Lyrics for Archive Of Pain as interpreted by ShiverForMe

Archive Of Pain Lyrics
I wonder who you think you are
You damn well think you're God or something
God give life, God take it away, not you
I think you are the devil itself

If hospitals cure
Then prisons must bring their pain
Don't be ashamed to slaughter
The centre of humanity is cruelty
There is never redemption
Any fool can regret yesterday
Nail it to the House of Lords
You will be buried in the same box as a killer, as a killer, as a killer

A drained white body hangs from the gallows
Is more righteous than Hindley's crotchet lectures
Pain not penance, forget martyrs, remember victims
The weak die young and right now we crouch to make them strong

Kill Yeltsin, who's saying?
Zhirinovsky, Le Pen,
Hindley and Brady, Ireland, Allit, Sutcliffe,
Dahmer, Nielson, Yoshinori Ueda,
Blanche and Pickles, Amin, Milosovic
Give them respect they deserve
Give them the respect they deserve
Give them the respect they deserve
Give them the respect they deserve

Execution needed
A bloody vessel for your peace
If man makes death then death makes man
Tear the torso with horses and chains
killers view themselves like they view the world, they pick at the holes
Not punish less, rise the pain
Sterilise rapists, all I preach is extinction

Kill Yeltsin, who's saying?
Zhirinovsky, Le Pen,
Hindley and Brady, Ireland, Allit, Sutcliffe,
Dahmer, Nielson, Yoshinori Ueda,
Blanche and Pickles, Amin, Milosovic
Give them respect they deserve
Give them the respect they deserve
Give them the respect they deserve
Give them the respect they d e s e r v e

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Cherub Rock
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
This is a disturbing song about serial killers. "Nail it to the House of Lords / You will be buried in the same box as a killer" - I think this means that those who oppose the government (in this case the British Government) will be symbolically be buried with a killer - i.e., the media will leap on that person and portray them negatively. The band is saying although killing is wrong, the world is an evil place, and many imperfections exist ("Killers..pick at the holes")

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Zed92uk
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
IT's about capital punishment and the glorification of serial killers

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Little_Baby_Nothing
08-11-2002

Rated 0 
the opening quote is spoken by the mother of one of the victims of Jack the Ripper. If that makes sense...

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little_englander
08-19-2002

Rated 0 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but recording technology didn't exist in 1888. One of 'Jack the Ripper's victims' indeed.

The song is pro-capital punishment. As Zed92uk said, it's a reaction against the glorification of serial killers: something the Manics, ironically enough, participated in when they wrote 'Patrick Bateman'.

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MissD
08-30-2002

Rated 0 
no the opening quote was by a mother of one of the victims of the yorkshire ripper. The song's very an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth etc... Well little englander the manics said they had a right to contradict themselves something they do a lot. Altho I'm sure they had some excuse for patrick batemen like it wasn't glorifying him but it was talking about society I dunno can't remember lol.

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the_prawn
09-05-2002

Rated +1 
this song is so lovely.

one of the darkest songs i know. why do ppl prefer the new stuff to this?

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Songmeaningsuser
03-04-2003

Rated 0 
The opening quote is from a TV drama, by the actress who played Barbara in The Royle Family.

Also, instead of "Who's saying?" I always thought it was "Hussain".

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Johnno
04-10-2003

Rated 0 
The song is about capital punishment "give them the respect they deserve" is ironic, meaning they deserve no respect and should be treated as such, and a reaction against serial killers

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Johnno
04-10-2003

Rated 0 
The song is about capital punishment "give them the respect they deserve" is ironic, meaning they deserve no respect and should be treated as such, and a reaction against serial killers

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Cherub Rock
10-19-2004

Rated 0 
Yeah, I can see your point...it is about capital punishment. These guys have some interesting views, not sure where I stand on capital punishment tho.

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Cherub Rock
10-20-2004

Rated 0 
The opening baseline is so creepy...a pretty dark track

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tgd
12-10-2004

Rated 0 
Agree with johnno on this one-
"There is never redemption
Any fool can regret yesterday
Nail it to the House of Lords
You will be buried in the same box as a killer"
This links in with the line about giving them (mass murderers) the respect they deserve. It is saying murderers should never be forgiven, and society is too lenient, they should be sentenced to death not life.

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++StUdEd DeAd++
12-27-2004

Rated 0 
I agree with tgd about this song being about capital punishment and how it shouldn't be forgiven, I think this was Richies' and Nickies' veiw because they wrote the song. Nothing to do with the song- I agree with them a murderer shouldn't be given food, water, access to family etc, theres only one acceptable punishment.

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_mia_
02-08-2005

Rated 0 
I kind of thought this song was sarcastic-sending up the views of those that are for capital punishment as it gradually gets more extreme in what it is saying.

But then maybe I'm just twisting the song to fit into my own view of things-that capital punishment is abhorent state-authorised murder.

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tgd
02-19-2005

Rated 0 
mia, I think it can be taken as being sarcastic, particurlary if you look at the line
"All I preach is extinction"
which seems to be criticising those who are in favour of capital punsihment. I suppose it can be viewed as pro- or anti- captital punishment, depending on your own views.

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richeye
04-05-2005

Rated +1 
Given Richey James' mental state at the time, I doubt he was being sarcastic - I think he was completely sincere.
James DB admits on the 'Holy Bible' DVD that he found the perspective of the song baffling. He's intent on distancing himself from many of the songs, too.
I think the essence of the whole album is reflective of a seriously disturbed mind. Which is troubling, because I really like it!

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Madkal
05-05-2005

Rated 0 
This song is by far my fave on the holy bible
it may not neccessarily be about capital punishment though.
then song is more against the glorification of serial killers and the way society is both disgusted by them, as well as fascinated.
the line:
forget martyrs, remember victims means that that we should stop spending time on those who kill for their cause (the serial killers) and be more concerned for those who have died (the victims)
the song starts off with another scary bit. it basically says that it doesnt matter who you are, you will be buried the same way as one who kills. this can also be interpreted that everyone has the tendency to kill as expressed in the lines:
Don't be ashamed to slaughter
The centre of humanity is cruelty
the manics also have a cynical view on the topic of remorse:
Any fool can regret yesterday
perhaps they think that remorse is no reason to excuse actions. in this case, they would support a harder approach towards capital punishment, ie it doesnt matter what the person feels now, he must still be punished.
Execution needed
A bloody vessel for your peace - these lines show that we execute for closure. to feel that justice is done, the killer is executed. the manic do not pass any judgement, it is more of a statement.
my favourite lines :
Not punish less, rise the pain
Sterilise rapists, all I preach is extinction
these lines plus the lines
if man makes death, death makes man shows a sort of constant cycle of violence (death makes man makes death makes man). the killer kills and we kill the killer.
overall the song is condemning the killers, but also supports the notion that we can also become killers. there should be a way to distance ourselves from the killers, without glorifying them and making them heros. therefore, we must give them the respect they deserve, that is, no respect at all.

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my nothing
05-10-2005

Rated 0 
Even Nicky admitted that he was baffled why Richey would endorce a so-called 'rightist' attitude towards serial killers. But it makes a lot of sense. The only sarcasm in this is 'give them the respect they deserve' meaning they deserve no respect at all. It shouldn't be considered a rightist thing, but Republicans in America have done great to wield this image, unfortunetly.

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my nothing
05-10-2005

Rated 0 
By the way - who submitted this? It's Archives of Pain, not Archive.

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richeye
06-28-2005

Rated 0 
Given that 'the centre of humanity is cruelty', we shouldn't be attempting to reintegrate murderers back into society, we should be bowing to our instincts and execute them. I think that's partly the point.
Oh, and I've read that Richey wrote alone on this album, Nicky only contributed song titles for Richey's songs, in the main (such as this one - Archives Of Pain was the title of an essay by Michael Foucault, which he and Richey studied at university).

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richeye
06-28-2005

Rated 0 
By the way, I think the quote was spoken by Barbara's mum in 'The Royle Family', not Barbara.

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drjayphd
10-07-2005

Rated 0 
Just one question: who's Yoshinori Ueda? All I'm finding are references to a baseball player and a surfboard designer.

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my nothing
10-07-2005

Rated 0 
I believe he was a Japanese serial killer. You're right though, I found fuck all on him, apart from one nugget of info: "He pleaded insanity, and was released soon afterwards to write a book about his 'exploits.'" Hence his inclusion here.
Love reading your pearls of wisdom, richeye :)
One more thing - I've been thinking about this a lot and have come to the conclusion that capital punishment cannot purely be a black and white issue, however convincing the arguments for and against are.
A bit like abortion, in that sense.

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jeffjeffjeff
11-09-2005

Rated 0 
I think it's pretty important to remember the Manic Street Preachers were frequently contradictory in their point of view. I think the song puts across the attractiveness of the certianity and sense of retribution found in Draconian punishment, whilst simultaneously mocking its arrogance and brutality.

Having said that, I'm fairly sure Richey definitely had a hangup about wanting to 'tear the torso with horses and chains', in that he repeated the concept in an interview. I think he was talking about how he wanted to make children watch murderers being torn apart on TV, so they know what happens to 'bad' people. Pretty fucked up, really.

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wireless89
12-23-2005

Rated 0 
Some things I'm not quite sure about with this:

1. Why would Myra Hindley be giving crochet lectures? (I'm pretty sure it's crochet as opposed to crotchet)

2. Who the hell are/were Blanche and Pickles?

3. At the end of the list of killers, second time round it goes 'Amin and...something' but it's not Milosevic that time, anyone hazard a guess as to what it is?

Thanks

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