I'm with willwhiskey and kmacloud62 that if it's a historical figure, it's most likely Joseph Stalin rather than Jesus or George Bush. The number nine million likely refers to red arm casualties in WWII.
Of course, songs often have multiple meanings and broad themes. Ambiguity is often a literary goal. The front man for The Veils has a tattoo "Res Ipsa Loquitor" (Latin for, "The thing speaks for itself").
The idea of "innocent soldier" is an oxymoron that evokes the maxim that history is written by the victors. The line about waiting in line for the "lasting confession" could mean Joseph is damned to hell but the public message on his grave is that he's innocent. There have been efforts to restore Stalin's "honor" in Russia, as the "Generalissimo" who defeated Hitler.
The song reminds me of Mr. Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's story of the Belgian Congo (estimated one million dead) as the basis for Heart of Darkness, where mercenary crimes by Europeans are glossed over. But the reference to nine million is likely the red army casualties in WWII.
Born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Stalin joins the Bolsheviks in 1903 and becomes a specialist in organising robberies and extortion rackets to help fund the revolutionaries. 1913 he changed his name to Stalin which translates to "man of steel".
I'm with willwhiskey and kmacloud62 that if it's a historical figure, it's most likely Joseph Stalin rather than Jesus or George Bush. The number nine million likely refers to red arm casualties in WWII.
Of course, songs often have multiple meanings and broad themes. Ambiguity is often a literary goal. The front man for The Veils has a tattoo "Res Ipsa Loquitor" (Latin for, "The thing speaks for itself").
The idea of "innocent soldier" is an oxymoron that evokes the maxim that history is written by the victors. The line about waiting in line for the "lasting confession" could mean Joseph is damned to hell but the public message on his grave is that he's innocent. There have been efforts to restore Stalin's "honor" in Russia, as the "Generalissimo" who defeated Hitler.
The song reminds me of Mr. Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's story of the Belgian Congo (estimated one million dead) as the basis for Heart of Darkness, where mercenary crimes by Europeans are glossed over. But the reference to nine million is likely the red army casualties in WWII.
Born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Stalin joins the Bolsheviks in 1903 and becomes a specialist in organising robberies and extortion rackets to help fund the revolutionaries. 1913 he changed his name to Stalin which translates to "man of steel".