
  Which returns me to EBF's insightful line: "[he] advocates a more tolerant, progressive, and inclusive society."

  Flag bearealmanon November 03, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I was just now watching the video (for the first time in many years) and among its many style elements it uses a lot of JFK-related images, so I'm clear that Partridge and XTC didn't shy away from associating the song with JFK. But it does shy away from being *ABOUT* JFK. Much as people hear seem to want to "figure this one out" and be done with it, if XTC wanted it to be about Jesus or JFK or JFK's Jesus-like qualities, they would have written a different song than this. The distinction to make is between using familiar (forgive this fancy word) iconographies to draw peoples' attention, and the bigger points made. I think "EvolutionBeanFeast" (the first post here) put it best: "In fact, he is no-one in particular. Rather, he is a generic figurehead who advocates a more tolerant, progressive, and inclusive society. The unfortunate truth is that there have been a great many such individuals throughout history who have had their efforts for good stymied through various means - some of them fatal. "

  Flag bearealmanon November 03, 2011   Link

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  My Opinion:It is obvious he is talking about John F. Kennedy. If some of you may already know Kennedy had the nickname of Peter Pumpkin Head because his head was a little large since he was a kid. And not only that, what other person had the balls to confront the vatican about its mistakes? He made too many enemies, so they killed him. Thats my opinion. Check and you'll see I'm right.

  Flag youb6ib9on May 27, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:The Kennedy angle seems to stem largely from the XTC video, which are not usually good indicators for song lyrics or meanings; but which people have taken literally.
  
  This song to me is about Jesus, placed in a modern setting, as well as the general intolerance of society towards people who want to make life and the world a better place.

  Flag Webnikon August 21, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Even as a kid I figured this one out. Why are people having such a hard time with this?

  Flag slagoniaon January 25, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:An xtc newsletter quotes Andy describing this carved Jack-o-Lantern that sat on a fencepost somewhere between his house and the "back shed" where he recorded. He observed it decaying day after day and had a thought to put it in a song.
  
  Further meanings have been covered well, though. XTC songs are never very vague in message or story. They tend to say exactly what they're about, and it's often something simple but passionate, like love, lust, hate, or compassion.
  
  go Andy!
  -phase

  Flag warmPhaseon July 27, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:lord_lacolith is correct, Peter Pumkin is in fact a carved out Hallowe'en pumpkin, although he may be interpreted as a kind of everyman for any figure in history who died trying to do good, but "made too many enemies of the people who would keep us on our knees". There are references to both Jesus and JFK ("emptied churches and shopping malls", and "plots and sex scandals failed outright" respectively, for example), but to view the song as being about any single figure is a rather narrow interpretation, and I doubt Andy Partridge (like many other great songwriters) would ever write anything so specific.

  Flag whapcapnon June 01, 2006   Link

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