Re: Wow! Lamb discussion!!!

[duane@EBay.Sun.COM (Duane Day)]

>From: brianw@microsoft.UUCP (Brian Willoughby)

>My overall impression of the story was that Rael was experiencing death,
>complete with his whole life flashing before him.  

This has long been my interpretation of the story as well.  Rael, out on
a graffiti-painting spree, is hit by a truck (title song - "The trucker's
eyes read overload," etc.)  As "the wall of death" descends (physical life
begins to pass away), others "carry on as if nothing was there" ("Fly on a 
Windscreen" - this is New York City, after all).  Rael's dying body is put
on a stretcher, covered up, and loaded into an ambulance ("Cuckoo Cocoon";
"the only sound is waterdrops" is perhaps a reference to an IV drip).  He's
taken to a New York public hospital ("Broadway Melody"), anaesthetized and
operated on ("In the Cage"; "sunshine in my stomach" perhaps referring to
the lights on the operating table shining into his opened-up torso) and taken
either to the morgue or to recovery ("The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging").

Side 2, I feel, is where Rael relives the major experiences of his short life
(the famous "my life passed before me" phenomenon).  Gang fighting ("Back in
N.Y.C") and a first abortive romantic encounter ("Counting out Time") are
described.  

Side 3 opens with "Lilywhite Lilith", which is, I feel, the white light
described by those who have been medically dead and then been revived.
"Anyway" describes Rael's grudging acceptance of physical death - "quietly
buried in stones".  "The Lamia", I feel, represent worms that gnaw at Rael's
physical body, leaving him partially decomposed - a "slipperman".

The remainder of Side 4 seems to me to represent the spiritual journey one
makes after death, when one abandons one's ties to the physical (symbolized
by the doctor's "cure" - "dock the dick").  The final number, "_it_", is
where Rael's spirit comes to understand the unity of all things in the cosmos.
It is possible that he chooses his next physical incarnation at this time,
realizing that physical life is really just a game, but one which he enjoys
("only knock and know-all but I like it.")

>In the end, I thought that John was actually Rael's
>alter-ego, and by Rael's willingness to give his own like for his
>"brother", he actually saved himself.  

I think that John's function changes through the story, but I think he serves
as a kind of "everyman".  This is suggested by his very straightforward name
(as opposed to the highly individual-sounding "Rael").  It is also suggested
by the final scene, where Rael saves John from the ravine, looks into his
face and recognizes it as Rael's own (signifying the momentary realization
that we are all one.)

>BTW, all of this is just from memory, I don't really care about
>convincing anyone of my interpretation.  

Yes, my account here is from memory, too, although I've devoted a fair amount
of thought and conversation to this topic over the last 15 years or so.  I'm
glad to see this subject discussed here.

One of the amazing and wonderful things about _The Lamb_ is the number of 
different interpretations, many of them quite elaborate, which can be defended.
I remember many years ago telling someone my interpretation and having him
present the argument that the album was not about being killed but about the
process of birth - I don't remember too many of his points, but I do recall
that the slipperman was the slimy baby coming down the birth canal and the
"dock the dick" sequence was supposed to be circumcision.  

Another topic worthy of discussion here is the tools artists such as PG (and, 
of course, Kate) use in putting together songs and albums with vague lyrical
references that can be interpreted and deeply felt in many different ways.  
One important such tool is the use of archetypes or archetypal characters.

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