Fire Coming Out Of A Monkey's Head

I had a chance to hear this at a record store who had gotten a few vinyls from the band when they came into town, Dennis Hopper does a great job at narration. The track is nothing more than a pretty interesting story about a people living in a mountain.

If you look a little deeper I think you'll see it's more than just a story...

One of my favorite songs on the new album.

The last little bit always seems a bit out of place.

I really like this song but, what the hell is a "castrophany"? Did they make that word up?

sounds to me like a combo of catastrophe + cacophony

This is an EXTREMELY well put together narrative. Here is my take on it:

To me this song seems like the idealistic fantasies that we all have. In essence we either all want to be Happyfolk or we feel like we already are. The Strangefolk represent reality, in that, there's always going to be someone or something that comes along to ruin happiness for everyone else.

The Happyfolk were innocent and completely blind to the evil the Strangefolk brought b/c they couldn't see their eyes. This is a lot like life itself in that we often can't see when bad things are going to happen even if we have multiple signs (shadows, nightmares, etc.). Its that whole “ignorance is bliss” concept, only amplified.

Ultimately greed leads to the downfall of mankind, and that’s why in digging for the precious jewels, the Strangefolk woke the spirit of the mountain.

There are two ways to interpret the mountain (IMO). You could say that it has always been just a volcano that became active once disturbed, or that there is some true spiritual meaning behind it, in that God punishes those who are evil. But unfortunately, the Happyfolk were caught up in all this, just b/c they couldn't see the eyes of the Strangefolk...

As depressing as it is, I think this song may just be saying, there never can nor will be a land of Happyfolk b/c Strangefolk will always come to inevitably destroy it.

“Oh little town in USA, the time has come to see
There's nothing you believe you want
But where were you when it all came down on me?
Did you come it down on..."

I can’t be sure about this last line, but I think it’s a statement about the U.S. and how we as Americans may feel we have it all over here, but then again we do so little to help foreign nations (Although I don’t really agree with that). Or maybe, just maybe, 2-D is saying that Americans are the Strangefolk and somehow this song ties back to our going to war b/c of 9/11, and the “mining for gems” being one big metaphor for us “digging for oil”.

Also I agree with JeffKaos71 in that castrophony is just catastrophe and cacophony mixed together. While it is indeed a made up word, I think it really works well with the song and gives a more powerful description of the noise and the chaos. For those of you who don’t know, a cacophony is a “harsh discordant sound, or a very loud noise, or group of noises.”

Way to analyze, RTBRAND1...I think you got it right on.

I just want to take a note on the actual construct of the song, rather than the lyrics. The lyrics themselves speak very well, and you can construct your own thoughts on it with ease if you read them (as opposed to listening). Whether you chooes to tie the lyrics to certain political events or not is your own choice.

Anyway, as I was going to say, notice the hymnic humming in the backround of the narrative. The artists could have just as easily used a instrument (cello) for this, but instead they choose to hum. This parallels with hymns--such as amazing grace-- which were written by slaves. This tought is incomplete but I wanted to pose the idea of tieing a sort of enslavement into this song, whether it be the happy people enslaved to their perceptions of the strange people to their greed, I don't exactly know... But there sure as hell is some bit of slavery in this

caves of Sincerity and Beauty

The disjointing and capitalization... Beauty makes sensish... but Sincerity? The Strange folk find the truth, but they go out of their way and toil to bring this truth into their lives. Meaning, regardless of the evil of Truth, the strange accept it into their lives, welcome and force it in. Yet, when you delve too far into the seriousness involved in the True world, it'll wipe over you and make you a serious dull drab BLEH without an outcry against it

Just shooting my fingers a bit more

I think what the story is trying to show is how the average Americans (and I only say American because of the little town USA line, it can also hold true for most of the world) just goes about there lives thinking everything is ok, but they don't realize that very bad things are happening in the world. The Strangefolk, I believe, are the powerful minortity (government officials, corporations) that aim to become richer and more powerful at the expense of the rest of us. As Happyfolk, we don't always see what the elite are doing, but eventually things will blow up, either environmentally or through a revolution, and its going to destroy us all.

And by the way, Dennis Hopper was perfect for this song.

One of my favorites on the album, but I couldn't help noticing a thematic similarity to One Tin Soldier.

Reminds me of a quote from The Catcher In The Rye.
I think it goes something like:
'You can never find a place that's nice and peaceful because there isn't any..."

Just seems to fit....