In 1922, Ernest Shackleton died on another Antarctic expedition and was buried on South Georgia, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
- Read more: Wikipdedia -
 |
[ O/P | Introduction | Song Index ]
Ocean Rising
The spoken
word at the beginning:
. . . are the English shipping forecast, predicting the weather on the sea
around Great Britain and Ireland.
- Read more: BBC -
Finnistair:
Either Finisterre, a rock-bound peninsula in the uttermost west of Spain, or
Finistere, the most westerly part of France.
- Read more: Wikipedia entries on
Finisterre and
Finistere
-
James Caird:
Possibly a ship named after Sir James Caird of Glenfarquhar,
Baronet (1864-1954), a shipowner and the principal donor
in creating the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. It could also be
an open boat named after Sir James Key Caird, 1st Baronet (1837-1916), a jute
entrepreneur and philanthropist, who financed Sir Ernest Shackleton's
Antarctic espedition on the Endurance (1914-1916). After the Endurance sank in
the pack ice in 1915, Shackleton and his 27-man crew went on in three lifeboats
from the ship, Shackelton himself and five men in the James Caird. After four
months (!) they hit on an uninhibited island. Shackleton and a small cres again
set out on the James Caird to get help. For fourteen days they crossed one of
the most treacherous seas in the world before they finally succeeded.
- Read more: Wikipedia entries on
James Caird
of Glenfarquhar,
James Key Caird and
James Caird (boat)
-
Boss:
In 1922,
Ernest Shackleton died on another Antarctic expedition and was buried on South
Georgia, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
- Read more: Wikipdedia
-
One Bullet
The song: Gypsy kings: "In
the end, all the talking came to nothing. Joey knew, without Uncle Benny even
saying anything, that he had to fight the Gypsy King. That was his job - that
was his life. The family expected him to do his duty. He was not ashamed,
neither was he afraid. The Gypsies had overstepped the mark, tried to take what
wasn't theirs. They were foolish not to back off - so now, Joey would make
things even again. In business, negotiation was always best; but the Gypsies
were angry and wouldn't hear reason. They'd been greedy and got caught cheating.
This alone was enough to make them furious, but add to that the little matter of
one of their women running off with Joey's cousin Rafe, well... This was the
only way. Their King against Joey. It was fair, in his opinion. He went to the
site in the afternoon, to look at the ground picked for the fight. The screaming
racket of the rock music was already beginning, though the Festival wasn't due
to start until the next day. The area was dottet with scruffy fans, doped and
foolish - at least in Joey's eyes. He and they were of the same age, on the
whole. But Joey's twenty-five years had been spent in a way these people could
never understand. He sighed. Had he been missing anything? No - he thought not.
He was a man, with responsibilities, with a life. This lot, they wanted to stay
kids forever - he could have no respect for them. The concessions - the stalls
- food, drink, and the cheap, ethnic trash the festivalgoers loved so much,
traditionally brought the family a great deal of money in site fees and security
work. The Gypsies knew this, but had still tried to take over." I'm sure I'm
violating copyright already, so I better finish after half of the story. It goes
on with Joey fighting the much older Gipsy King and winning easily. - Source:
Joolz, "Joey and the Gipsy King". In: Errors of the Spirit. Hexham:
Flambard, 2000, pp.14-15 -
Some songs are very easy to write: you meet someone, they tell you their life
story, you write it down - finished. It takes ten minutes. Aimless
Desire on the new album was written like that, and so is this. This is about
my next door neighbour but two.
- Source: Justin Sullivan, 21/08/98, Sumpfblume, Hameln -
Perhaps this event also inspired Joolz's story "Joey and the Gypsy King":
One of the Chosen
The song:
Holy Fools:
Obviously, the song is about Islamist terrorism. This is also one of the
topics of Bloodsports; other songs on terrorist
acts are
All of This, The Attack, Far Better Thing and
Flying through the Smoke.
This seems to be significant since it is written in capital letters. However,
the only reference to "Holy Fools" I found is to a Holy Fool in the Russian
Orthodox (a form of Catholicism) tradition. The Holy Fool acts intentionally
foolish in the eyes of men, is often homeless and is believed to be a prophet.
- Source: Wikipedia -
Orange Tree Roads
The song: The words spoken in the background are from the Spanish
translation of Joolz's poem about Spain, 'Corazon'. Seems that Justin
and Joolz found a place in Spain where they feel at home. Here's the complete
original poem:
There is a fire burning on the hillside - The smell of wild thyme; of rosemary In the old house, cool and shadowed, only the The smell of eucalyptus branches burning in the In her niche by the door the plaster Virgin The scent of bitter oranges; of trees; of the flinty well-water; Of sleep in the silent fortress-house; the ancient stone Each morning, the great herds of goats pour down the valley, Plaster Virgin / cradles
El Niño: Two-lane: Once we were lost but we can
be found: Hale Bopp: [ Back to Orange Tree Roads | Back to Gigabyte Wars ]
This song is about embracing change.
- Source: Justin Sullivan during the European NMA Tour Spring 2000 -
the smoke, a gauze-pale drifting ghost of the flames
rising against the long drop of the cliffs behind
like a memory of battles fought and forgotten.
and the ochre dust of the red earth desert . . .
thick white walls are warmed by the savage light outside;
in the rooms, walk barefoot on terracotta tiles
stratified and crumbling with the wear of years.
stone hearth; night jasmine; the velvet silence . . .
cradles El Niño; his robe rose-pink, her gown in the blue
of the midday sky, the folds all patterned with gold;
her gleaming crown is heavy, the Queen of Heaven bows under its weight.
of sweet vanilla cakes and red, oaky wine; of sleep . . .
Strong with the procession of generations,
stepping like a long, sun-filled dream through
summers and autumns, winters and springs.
sounding like a river of bells.
And like the animals, we move towards the light;
Like the animals we are - through the seasons, to the light.
- Source: Joolz, Errors of the Spirit -
A statue of the biblical virgin Mary holding her baby son,
Jesus Christ. This
is a very Catholic motif.
A road with two lanes.
Justin claims that this is a quote from the bible, but I could not find a direct
correspondence. However, Luke, 15 contains several parables about things or
persons being lost and found again, of which the best known is 'The
Prodigal Son'. The point Jesus wants to make is that God is always willing
to forgive a repentant sinner, and that one repentant sinner makes God happier
than many just persons.
- Sources: Justin Sullivan in an interview with German online music magazine
DocRock before the release of 'Eight' - The Bible. Luke, 15 -
Read more: King
James Bible -
A huge comet that was visible to the naked eye from February to May 1997.
- Read more: Wikipedia
-
Over the Wire
The song: 1914-18 war: Pitshafts: [ Back to Over the Wire | Back to All
Consuming Fire ]
This might be over-interpretation, but perhaps like Here
Comes the War, Wars of Purification and Whirlwind
this song is partly influenced by William Butler Yeats's poem 'The
Second Coming'.
The first world war, primarily between Fance, Russia, Italy, the United Kingdom
and the United States on the one side and Germany, Austria-Hungary and the
Ottoman Empire on the other. More than nine million soldiers and civilians died.
- Read more: Wikipedia -
(Coal) mines. Many people lost their jobs when under Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher despite massive protests several mines were
closed.
Paekakariki Beach
Paekakariki:
A town on the south-western North Island of New Zealand.
- Read more: Wikipedia -
Poison Street
The song: Singing in the rain:
The song is basically having a brilliant time in the face of adversity. It's
like Smalltown England, the same attitude. It's
not necessarily a carefree attitude. There are so many people that want to grind
you down and it's saying 'for godsake, its a beautiful day, lets go out, I don't
care what's happening'. There are so many people that want to put you down,
just do your thing. It is not based on a real street. It's like 'Smalltown England',
there isn't a smalltown England, name wise, but everyone identifies with it.
'Poison Street' is the same thing. Where nothing happens and people dwell on
their misery and not the good aspects of life.
- Source: Robert Heaton in an
interview
with Chris Benn in May 1997 -
There is a song from 1929, and an "old time movie", a musical from 1952 called
"Singin' in the Rain".
- Read more: Wikipedia entries on the
song and
the movie
-
Prayer Flag
Moko man: Prayer flags:
Prayer wheels:
A moko is the permanent body and face marking by Maori, the indigenous people
of New Zealand. It is distinct from tattoos in that the skin is carved by
chisels rather than punctured. This leaves the skin with grooves, rather than a
smooth surface. Joolz said that "Justin has a traditionally done
tattoo (in the manner described above) of a Frigate Bird on his hand, by the
Maori artist Inia Taylor the Third. The 'Moko Man' in question is Tangaroa
Tuane, also a tattoo artist."
- Source: Wikipedia -
Joolz on the New Model Army Noticeboard -
In Buddhism, colorful panels or rectangular cloths often found strung along
mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding countryside.
- Read more: Wikipedia -
A wheel on a spindle. On the wheel are written or encapsulated prayers or
mantras. According to the Tibetan Buddhist belief, spinning such a wheel will
have much the same effect as orally reciting the prayers.
- Read more: Wikipedia -
The Price Every
mile takes a minute:
60 miles per hour equals 100 km/h.
Prison
Holy shrine: [ Back to Prison ]
Pilgrimage to a sacred place and devotion before a sacred object is a major
means of religious healing.
Purity
The song: "Purity is a warning against ideologies, religions and
absolute truths. 'The song is truer than any other song I wrote', says Justin.
'In my youth I jumped from religion to religion, and in the end, all gurus had
disappointed me' ". Gospel of the truth: Also, the word 'gospel' is informally used to mean 'the truth',
and 'gospel truth' means 'absolutely reliable'. Immaculate conception: [ Back to Purity ]
16/10/2007
"It's in the nature of youth to think in opposites; everything is either black
or white. Very often the worst or most brutal regimes in this world have been
led by younger people, because the youth still has this sort of blindness. In
their kind of way they try to force through a kind of purity; the Hitler Youth
is an example for this. I certainly don't say that all youth is terrible, but
they tend see things in black and white and this way they can easily be used
for political purposes.
The song is a rejection of the idea to establish a pure society, I don't believe
in this anymore. Many people think New Model Army represent a form of purity,
so we wrote this song in order to deny this."
- Source: Justin Sullivan in an interview with German magazine Zillo
10/90; my translation -
- Source: Justin Sullivan in German Online Magazin
Uncle Sally's; my translation -
A gospel is a record of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. The term usually
refers to one of the four books of the New Testament in the bible (Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John), but there are also gospels, partly incomplete, partly
of unknown origin, in the New Testament Apocryphal writings (writings that don't
belong to the standard version of the bible because they are not considered
to be genuine). One of these is called Gospel of Truth.
- Source: Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English -
Justin uses a phrase for in vitro fertilization (test-tube conception) that
normally refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.
According to Christian faith, she was still a virgin
after she conceived him, because his father is the Holy Ghost, one part of God.