Holy Water Lyrics
Holy bible on the night stand next to me
As I'm raped by another monkey circus freak
Trying to take my indignance away from me
Holy devil in the flesh some might believe
And they take thine majesty so seriously
It's the big lies that are more likely to be believed
Mind your mother if it makes you feel at ease
As you're raped by another monkey circus freak
It's the big lies that are more likely to be believed
hey guys, this is from "New Metal Crown" a biography about soundgarden. Chris talked about how this song is so often construed as anti-religion or anti-anything in particular, quite the contrary. ironically enough the song is about pressing any belief on any person in particular too fiercely, "'Holy Water' is just more of a poetic way of saying i don't appreciate having anybody's ideas thrust upon me like their baggage... [it] is going to be taken, literally as religion. But it isn't; it's anything. Vegetarianism or political ideas, or any kind of idea. new age-ism, anything. I think when people offer you these things, especially if they offer it to you aggressively, then they're assuming that you're confused and unhappy. But to me, that's insulting. And that's what the song is based on. ism-ism"
perfect. thought i was all alone for thinking that no matter your stance, it's always rude to treat the other person as ignorant or unhappy just because they don't necessarily "believe" your side of the argument. thanks Chris
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I make $100h while I'm traveling the world. Last week I worked by my laptop in Rome, Monti Carlo and finally Paris…This week I'm back in the USA. All I do are easy tasks from this one cool site. check it out, :) AND GOOD LUCK.:) HERE====)> easywork2.com/
@Dylan6998 yeah. this is an issue forsure. As a mystic myself who has a lot of spiritual knowledge and is connected to the universe in many ways many other mortal humans are not - there are many spiritual energies...that are at best, subtle to most people - but very very collossal to others. When I first started getting into spiritual stuff and I got really excited about it and wanted to talk about it with literally anyone who would listen just to throw ideas around and hear other opinions and try and find people who might also have similar interests...
@Dylan6998 yeah. this is an issue forsure. As a mystic myself who has a lot of spiritual knowledge and is connected to the universe in many ways many other mortal humans are not - there are many spiritual energies...that are at best, subtle to most people - but very very collossal to others. When I first started getting into spiritual stuff and I got really excited about it and wanted to talk about it with literally anyone who would listen just to throw ideas around and hear other opinions and try and find people who might also have similar interests as I have gotten into and feel excited about - or trying to learn from others who may know more than I did at that point to increase my knowledge of what interested me and what I felt passion towards & was getting into that made me feel excited about the Universe and my place in it - I would bring up topics like Astrology, Numerology, Mystical Theology, Energy reading and healing, etc - and I would honestly, get mostly backlash from people who didn't want to hear any of it out of fear or lack of development in their own spiritual journey at the point in time that I brought this up to them & was so excited about my newfound knowledge and passion towards these topics. Often I tried to teach them what I knew and try to offer different ways of looking at the world from what I had found to be true...but never really to push anything onto people. Hey, listen to what I think is cool and what I vibe with and then you are free to make your own decision on whether or not this interests you as well or whether or not you agree with or believe in what I'm talking about. But pushing this too far when others clearly had zero interest in talking about it for whatever personal reason they had - I learned that this went against the laws of 'eternal law' which is like...not a good thing. Some people aren't ready, and that needs to be respected. Or you may fuck them up on their spiritual journey.
Yeah, I really love Cornell's sarcastic attitude towards all religion. He was brought up with strictly religious parents and schooling, and in his music, he seems to be rebelling from this. That is a recurring theme in his music.
Okay, this is an opinion from someone who has been baptized a Catholic, gotten his first communion and has been confirmed and is still angry at religion at the same time. The bible is full of stupid things if you read it all the way through. Honestly, I won't ever kill anyone and sure, metallic spiders crawl down my spine whenever I lie but I don't give up anything for lent and I eat meat every fucking Friday of the year. You can believe in God and be indignant towards religion. God is your conscience and it knows when its done something wrong and religion is what says that you're not supposed to have sex unless you undergo some ceremony that you have to pay a priest or the state for. I think that what's rusting Chris is all of the inconsistencies, not the concept itself.
Only 4 comments? The riff is sick. As for the meaning, it's gotta be about religion confusing him and stopping him from living his life. Best song on Badmotorfinger imo.
Yeah i agree, the song is about religion and how much he grew tired of it and of the attempts of the preachers to try to brain wash him and make him believe in something he doesn't want to: "As you're raped by another monkey circus freak It's the big lies that are more likely to be believed "
Wow, nice analysis. Yeah, I think it's about religion now. I love this song. It has a funky vibe to it. One of the gems on an album full of gems, the perfect Badmotorfinger.
Supah Dude, stop being ignorant. Not one person said chris did not believe in god, and even if they did learn to live with it. Believing in god has nothing to do with christianity or any other religion, get over yourself.
Back on topic, I think this song is to do with his hate of how organized relgions tend to brainwash and mentally imprison their followers, and how he wants to be free of it to live his own life.
When I first heard it, I figured it had something to do with religion. After a couple times, I realized holy water probably doesn't refer to holy water itself. I think that it's about something with good intentions causing a bad outcome. Instead of helping to cleanse him, the holy water is rusting him.
This person is in a dry place, a lonely place, a place that needs some newness or refreshing in their relationship with God.
Desert roads is a road of life that is dry, and lonely. This person is needing a refreshing, in them selves and in their relationship with God.
forgiveness is like sweet (desirable) words honey acts as a natural preservative and possesses strong antiseptic or medicine qualities symphonies (forgiveness) are loud, and you can feel the music vibrate with in you body. Holy water is the refreshing or cleansing, a washing of one’s self
Dead man- person who is not right with God , is a sinner, this person wants to make a change, from the dry, lonely life they have.
The traditional way to baptize someone is to go to the river, and be baptized to make life changes, for the death ( old man) barrel (old man dying spiritually), and resurrection (new life or being born again in Jesus) of Jesus.
Don’t want to abuse, take advantage of, God’s virtue, His ability to love and forgive, God’s ability to pardon someone for their sin.
Knowing God’s grace is virtue…… gives this person the desire to make changes every day. wanting to be changed by the spirit of God.
The whole heart of the song is about the power of forgiveness and what it really means to be forgiven by God.
seems to be that the church teachings a growing old and stopping him from living his life