Birth Skin / Death Leather
The Blood Brothers Lyrics
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Dawn: Wooing the blue from the crawling eyes of babes.
Midday: Vanished. Grinning through the sweat pores of harlots and whores.
Sundown: Opening a cloak of tentacles...preaching the gospel of cracked crystal beaks.
Dusk: Peeling back the birth skin like wrapping paper around a virgin. Vanish again.
Twilight: March on Electric Children!
And stronger than love.
The Blood Brothers' song Birth Skin/Death Leather is a poetic piece with rich imagery that invokes grotesque and macabre themes. The song opens with the enigmatic line, "Mr. Electric Ocean disappears and re-appears like a smiling/snarling phantom." This line sets the tone for the rest of the song, which can be fragmented into distinct sections representing different times of day. The dawn evokes a sense of innocence, with "babes" and "blue" being wooed, while midday and sundown present more sinister environments with "harlots and whores" and "tentacles" respectively. In both of these sections, "Mr. Electric Ocean" appears and disappears, perhaps as an embodiment of the dark forces at work in these environments.
The haunting imagery continues into dusk, where "the birth skin" is being peeled back "like wrapping paper around a virgin." Here, the band uses disturbing language to describe the shedding of innocence or purity. The final section, twilight, provides a call to action with the command, "March on Electric Children!" The song's closing line, "And you, with your self-righteous army of crotches spewing paper children, his death hole is deeper, and stronger than love," further emphasizes the song's bleakness and sense of danger. This striking line presents death as a more formidable force than love, suggesting that it's an inevitable part of existence that we must confront.
Line by Line Meaning
Mr. Electric Ocean disappears and re-appears like a smiling/snarling phantom.
Mr. Electric Ocean is very unpredictable and free-spirited. He appears and disappears often, and his moods can vary widely from friendly to hostile.
Dawn: Wooing the blue from the crawling eyes of babes.
At dawn, Mr. Electric Ocean has a calming presence and helps soothe the worries of innocent children.
Midday: Vanished. Grinning through the sweat pores of harlots and whores.
During the day, Mr. Electric Ocean disappears again and laughs at the negative influences and sinful behavior of women.
Sundown: Opening a cloak of tentacles...preaching the gospel of cracked crystal beaks.
At sunset, Mr. Electric Ocean envisions a mystical world filled with bizarre creatures and new forms of art.
Dusk: Peeling back the birth skin like wrapping paper around a virgin. Vanish again.
During dusk, Mr. Electric Ocean acts like a surgeon, delicately removing the old and revealing the new, before disappearing again.
Twilight: March on Electric Children!
At twilight, Mr. Electric Ocean calls upon his followers to keep moving forward towards a brighter future, with him as their guide.
And you, with your self righteous army of crotches spewing paper children,his death hole is deeper.
The singer criticizes someone who is hypocritical, claiming to have a moral superiority and a legion of worthless supporters, while suggesting that Mr. Electric Ocean's demise would be more profound than anything they could comprehend.
And stronger than love.
The final line suggests that Mr. Electric Ocean's power and influence are greater than even the strongest emotion of love.
Contributed by Arianna L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.