Heads
Dave Brock Lyrics

The first stanza of Dave Brock's "Heads" seems to be talking about the unending mystery of the vast universe, how the boundaries of infinity have never been defined. The use of the word 'atrophy' here implies a sort of stagnancy, like something once flourishing has now withered away. The following lines talk about how trophies keep stacking up, as if to remind ourselves of our own achievements, and that all human imagination and creativity are based on this very concept of glorifying ourselves. Meanwhile, the state of our spirit remains dormant and too late to be undone, almost as if the blind pursuit of these aspirations has left us helpless and stuck.

In the second stanza, Brock delves deeper into the idea of human control over our own lives. He seems to be dissecting the whole system of judgment and finding the whole 'talent hunt' culture superficial where collecting every prospect and running their tests turns to be quite futile. Even the people who eventually succeed at such endeavors end up losing their identity in the process, stripped of any genuine emotions, and expression. The lines which follow are quite disturbing, where he paints a picture of humans being treated like lifeless dolls in glass booths and possibly experimented upon, and pickled for the sake of posterity, eternally refreshed. The imagery of those lines alone sends a chill down the spine, giving the track an eerie sci-fi feel.

The final lines talk of our lack of depth of emotion and the hollowness of our connections with the world around. It’s obvious that Brock is urging people to put faith in science and technology, which have come a long way and that necromancy, which is the practice of communicating with the spirits of the dead, can live forever preserved in a jar. Here he probably points out how the quest for immortality inevitably has humans experimenting with death and the afterlife, trying to extend and conquer the boundaries of the unknown.