Tuesday, February 5, 2008

On a very political day

with my eyes glued to the primary results - i find this song intriguing on many level. Out of no discourtesy to the U.S. reader of this blog, I post this as what I think is a brilliant peotic enterprize. It's rare to listen to something so direct and yet poetically satisfying. and regardless of your ideology our fate as Canadians and even as inhabitants of this planet are tied in significant ways to the policies and direction of our neighbor to the south.
what do you think this guys is getting at with the line...
"soaking the body of Jesus in blood"?

2 comments:

Lounge MD said...

hmmmm...interesting song Dale. I found the "bridge" very interesting.
I think you have to approach that section as a whole to truly figure out the meaning of that "jesus" line.

"Do you go to hell for having loved, do you really believe everything you do is good, after soaking the body of Jesus Christ in blood, I'm so tired of you America" I realize that's not exactly right in terms of quoting,,,but hey, I've heard the song once...

Here's my synopsis: The first line seems to me to be reference to something very personal to Rufus Wainright. He is a gay man and it seems to me that he's reacting to the rampant homophobia present within the American Christian community. The "Jesus" line seems to be a link to an overall theme of hate in the name of Christ that the writer has observed....the war in Iraq, hate crimes against homosexuals etc. He also mentions the attitude of "well we are doing good."


anyway, that's my take on it

anyway that's my take

Increasing... said...

yeah I think his homosexuality is a key factor throughout the song. the brilliance of his poetry here is how he weaves that sense of oppression because of his sexual orientation into a very politcal statement - even a very national statement. (That's not to say that I think homosexuality is in anyway brilliant or good or right)