I had to finally join SongMeanings to comment on the views expressed by a few that "The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is a crap line. I disagree completely - to me it is, like this whole track, the spiritual high point of the Manics, they really finished on a high, or Richey did anyway. "The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is essentially the message behind all great spiritual non-denominational (non-attached) worldviews. Just like "Find your truth - face your truth - speak your truth - be your truth".
"The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is also an interesting physical fact, which is also what makes it a great lyric, it is not only a metaphor but a metaphor of something concrete and true - what is more of a 'pure gun' than the Sun or other Suns in the universe? Concentrated natural nuclear power.
So IMO it's not a crap lyric, but a great lyric with a deep message. Want to change the world and fight injustice? This song, these lyrics show us how in an extremely concentrated form. Live from your truth, live from the centre, and be the brightest sun - that is the way to fight the darkness and the shadows. Spiritual enlightenment. Truly, I am impressed with some spiritual aspects of the Manics' lyrics, but this song I consider their highest point. I consider tattooing these words on myself because I have noticed for years how they seem to contain the greatest messages that humankind has ever come up with, no matter what spiritual or self-developmental views you look at , this is always the underlying message and the Manics really expressed this well in this lyric. Feel free to disagree but you could also do yourself a favour and find out whether this would actually make sense to you.
One last note - most of the Manics' work up until the point of this song is seemingly written in a depressive state, but also, many spiritual thinkers claim that often depression is the point you need to reach before you can see the light. I was hoping this would have happened to Richey, these lyrics certainly give reason to think so, and who knows really, nobody ever found the body so we can only hope that he's somewhere remote living anonymously in a spiritual community rather than being taken over by the despair of the world and topped himself.
I had to finally join SongMeanings to comment on the views expressed by a few that "The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is a crap line. I disagree completely - to me it is, like this whole track, the spiritual high point of the Manics, they really finished on a high, or Richey did anyway. "The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is essentially the message behind all great spiritual non-denominational (non-attached) worldviews. Just like "Find your truth - face your truth - speak your truth - be your truth".
"The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is also an interesting physical fact, which is also what makes it a great lyric, it is not only a metaphor but a metaphor of something concrete and true - what is more of a 'pure gun' than the Sun or other Suns in the universe? Concentrated natural nuclear power.
So IMO it's not a crap lyric, but a great lyric with a deep message. Want to change the world and fight injustice? This song, these lyrics show us how in an extremely concentrated form. Live from your truth, live from the centre, and be the brightest sun - that is the way to fight the darkness and the shadows. Spiritual enlightenment. Truly, I am impressed with some spiritual aspects of the Manics' lyrics, but this song I consider their highest point. I consider tattooing these words on myself because I have noticed for years how they seem to contain the greatest messages that humankind has ever come up with, no matter what spiritual or self-developmental views you look at , this is always the underlying message and the Manics really expressed this well in this lyric. Feel free to disagree but you could also do yourself a favour and find out whether this would actually make sense to you.
One last note - most of the Manics' work up until the point of this song is seemingly written in a depressive state, but also, many spiritual thinkers claim that often depression is the point you need to reach before you can see the light. I was hoping this would have happened to Richey, these lyrics certainly give reason to think so, and who knows really, nobody ever found the body so we can only hope that he's somewhere remote living anonymously in a spiritual community rather than being taken over by the despair of the world and topped himself.