singabout

(alternate title provided by The Anti-Steve: "Stuff that @$^#% whines about")

These are some themes and repeated references that I've come up with. I stress that these are only my interpretations. When you try to decipher Steve's lyrics and poetry, you end up both frustrated and impressed by their ambiguity. Steve has said many times that the lyrics are often spur-of-the-moment, and don't really have a predetermined meaning.

"Rather nasty blokes" who suck you dry (e.g. The Maven and Disillusionist). I read that quote in an interview once and I'm still looking for the source.

Reptiles (Reptile, Nonapology)

Ancient gods, heroes, etc. (Roman, Aphrodite, Atlantis)

Drugs (Ripple, Memory)

The future and extraterrestrials (Terra Nova Caine, Neuman poems)

Machines that run the world (The Great Machine, The Reality Generators Malfunctioned)

The sun, moon, and stars (Woman with Reason, Another Earth)

Magicians and Sorcerers (Magician Among the Spirits, Shadow Cabinet)

Failed romances (To be in Your Eyes, Authority, Louisiana)

The Wild West (Ride into the Sunset, Texas Moon, Maybe These Boys)

Historical and literary figures (Ariel, Columbus)

Historical scenarios (Carthage, Roman)

Love (Favourite Pack of Lies, Glow Worm)

Weird stuff like women who turn their husbands into birds, moon festivals, and people who live in domes (Bird Owner (as seen on TV); My Birthday, the Moon Festival; Dome)

Dreams (Dome, Dreambeings, Forget Everything)

"Youth worshippers" (Youth Worshipper, You're Still Beautiful, Untitled poem beginning "Neuman, Desdemona, and me . . .")

Square dancing with rhinoceri (ok, I made that one up)

Contributions by other fans:

From Tim Prochnow: Wordplay "Goddess of ice/Goddess of vice" "Oh Goliath, let's get stoned" "Terra Nova Cain /Terra Novocaine" "In Violet Town/Inviolate town"

From Violette: Being involved in "alternate spiritualities" ("Lost" and "Another Earth")

From Richard: Drugs ( "Disenchanted," "Tantalized," "Anaesthesia," "Nightmare," "Ripple," "Linda Wong," and many others .

From Richard: Vegetarianism/animals ("Nosedive," "Metropolis," "Youth Worshipper," "Tranquility")

From Paula K.: Violet town. It's a real place, you know....("Violet Town", "Already Yesterday")

From Jerry: Betrayal/Deceit: "The Disillusionist", "You Got Off Light", "Reptile", "Lost My Touch", "The Maven".

From Jerry: time travel: "Two Places At Once"

From Hector: Mexico (Day of the Dead, videos for Tantalized and Two Places at Once)

From Mike: plane crashes - aviatrix, number eleven, nose dive, fighter pilot korean war.

From Jerry: the entropy of things....relationships, disintigration, an orderly world of comfortable elements careening toward disorder ("Chaos", "Dome", "Monday Morning", "Pharoah").

From Hans: "Boys" (more of a phrasing thing than a subject) such as "Boys, I've had enough" in "Tranquillity; and "Boys, I must have been blind" from "Pain in my Temples."

From Gary: Disenchantment (Aura, Tantalized, Myrh, City, Pharoah)

From C.B.: Law (Judgment Day, The Maven, Don't Move)

From Brian Hamil: Crashing.

From Eve: inner workings (deep in all his music), addictions (Tantalized), psychological trauma (Chaos), mysticism