For a long time, I thought this song was about the death of religion as a way of explaining the world. The "underwater guy who controlled the sea" is clearly the Greek god Neptune. "got killed by 10 mllion pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey" seemed to me to be a metaphor for our modern society taking control of the Earth in such a way that we no longer have any use for superstition, myth and religion to comfort ourselves and explain things. "Hole in the sky" would be the void created by the removal of God, "the creature in the sky," from people's lives. Without any hope for the afterlife, everyone is screwed: "Everyone is gonna burn, we'll all take turns." Then the 5-6-7 verse is just a maniacal kind of mocking of the hierarchy of man, devil and god.
The "monkey" could be the monkey that was on mankind's back for so many years, again, religion. Saying that the monkey is dead by saying it's "gone to heaven" could be another ironic way to mock the idea of religion and afterlife.
But I may be overthinking this. The environmental interpretation makes plenty of sense, too.
Wow I was on board with the environment interpretation, but this makes a lot more sense! Great explanation. the only thing is, if this is what was intended in this song, is it a pro-religion song or an anti-religion song?
Wow I was on board with the environment interpretation, but this makes a lot more sense! Great explanation. the only thing is, if this is what was intended in this song, is it a pro-religion song or an anti-religion song?
OK, I'm not expecting the original commenter to see this as their comment is from 2004, but I just wanted to make it clear that the Greek God of the Sea is Poseidon, not Neptune. Neptune is his Roman counterpart. However, this interpretation is brilliant. I hadn't heard it before but it makes sense
OK, I'm not expecting the original commenter to see this as their comment is from 2004, but I just wanted to make it clear that the Greek God of the Sea is Poseidon, not Neptune. Neptune is his Roman counterpart. However, this interpretation is brilliant. I hadn't heard it before but it makes sense
For a long time, I thought this song was about the death of religion as a way of explaining the world. The "underwater guy who controlled the sea" is clearly the Greek god Neptune. "got killed by 10 mllion pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey" seemed to me to be a metaphor for our modern society taking control of the Earth in such a way that we no longer have any use for superstition, myth and religion to comfort ourselves and explain things. "Hole in the sky" would be the void created by the removal of God, "the creature in the sky," from people's lives. Without any hope for the afterlife, everyone is screwed: "Everyone is gonna burn, we'll all take turns." Then the 5-6-7 verse is just a maniacal kind of mocking of the hierarchy of man, devil and god.
The "monkey" could be the monkey that was on mankind's back for so many years, again, religion. Saying that the monkey is dead by saying it's "gone to heaven" could be another ironic way to mock the idea of religion and afterlife.
But I may be overthinking this. The environmental interpretation makes plenty of sense, too.
Wow I was on board with the environment interpretation, but this makes a lot more sense! Great explanation. the only thing is, if this is what was intended in this song, is it a pro-religion song or an anti-religion song?
Wow I was on board with the environment interpretation, but this makes a lot more sense! Great explanation. the only thing is, if this is what was intended in this song, is it a pro-religion song or an anti-religion song?
OK, I'm not expecting the original commenter to see this as their comment is from 2004, but I just wanted to make it clear that the Greek God of the Sea is Poseidon, not Neptune. Neptune is his Roman counterpart. However, this interpretation is brilliant. I hadn't heard it before but it makes sense
OK, I'm not expecting the original commenter to see this as their comment is from 2004, but I just wanted to make it clear that the Greek God of the Sea is Poseidon, not Neptune. Neptune is his Roman counterpart. However, this interpretation is brilliant. I hadn't heard it before but it makes sense