Album: Embryonic (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • Frontman Wayne Coyne said of this space ballad in press notes: "An underlying story of regretting not being able to detect and understand evil, being haunted by how kind, gentle creatures are easily overpowered by the violent, mean beings. Humans are capable of such horrible things and create so much suffering in the world."
  • Coyne told Flavorwire his exploration of evil was triggered by the 1974 film The Night Porter. He explained: "I don't think it's based on a true story, but obviously there is truth in it - about this Nazi guard sadistically sexually molesting this Jewish teenage girl. I watched this movie because I couldn't get the sound to work up at [producer] Dave Fridmann's studio on his laser disc. I watched it three or four times without any sound on it, and I didn't understand exactly everything that was happening, but I think this silent version of this movie made me sit there and think, 'What is going on here?' And so, this movie has a twist in it. Even though she's being sort of molested by this guard, as the movie unfolds, we find that she's really become obsessed with the guard and really loves the guard and loves this submissive, dominating sort of relationship they have. And, you know; what was pleasure, and what's cruel and what's pain and what isn't and what's kind, all gets kind of mixed up."
  • This was used in the 2013 movie Horns, starring Daniel Radcliffe.

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