Re: The true meaning of SIG

[Dances With Voles <jondr@sco.COM>]

If I were sstevens@snap.ua.OZ.AU, I might have said:
>   I think I've got this Kate Bush thing bad.  Why else would I repeatedly
>play the stuff I hate in the hope that I'll come to like it?  Many is the
>night that I've gritted my teeth trying to get used to the demented airhorn
>sound in "Not This Time".  Where did they get this from?  It's probably
>a quaint ethnic instrument that Paddy discovered and just had to play,
>little knowing that it was actually used not to make music, but to summon
>goats.

Someone has made me LAUGH... out loud!  In THIS newsgroup.  I can't believe
it.  Selwyn, you're a genius.

>   Anyway, my reason for writing is to put you poor people out of your
>misery, and finally reveal the TRUE meaning of "Suspended in Gaffa".  As
>this is considerably different from Kate's explanation of the song, I am
>obliged to give a reason for why She would lie.  Quite simply, She didn't
>want to admit that She'd written yet another song about sex.

You know, I posted something JUST like this (minus the bit about inheriting
a small fortune) a long long time ago, when I was but a gaffa newbie.  Did
anyone take it seriously?  Well, IED did give it a short consideration, but
the general feeling was that I had been eating those Special Mushrooms too
often.

>   SIG is in fact a simple tale about a girl who is due to inherit a
>considerable estate.  However, there is a clause in the will which says
>that she only gets the money when she in turn produces an heir (thereby
>ensuring the continuation of the family line).  But the girl and her
>boyfriend are not yet ready to consummate their relationship.

I buy it.  It works for me!

>      "Out in the garden, There's half of a heaven":
>The garden is Eden, and the rest of the line is the Snake's argument.
>According to the Snake, they get the other half of heaven when they dispense
>with the fig leaves.

Even better, the garden is a classic trysting place (I think I said as much
in my original treatise, back in '86 or '87).  Since the woman in question
doesn't really want to be there for the classic trysting reasons, it's only
half of a heaven... it could be heavenly, but she's so nervous that it won't
be, it is only half.  I don't the Biblical reference is required, although
there are others in the song that are undeniably Biblical.

>      "It's a plank in me eye, With a camel, Who's trying to get through it"
>The meaning of these words in the context of the song has nothing to do with
>the meanings of the phrases in the bible from which they are derived.  Quite
>simply, "plank in me eye" refers to fear of bodily invasion by something
>long and hard, and the (large) camel attempting to get through the (small)
>eye of a needle likewise refers to doubts and anxiety about the mechanics
>of the sexual act.

What is the actual Biblical meaning of the plank?  I'm not an expert on the
New Testament (comes of growing up Jewish I suppose).

>      "I won't open boxes That I am told not to. I'm not a Pandora.":
>The reference to opening boxes is another fairly obvious sexual metaphor.
>This line also reveals the key to understanding her sexual anxiety and
>ignorance.  Her religious/puritanical upbringing has told her that sex is
>wrong, and that giving in to lust has dire consequences, like the opening
>of Pandora's box.

I don't think it's so much "giving in to lust" as "letting go of virginity
for something so apparently trivial (money)."  She's clearly not lusting
after the guy in question - this sexual liason is clearly a business deal
and she's revulsed by it, but for some reason unwilling to avoid it.

>   So there you go.  I can't help but think that this makes more sense than
>the official interpretation.  Also, don't you find it strange that a song
>which is supposedly deeply philosophical sounds so jolly?

I don't know, it always sounded truly miserable to me.  Fits in perfectly
with the concept of someone who is facing losing her virginity to bear a
child that she doesn't want just for the sake of some greenbacks.

>   Finally, perhaps someone could ask Kate if She's heard of a 1947
>Associated British Pathe film called "Blowin' the _Gaff_".  Coincidentally,
>this movie is about a young Catholic girl who stands to inherit a large
>estate from her eccentric great aunt, on the condition that she marry.
>Its cinematic release was abortive, due to a poor script and worse acting.
>The cast were complete unknowns, aside from a brief cameo by Mickey Rooney.
>   It is rumoured that a rare print of this film resides in the private
>collection of _Terry Gilliam_.  Strange phenomena...

I don't know if you were making this all up, but it sure sounds authentic to
me!

Thank you for a brilliant and entertaining article.

-- 
Jon Drukman (pure acid hell)                    uunet!sco!jondr   jondr@sco.com
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With hungered flesh obscurely, he mutely craved to adore.