The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

I predict that this thread will get at least 40 replies and you won't be any the wiser at the end!

As for what I think...umm...pass 

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1665&a mp;PN=4

we did talk about this at least once, but like rh said, no real conclusions.

partly beacuse we didn't really go into much depth , but also because it is such an abstract work that different people are bound to come away with different perceptions.

I will say for certain what it is NOT: it's not allegory, or fable, or anything that comes to a specific conclusion about the world. Nor is it a mystery-type narrative, where the pieces come together to show you the author's intended answer.

It could be a spritual journey, like Hesse's Sidhartha, except that the phases the main character goes through do not seem to lead to any real spritual discovery at the end. The imagery is often religious in nature, and it would help to research elements of mythology...but it won't provide much more than reference. Certainly Lilith and the Lamia, for example, have different functions in the story than they do in their original settings.

Mr. Gabriel also seems to be examining sexuality in a number of places. There's a lot of temptation and semi-erotic imagery in the lyrics. There aren't too many other works that deal with the main character losing his genitalia (even Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", the only other work that immediately comes to my mind, was accidental rather than voluntary).

I personally find that the most frustrating element is that of the brother.

It was the ambiguity that drew me to it too, and what makes it one of my all time favourite rock albums.

The lamb could also lie himself down on a butchers table, but then it would ended up being a single instead of the double-album it became.

YO! i know exactly what "the lamb" is about. Just read the liner notes in the side of the CD case and maybe look a little harder online.

Liner notes are at http://userpages.umbc.edu/~dkelly2/74the_lamb.html if you don't have them in your CD case

Full annotations are at http://www.skwc.com/essent/genesis.html just click "download the PDF file" and go to page 396. The annotations begin there. VERY VERY COOL STUFF HERE. I just bought "the lamb" yesterday and it was AWESOME. Grade A prog when you understand what it means.

bump

After 'Close to the Edge' my favourite album. Have my own subjective ideas on the conceptual meaning but that's what makes these things great.

The Lamb is basically about a boy's love for his adorable dog. His dog's name is fluffy; she is a cocker spaniel. She is mild tepered and enjoys long walks on the beach.
One time Bill (the boy) got poison ivy and it was very unpleasant. Fluffy, however, did not get poison ivy. There was a pharmacy near Bill's small yet cozy home that sold a sort of candy not sold in most corner stores, and Fluffy took him here to sample this candy, in an effort to cure his inconceivably devastating and often itchy malady.
This candy successfully cleared up the poison ivy, BUT it turned him into an awful poet.
Bill began writing terrible poem upon terrible poem, which contributed to the heart problems suffered by the dictator of Latveria, and resulted, interestingly enough, in the liberation of that country's people. However, he never knew this.
On and on the abysmal verse went until finally Bill could bear the burden no longer and droppedd to his knees, begging Fluffy to end his suffering (along with everyone else's).
Now, Fluffy loved Bill dearly, and gazed into his eyes as he said this. She could not bear the thought of living without her dear owner and companion, but his pain was so great, she could not help but oblige.
Fluffy leapt fowards, burying her fangs in Bill's throat and toar out his esophagus, along with several of his more important veins and arteries. She proceded to feast upon these entrails, as sort of a demented canine eulogy to her kind and forbidden love. Shortly thereafter she dragged the corpse into their back yard and burried it beside the begonias and lilies in their fantastic garden.
The dog continued to pay Bill's bills and taxes, so that no one would notice his absence, though it would occur to her in her old age that no one would have missed him anyways.
Anyhow, Fluffy died a reasonably content and respected dog at the ripe old age of seventeen, having published a few books of poetry and short fiction herself; mostly quite well received by critics. She was burried in France, next to Jim Morrison, because Morrison had so enjoyed her second anthology of sonnets (entitled "barking at the World") that he had requested this double-plot in his secret will, which only John Densmore knew of.
On disk of the lamb, Derek Shulman is taking a respectful stroll through this cemetary and happens upon Morrison's grave. Next to it he is shocked to find Fluffy (his all time favourite poet and admittedly the prime inspiration in forming his popular progressive rock band "Gentle Giant")'s grave. He called over his good friend Kerry Minnear, also a fan of Fluffy's, and they wept. The second disk is an exploration of the emotions experienced by Shulman and Minnear as they mourned over the grave of Fluffy: truly the greatest poet of our time.
And that is why "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" is the greatest album ever.

THE END.

HaroldTheBarrel wrote: The Lamb is basically about a boy's love for his adorable dog. His dog's name is fluffy; she is a cocker spaniel. She is mild tepered and enjoys long walks on the beach. One time Bill (the boy) got poison ivy and it was very unpleasant. Fluffy, however, did not get poison ivy. There was a pharmacy near Bill's small yet cozy home that sold a sort of candy not sold in most corner stores, and Fluffy took him here to sample this candy, in an effort to cure his inconceivably devastating and often itchy malady. This candy successfully cleared up the poison ivy, BUT it turned him into an awful poet. Bill began writing terrible poem upon terrible poem, which contributed to the heart problems suffered by the dictator of Latveria, and resulted, interestingly enough, in the liberation of that country's people. However, he never knew this. On and on the abysmal verse went until finally Bill could bear the burden no longer and droppedd to his knees, begging Fluffy to end his suffering (along with everyone else's). Now, Fluffy loved Bill dearly, and gazed into his eyes as he said this. She could not bear the thought of living without her dear owner and companion, but his pain was so great, she could not help but oblige. Fluffy leapt fowards, burying her fangs in Bill's throat and toar out his esophagus, along with several of his more important veins and arteries. She proceded to feast upon these entrails, as sort of a demented canine eulogy to her kind and forbidden love. Shortly thereafter she dragged the corpse into their back yard and burried it beside the begonias and lilies in their fantastic garden. The dog continued to pay Bill's bills and taxes, so that no one would notice his absence, though it would occur to her in her old age that no one would have missed him anyways. Anyhow, Fluffy died a reasonably content and respected dog at the ripe old age of seventeen, having published a few books of poetry and short fiction herself; mostly quite well received by critics. She was burried in France, next to Jim Morrison, because Morrison had so enjoyed her second anthology of sonnets (entitled "barking at the World") that he had requested this double-plot in his secret will, which only John Densmore knew of. On disk of the lamb, Derek Shulman is taking a respectful stroll through this cemetary and happens upon Morrison's grave. Next to it he is shocked to find Fluffy (his all time favourite poet and admittedly the prime inspiration in forming his popular progressive rock band "Gentle Giant")'s grave. He called over his good friend Kerry Minnear, also a fan of Fluffy's, and they wept. The second disk is an exploration of the emotions experienced by Shulman and Minnear as they mourned over the grave of Fluffy: truly the greatest poet of our time. And that is why "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" is the greatest album ever. THE END.

kinda far out...

dude..

thank you...