Known for its outrageous and controversial stage performances led by the bands' theatrical singer/songwriter Friday, they first began playing small shows in Dublin gaining them a cult audience and ridicule from the culturally conservative community. With an audience the band were able to issue their first single in 1980, the independently-produced Twenty Tens (I've Been Smoking All Night), which led to a deal with the Rough Trade Records.
Gavin Friday and Guggi, along with third vocalist 'Dave-iD Busaras' (David Scott Watson), guitarist Dik Evans (brother of U2's The Edge), bassist Strongman (Trevor Rowan, brother of Guggi) and drummer Pod (Anthony Murphy), completed the original lineup. Soon after the release of their first single the bands drummer, Pod, left the group and was replaced by Haa-Lacka Binttii (aka Bintii, aka Princess Tinymeat, neé Daniel Figgis), who was in turn replaced by drummer Mary D'Nellon.
1981 to 1982 would see the band release many innovative and creative projects such as A New Form of Beauty, a project that contained four chapters, each on a different format. In 1982 the Virgin Prunes released their debut album ...If I Die, I Die. Heresie, a French boxset, was also released. The boxset contained two 10 inch records, one with studio recordings from just before the "If I Die I Die" sessions and one with a registration of a Paris concert .
In 1984 both Guggi and Dik Evans, unhappy with the music business, left the band. This forced drummer, Mary D'Nellon to take up the guitar and allowed Pod to return as the band's drummer. The Virgin Prunes started to record the album Sons Find Devils, which has never been released.
In 1985, confusingly enough, a retrospective video titled Sons Find Devils was released; this video had nothing to do with the unreleased album of the same name. Later that same year, Over the Rainbow, a compilation of rarities, was also released.
In the summer of 1986 the band, now a four-piece recording music written for Sons Find Devils, finally released a new album, The Moon Looked Down and Laughed. Also that year frontman Gavin Friday left the group. His departure was confirmed in the liner notes of the band's 1987 live album The Hidden Lie which contained a short statement confirming the band's break-up.
After disbanding as The Virgin Prunes, D'Nellon, Strongman and Busaras formed an offshoot group called The Prunes, which released three albums between 1988 and 1990 (Lite Fantastik, 1988; Nada, 1989; and Blossoms & Blood, 1990). Dik Evans played on The Prunes' album Lite Fantastik.
In 1998, Cleopatra Records re-released the Sons Find Devils video, along with a soundtrack album on CD. This was the first commercially-available Virgin Prunes material to be released since 1993 and, for a few years, the only commercially available full-length Virgin Prunes album on compact disc.
Gavin Friday has since had a reasonably successful solo career in both music and film. Guggi remains an influential artist in Dublin. Dave-id still records as a solo artist in Ireland. After 20 years of self-imposed seclusion from the rock world, Dik Evans recently gave an overview of his and brother Edge's early years in U2 for the December 2005 issue of 'Word Magazine'. Trevor, Mary and Anthony Murphy live quietly throughout Europe.
Pagan Lovesong
Virgin Prunes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No sun shines for me
Savage but gentle
The animal within
And I see it now
And I see it now
I had a weird dream
I had a weird dream
I'm taking it away
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
I want to steal your heart, your heart
With these eyes I cannot see
And this cold heart never bleeds, never, oh no, never
Sweet smell this poison, the colour you bring
Tongue swollen venom, to touchâ?¦to love
And I see it now
And I see, see it now
I had a weird dream
Watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream
I'm taking it away
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
I want to steal your heart
I want to eat, eat your heart
I reach for the sky but never, never can touch
It seems so easy, easy to me
Still I cannot, will not take this thing
Hearsay, this heresy
A victim to sin
Eternal the torment, the answer lies within
I had a weird dream watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream I'm taking it away
The love you give is the love, the love you get, you get
The song "Pagan Lovesong" by Virgin Prunes is a haunting and enigmatic exploration of desire and temptation. The lyrics are filled with contradictions and paradoxes - the singer is both savage and gentle, wants to steal the heart of the object of their affection but cannot see with their eyes, and yearns for love while also feeling tortured by it. The repeated refrain of "I had a weird dream watch but don't touch, I'm taking it away" adds to the dreamlike quality of the song and suggests a struggle between the conscious and unconscious mind.
Line by Line Meaning
Heathen, a pagan
I am a non-believer, an outsider in this society
No sun shines for me
I feel lonely and unloved in this world
Savage but gentle
My inner self is wild, untamed, but I am also capable of love and tenderness
The animal within
My emotions and desires are primal and instinctual
And I see it now
I am becoming more aware of my true self
I had a weird dream
My subconscious is trying to communicate with me
Watch but don't touch
I am tempted by something but know it is better to resist
I'm taking it away
I am removing myself from this temptation
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
I am burying my desires and temptations deep within me
I want to steal your heart, your heart
I want to possess your love, your essence
With these eyes I cannot see
I am blinded by my own desires and cannot see the truth
And this cold heart never bleeds, never, oh no, never
I am emotionally closed off and incapable of expressing love
Sweet smell this poison, the colour you bring
Your love is intoxicating and addictive
Tongue swollen venom, to touch...to love
Your love is both sweet and dangerous
I want to eat, eat your heart
I want to consume your love, possess it completely
I reach for the sky but never, never can touch
My desires are unattainable, a distant dream
It seems so easy, easy to me
Love appears simple and uncomplicated, but it is not
Still I cannot, will not take this thing
I cannot bring myself to fully embrace love
Hearsay, this heresy
My unconventional views on love are seen as blasphemy
A victim to sin
My love is seen as immoral and sinful by society
Eternal the torment, the answer lies within
My internal struggle with love will never end, and the answer must come from within
The love you give is the love, the love you get, you get
The love you put out into the world is the love you will receive in return
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVID KELLY, TREVOR ROWEN, RICHARD EVANS, DAVID WATSON, GAVIN FRIDAY, DEREK ROWEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@therumtumtiger
Heathen, a pagan
No sun shines for me
Savage but gentle
The animal within
And I see it now
And I see it now
I had a weird dream
Watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream
I'm taking it away
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
I want to steal your heart, your heart
With these eyes I cannot see
And this cold heart never bleeds, never, oh no, never
Sweet smell this poison, the colour you bring
Tongue swollen venom, to touchâ?¦to love
And I see it now
And I see, see it now
I had a weird dream
Watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream
I'm taking it away
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
I want to steal your heart
I want to eat, eat your heart
I reach for the sky but never, never can touch
It seems so easy, easy to me
Still I cannot, will not take this thing
Hearsay, this heresy
A victim to sin
Eternal the torment, the answer lies within
I had a weird dream watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream I'm taking it away
The love you give is the love, the love you get, you get
@ellagrintal1945
I can't believe that this is not on spotify... amazing song
@therumtumtiger
Yeah a lot of the virgin prunes isn't on Spotify and is also lost to time... We may never hear some of the songs they made ever again since they went missing. I hope one day we'll be able to listen to them.
@aliencblake
@The Rum Tum Tiger er go buy
@therumtumtiger
@aliencblake wut?
@aliencblake
Aah they r tuff to get / expensive... geez
@therumtumtiger
@aliencblake I have bought a few of them... But I don't understand still! XD Sorry.
@therumtumtiger
Heathen, a pagan
No sun shines for me
Savage but gentle
The animal within
And I see it now
And I see it now
I had a weird dream
Watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream
I'm taking it away
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
I want to steal your heart, your heart
With these eyes I cannot see
And this cold heart never bleeds, never, oh no, never
Sweet smell this poison, the colour you bring
Tongue swollen venom, to touchâ?¦to love
And I see it now
And I see, see it now
I had a weird dream
Watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream
I'm taking it away
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
Put it in a bag, hide it in a tree
I want to steal your heart
I want to eat, eat your heart
I reach for the sky but never, never can touch
It seems so easy, easy to me
Still I cannot, will not take this thing
Hearsay, this heresy
A victim to sin
Eternal the torment, the answer lies within
I had a weird dream watch but don't touch
I had a weird dream I'm taking it away
The love you give is the love, the love you get, you get
@sboloshis1188
Thought it said “wet dream” watch but don’t touch lol.
@therumtumtiger
@S Boloshis Pretty much everybody thought it was "Wet dream", XD Heck even I did before listening closely... And a Google search.
@JeffBecerra1
@S Boloshis I thought it said wet dream too. Shows where our heads are at 😂