Originally coming to fame in the mid-1960s singing orchestral pop ballads as the frontman of The Walker Brothers, Walker went on to a solo career balancing a light entertainment/MOR ballad approach with increasing artistic innovations in arrangement and writing. Despite a series of acclaimed albums, a disastrous drop in sales forced him back into straight Middle of the road recordings with little of his own artistic input. This in turn eventually led to a Walker Brothers reunion in the mid-1970s (although the latter eventually moved, by mutual consent, into more avant-garde areas).
From the mid-1980s, Walker revived his solo career while drastically reinventing his artistic and compositional methods, via a series of acclaimed and vividly avant-garde albums. These combined his iconic voice with an unsettling avant-garde approach which owed more to modernist and post-modernist classical composition than to his pop singer past. This change in approach has been compared to "Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen".
Walker has been a continuing influence on other artists, in particular The Last Shadow Puppets, Marc Almond, Goldfrapp, Douglas Pearce of the band Death in June, Billy MacKenzie of The Associates, David Sylvian, Julian Cope, Antony Hegarty, Thom Yorke, Steven Wilson, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Trey Spruance, Perry Blake, Radiohead, Noah Lennox, Mikael Ã…kerfeldt, and the Divine Comedy/Neil Hannon.
Walker continued to release solo material until his death, and was signed to 4AD Records. As a record producer or guest performer he worked with a number of artists including Pulp, Ute Lemper, Bat For Lashes and Sunn O))).
Phrasing
Scott Walker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
'Neath a protein moon
In a protein sky
Running protein fields
With my protein eye
There's a protein song
Howling through the meat
Driving protein bods
From my protein street
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
From the south, the Klan sends roses
Lymph-lacquered nails hover in waifed autumn sun
For dragging down the back of summer
From the east come killer poses
Khrushchev's shoe beats a black tattoo
In the middle of the day
From the north flow floats with quivering virgins
Fresh from frozen catacombs
Did ya spot the die-cut crosses?
Did ya?
Did ya?
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
Pain is not alone
'Neath a protein moon
In a protein sky
Running protein fields
With my protein eye
Here's to a lousy life
Here's to a lousy life
Here's to a lousy life
Here's to a lousy life
The repetition of the phrase "Pain is not alone" throughout the song implies that the singer is trying to convince themselves, or someone else, that the pain they feel is not unique and that others have also suffered before. The bizarre imagery of a "protein moon" and "protein sky" reflects a sense of disconnection from reality, as if the singer is viewing the world through the lens of science and biology, rather than experiencing it directly. The mention of the "Klan" and "Khrushchev's shoe" suggest a political and historical context, but they are juxtaposed with more abstract and surreal images like "lymph-lacquered nails" and "quivering virgins," creating a disjointed and unsettling effect.
The line "Here's to a lousy life" at the end of the song could be interpreted as a sarcastic toast to the difficulties and hardships of existence, or it could be a genuine expression of hopelessness. Overall, the song seems to convey a sense of alienation, pain, and uncertainty about the world and one's place in it.
Line by Line Meaning
Pain is not alone
There are others experiencing pain.
'Neath a protein moon
Underneath a moon made of protein.
In a protein sky
The entire sky is made of protein.
Running protein fields
Running through fields made of protein.
With my protein eye
Using my eyes made of protein to see.
There's a protein song
There is a song made of protein.
Howling through the meat
The song is howling through the meat.
Driving protein bods
Causing bodies made of protein to move.
From the south, the Klan sends roses
The Ku Klux Klan is sending roses from the south.
Lymph-lacquered nails hover in waifed autumn sun
Nails coated in lymph are hovering in the autumn sun.
For dragging down the back of summer
Symbolizing the end of summer and the start of fall/winter.
From the east come killer poses
Killer poses are coming from the east.
Khrushchev's shoe beats a black tattoo
A reference to former Soviet leader Khrushchev's shoe banging incident at the United Nations.
In the middle of the day
Happening during the day time.
From the north flow floats with quivering virgins
Something flows from the north, and there are virgins that are quivering.
Fresh from frozen catacombs
The virgins have come from catacombs that were frozen.
Did ya spot the die-cut crosses?
Asking if the listener saw the die-cut crosses.
Did ya?
Reinforcing the previous question.
Here's to a lousy life
Toasting to a bad life.
Contributed by Nora L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.