Songfacts®:

• This was the first track off Manson's first album.
• The song consists of Manson reciting the poem Willy Wonka softly sang in the 1971 musical comedy Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory - "There's no earthly way of knowing, which direction we are going..." The first part of the poem is found in Ronald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the end of it (which describes death, Hell, and fear in general) was added for the film. Manson sometimes recites the poem at the beginning of his concerts.
• The song's official title is "Prelude (The Family Trip)." It is filled with werewolf-esque growling and a screaming voice in the background. It leads directly into the second track, "Cake and Sodomy," where the growling die down.
• Portrait of an American Family was a concept album about the fears of a middle-class white trash Christian family manifesting themselves. "Cake and Sodomy" is about conservative homophobia, "Lunchbox" is about a child deciding to become a rock star when he grows up, "Get Your Gunn" is about teenaged self-abuse, etc. Hence, this was an appropriate way to start it off.
• Prior to Portrait Of An American Family's release in 1994, Manson had already sampled most of this spoken-word prelude on a demo from his Spooky Kids era called Choklit Factory. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Matt - Scone, Australia
• When Manson remixed his song "Cake and Sodomy" for his second album, Smells Like Children, it was called "Everlasting C--ksucker," a reference to the Everlasting Gobstopper, which was a candy in the film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. The album also included a slow cover of "Cake and Sodomy" by Tony F. Wiggins called "White Trash," which was simply him singing it slowly while strumming his guitar.
• Manson was considered for the role of Willy Wonka in a remake of the classic children's film that originally starred Gene Wilder. Johnny Depp got the job; however, Depp has stated that he based his performance on Manson, much like he based his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Keith Richards. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Brett - Edmonton, Canada, for all above