the NachtKabarett

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Eat Me, Drink Me Lyrical References

All Writing & Content © Nick Kushner Unless Noted Otherwise

An engraving of one device of the sinners' torment from Dante's 'Divine Comedy'
"I'm just like rolling a stone up a hill in Hades"
You And Me And The Devil Makes 3
Sisyphus by Franz von Stuck

Sisyphus is a figure in Greek mythology who was punished by the Gods for betraying their secrets and for his deceit on earth by being damned to an eternity of rolling a boulder up a never ending hill in Hell. In a comedic context an animated Sisyphus was also parodied in a Red Bull energy drink commercial circa 2005

A watercolor painting by Manson entitled Sisyphus

 

 

"We're on the line between the devil's tits and we've been driving on E"
Are You The Rabbit?

A pun on the song title of former Bauhaus singer and goth-rock found, Peter Murphy, 'The Line Between The Devil's Teeth (And That Which Cannot Be Repeat)'. Manson also stated that 'If I Was Your Vampire' "is the new 'Bela Lugosi's Dead.' It's the all-time gothic anthem".

 

 

"Rebels without applause"
Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery

"Rebels without applause"' is an allusion to the 1955 film, "Rebels Without a Cause", staring James Dean; a celebrity who appeared among many others in a series of flashing images during several performances throughout the Guns, God and Government world tour.

The working title for said track was quoted by Manson as being, 'Rebels without applause'. The above photo is of James Dean as it appeared during the live performance of 'The Death Song' on 2000-2001's Guns, God & Government tour which featured a flashing loop of dead and martyred celebrity as reflective of the song theme.

 

 

"A rush of panic and the lock has been raped"
EAT ME, DRINK ME
The lock, entrance to wonderland. In a sense, defiled. Coverpiece of 'The Rape of the Lock' by Aubrey Beardsley

In a less cartoonish, nightmare vision of Manson's which Eat Me, Drink Me's title track lyrically depicts, it isn't difficult to imagine a lock as the above but literally defiled by forced fellatio. As a historical literary allusion however, 'The Rape of the Lock' is an epic poem written in 1712 by Alexander Pope.

The poem itself is a satire of traditional epics and depicts a fantastic world of imaginary spirits, called 'sylphs', in place of the Gods in the conventional epic. It was inspired by the real life incident of a British nobleman who cut a lock of hair off the head of the woman whom he admired, the daughter of an equally powerful family. The event caused a rift between these two prominent families and Pope's poem was conceived to mend the rift between them.

It was later, posthumously to Pope, illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley whom Manson paid homage towards on The Golden Age of Grotesque (see MANSON as THE ARCH DANDY OF DADA writing on The NACHTKABARETT).

Aubrey Beardsley
painted by Jacques-Emile Blanche
Marilyn Manson, as the Arch Dandy of DADA
with the 'LOW ART GLOOMINATI'

The allusion relates, on a surface level, to the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah that Manson has previously used as a metaphor to illustrate his personal transformation during the formative stages in composing The Golden Age of Grotesque. In this case, the subtle metaphor for evolving his appearance by cutting his hair to fit the era.

Manson in a French accent, "Delilah, do not run with those scissors!"

(The girl often will pause now and pretend to sweep up the hair.)

Manson, without the accent, says: "I have no persona called Arch Dandy." Then to Delilah--a persona non grata--The Arch Dandy proclaims, "I am merely an idiosyncrat."

Marilyn Manson, "These Foolish Things" journal entry posted 5/25/02

 

 

Eat Me, Drink Me, admittedly being Manson most personal work to date contains many lyrical revisitations to past writings and innermost thoughts from the MarilynManson.com journal to the 2003 short film DOPPELHERZ.

I'm a kickstand in your mouth
and the tongue slamming on the brakes...
Ask yourself before you get in,
Your insurance won't cover this
Are Your The Rabbit?
I'm a kickstand in your mouth.
The insurance won't cover this.
DOPPELHERZ, 2003
Blow out the candles
On all my frankensteins.
At least my death wish will come true.
Putting Holes In Happiness
At least our death wishes will come true. We don't even need to blow out the candles. I hear that thunder, I hear it too. It's all my goddamn Frankensteins coming back for some sick closure.
no salvation, no forgiveness journal entry on Marilyn Manson.com, posted 3/3/2003.

MORE LYRICAL ALLUSIONS WILL BE PROGRESSIVELY ADDED BETWEEN SITE UPDATES. KEEP CHECKING BACK HERE AND THE DEVIL'S NOTEBOOKSECTION OF The NACHTKABARETT