The song is equal parts whimsical and scathing allegory.
The song is painting a picture of a devil or malevalent god. This subject deals in "abstract" commodities which include human qualities (genius, love, talent) or things generally uncontrollable by humans (weather systems). The economic terminology serves as a contradiction to draw the listener into the song: the things being traded are not fungible nor in the realm of man's control. Yet the terms mirror the feeling a listener may have about the near-omnipotent power of international banking, trading in the lifeblood of hapless plebs. The amoral ruthlessness of the banking industry reinforces our view of the Subject and the description of the Subject reinforces our views of the banking industry, while the two are clearly seperate constructs.
A second, perhaps more compelling contradiciton is the music that plays as Bird sings "on the weather systems of the world". The Subject's workings have been efforts in teasing out mankind to be mediocre as possible (lukewarm, star search, doesn't matter if you blow). Yet ultimately what the Subject achieves from this work in mediocrity is something epic (weather system control) and is not reflected in the music as another step towards mediocrity but rather a stark change from the precussion-forward sensibility of the song to a sweeping, epic violin phrasing... the Subject is ultimately transforming the world in an epic way via mediocrity. This is, as stated at the beginning, a contradiction that doesn't have a clear cut meaning but allows the listener to ponder ways such an idea could unfold.
The song is equal parts whimsical and scathing allegory.
The song is painting a picture of a devil or malevalent god. This subject deals in "abstract" commodities which include human qualities (genius, love, talent) or things generally uncontrollable by humans (weather systems). The economic terminology serves as a contradiction to draw the listener into the song: the things being traded are not fungible nor in the realm of man's control. Yet the terms mirror the feeling a listener may have about the near-omnipotent power of international banking, trading in the lifeblood of hapless plebs. The amoral ruthlessness of the banking industry reinforces our view of the Subject and the description of the Subject reinforces our views of the banking industry, while the two are clearly seperate constructs.
A second, perhaps more compelling contradiciton is the music that plays as Bird sings "on the weather systems of the world". The Subject's workings have been efforts in teasing out mankind to be mediocre as possible (lukewarm, star search, doesn't matter if you blow). Yet ultimately what the Subject achieves from this work in mediocrity is something epic (weather system control) and is not reflected in the music as another step towards mediocrity but rather a stark change from the precussion-forward sensibility of the song to a sweeping, epic violin phrasing... the Subject is ultimately transforming the world in an epic way via mediocrity. This is, as stated at the beginning, a contradiction that doesn't have a clear cut meaning but allows the listener to ponder ways such an idea could unfold.