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For sale? Dumb cunt's same dumb questions
Virgins? Listen, all virgins are liars honey
And I don't know what I'm scared of or what I even enjoy
Dulling, get money, but nothing turns out like you want it to
And in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For £200 anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I still can say thank you
Puking - shaking - sinking I still stand for old ladies
Can't shout, can't scream, hurt myself to get pain out
I 'T' them, 24/7, all year long
Purgatory's circle, drowning here, someone will always say yes
Funny place for the social, for the insects to start caring
Just an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff
In these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For £200 anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I can still say thank you
Puking - shaking - sinking I still stand for old ladies
Can't shout, can't scream, I hurt myself to get pain out
Power produces desire, the weak have none
There's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
Solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
The only certain thing that is left about me
There's no part of my body that has not been used
Pity or pain, to show displeasure's shame
Everyone I've loved or hated always seems to leave
And in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For £200 anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
Power produces desire, the weak have none
There's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
Solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
Don't hurt, just obey, lie down, do as they say
May as well be heaven this hell, smells the same
These sunless afternoons I can't find myself
Virgins? Listen, all virgins are liars honey
And I don't know what I'm scared of or what I even enjoy
Dulling, get money, but nothing turns out like you want it to
And in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For £200 anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I still can say thank you
Puking - shaking - sinking I still stand for old ladies
Can't shout, can't scream, hurt myself to get pain out
I 'T' them, 24/7, all year long
Purgatory's circle, drowning here, someone will always say yes
Funny place for the social, for the insects to start caring
Just an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff
In these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For £200 anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
I eat and I dress and I wash and I can still say thank you
Puking - shaking - sinking I still stand for old ladies
Can't shout, can't scream, I hurt myself to get pain out
Power produces desire, the weak have none
There's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
Solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
The only certain thing that is left about me
There's no part of my body that has not been used
Pity or pain, to show displeasure's shame
Everyone I've loved or hated always seems to leave
And in these plagued streets of pity you can buy anything
For £200 anyone can conceive a God on video
He's a boy, you want a girl so chop off his cock
Tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want
Power produces desire, the weak have none
There's no lust in this coma even for a fifty
Solitude, solitude, the 11th commandment
Don't hurt, just obey, lie down, do as they say
May as well be heaven this hell, smells the same
These sunless afternoons I can't find myself
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As soon as you give in and start saying yes to things, or in other words as soon as you prostitute or exploit yourself, you lose your integrity, therefore your innocence. You're broken, and telling the straightforward truth is much easier, requires much less thought, than lying- therefore only those that still don't always say yes, i.e.: virgins, are the only ones still feel free to lie.
Simon Price's biography 'Everything: A Book About Manic Street Preachers' is an incredibly entertaining and informative read by the way, if anyone's interested... I now know much more Manic trivia than is probably healthy. :)
(Richey James; The Holy Bible-Tour Book)
"It looks at the way that society views prostitutes as probably the lowest form of life. But we feel that we've prostituted ourselves over the last three or four years, and we think it's the same in every walk of life.
Marlene Dietrich said that she'd been photographed to death. Red indians believe that every time they're photographed, a piece of their soul goes. We came to a point when we felt a bit like that. I don't want to come across like Eddie Vedder or something, because we've always made an effort to make our pictures fairly aesthetic. But you just come to a point where you think, 'Why are we doing this?' it must come with maturity.
There's a line in there: 'tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want'. You do get to a position when you're in a band where you can virtually do anything you want, in any kind of sick, low form. It's not something we've particularly indulged in, but it is a nasty by-product of being in a group."
(Nicky Wire; Melody Maker, 27 August 1994)
The idea of the prostitute is obviously a metaphor for something else and it's the most obvious metaphor because a prostitute is someone that sells themselves for money, literally.
One of the things that this song is about is how people sell themselves, so it's a great analogy.
It's about being, or becoming something that you aren't , something/someone that isn't you, to do something you hate, to live a life you don't want to. Listen to the chorus where he talks about the boy becoming a girl just to make money. It's another metaphor or analogy of transforming into something that isn't really you.
"he's a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock " etc.
For example if someone has a job that they hate, they lose themselves in a sense because by living like that you lose sight of your hobbies and interests and things that you love. And when you lose those things, you've lost yourself, and therefore basically sold yourself.
"and I don't know what I'm scared of or what I even enjoy
dulling, get money, but nothing turns out like you want it to "
It's obviously about money and about selling yourself out, and the inability to say "no". But it's also about at what price saying "yes" to everything comes with. You feel used, and you end up alone. Even though you're doing it to please others on the surface.
You end up feeling empty (and just like gsmith300 said, emptiness is the common thread of the album. As well as politics, human suffering, and desire)
I think that it could be about consumerism but my interpretation is what Johnnybassman said about how it could also be about society and how people have resorted to doing things that they normally wouldn't do for money just to survive and get by. You lose yourself in the process.
"these sunless afternoons I can't find myself. "
People that work 9-5 miss the entire day when the sun is out.
Also, the 11th commandment was mentioned in this song, which could be a reference to the 10 moral commandments in religion. However there is also the 11th commandment which was a phrase by Ronald Reagon which says: "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." But I'm guessing that it's in reference to the religious commandments and isolation being #11 possibly.
The most eerie lyrics which seem to be a reflection of where Richey Edwards was mentally at the time are:
"can't shout, can't scream, hurt myself to get pain out"
Richey was known to have been a cutter, even having been hospitalized because of it. In 1995 he disappeared and they say that he committed suicide but he's never been found. This part of the song seems to be where he was at the time emotionally. But it also ties in with the theme and the analogy of the prostitute who wants to scream or shout sometimes, but can't. Hurting oneself to get the pain out is just another way of coping.
The lyric "I 'T' them" could refer to the novel 'Brave New World' in which Henry Ford has taken the place of Jesus Christ in society. Thus, rather than crossing oneself to ward off evil, one T's oneself.
The lyric "For 200 anyone can conceive a god on video" could refer back to the previous line about virgins. Filming oneself having sex with a prostitute could cost $200, the stereotypical dilemma for a woman is whether to be a whore or a virgin, Jesus is said to have been conceived by a virgin.
Prostitution is the main theme, but also points to so much more.
I like the references to power and desire, still standing up for principles, disciplined, becoming dehumanised - loosing all sense of enjoyment/fear, merely an object to be used, accepting this fate/changing perspective to cope, loosing oneself in the process of exchanging freedoms, emotionally trapped, turning inwards because there is no outlet. Very scary.
I love this song, it touches on something I've long felt, but it surpasses it by absolute light years into somewhere I never hope to be.
Why 'Rita' though?
MSP
the band that likes to say
YES
which is what I think breakthebutterfly was referring to.