1
On Jubilee Street there was a girl named Bee
She had a history, but she had no past
When they shut her down the Russians moved in
I am too scared, I'm too scared to even walk on past
She used to say
All those good people down on Jubilee Street
They ought to practice what they preach
Here they are to practice just what they preach
Those good people on Jubilee Street
And here I come up the hill
I'm pushing my wheel of love
I got love in my tummy and a tiny little pain
And a ten ton catastrophe on a sixty pound chain
And I'm pushing my wheel of love on Jubilee Street
Ah look at me now
The problem was she had a little black book
And my name was written on every page
Well a girl's gotta make ends meet
Even down Jubilee Street
I was out of place and time, and over the hill, and out of my mind
On Jubilee Street
I ought to practice what I preach
These days I go downtown in my tie and tails
I got a fetus on a leash
I am alone now, I am beyond recriminations
Curtains are shut, the furniture is gone
I'm transforming, I'm vibrating, I'm glowing
I'm flying, look at me now
I'm flying, look at me now
She had a history, but she had no past
When they shut her down the Russians moved in
I am too scared, I'm too scared to even walk on past
She used to say
All those good people down on Jubilee Street
They ought to practice what they preach
Here they are to practice just what they preach
Those good people on Jubilee Street
And here I come up the hill
I'm pushing my wheel of love
I got love in my tummy and a tiny little pain
And a ten ton catastrophe on a sixty pound chain
And I'm pushing my wheel of love on Jubilee Street
Ah look at me now
The problem was she had a little black book
And my name was written on every page
Well a girl's gotta make ends meet
Even down Jubilee Street
I was out of place and time, and over the hill, and out of my mind
On Jubilee Street
I ought to practice what I preach
These days I go downtown in my tie and tails
I got a fetus on a leash
I am alone now, I am beyond recriminations
Curtains are shut, the furniture is gone
I'm transforming, I'm vibrating, I'm glowing
I'm flying, look at me now
I'm flying, look at me now
Lyrics submitted by Elective Amnesia, edited by smallwonderrobot
Jubilee Street Lyrics as written by Warren Ellis Nicholas Edward Cave
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Mute Song Limited
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The protagonist was a client of Bee, a prostitute, who had a room down on Jubilee Street. When Bee was closed down the Russians moved in their sex workers. The Russians made the scene more intimidating'; their presence pricked the allusion of romance and love that the protagonist had felt for Bee.
As Bee had been shut down, she could no longer make money as a sex worker, She had to make ends meet some way or other. She blackmailed him, as his name was on every page of her little black book.
He was besotted by her and also hated her, which is why there is the conflicting imagery of him pushing a wheel of love but also having a a 10 ton catastrophe on a 60 pound chain. This threatening image is of his male sexuality perverted by rage and fear from the blackmail and the chance of being publicly exposed.
Down on Jubilee Street he went into a dis-associative state - our of his mind - and did something which is against what he preached. He was not personally troubled by having had sex with Bee in the past, he did so willingly. However he was against violence but this time he did not practice what he preached - he harmed or probably murdered Bee.
After he had harmed or killed Bee, his reputation was no longer threatened and he still had his status - he could wear his tie and tails about town as though he were a respected man. Gone was the 10 ton catastrophe on a chain replaced by a foetus on a leash: potent male rage now calmed, impotent and under control.
The last stanza is the freedom of one who had been trapped and feared public exposure but no longer does. All that threatened and allured has gone - Bee and the furniture in the room - and he is liberated from his sexual needs and the fear of blackmail.
The song has a brutal individualism to it. Unlike Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment who was compelled to guilt plead guilty by the fact he had murdered, the killer in this song is redeemed by his act without any other obvious consequence other than preservation of himself. The values he held have been dispensed with in the need to protect and preserve the individual.
PatrickO, your interpretation is one of the most coherent and well articulated I've come across on this site. Good work.