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.
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.