Hypocrite

Album: ...As Midnight Approaches (1985)
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Songfacts®:

  • With phrases like "Hide Behind Your Bible," this song sounds like a straightforward swipe at religious fanaticism, but in an interview with Songfacts, frontman and lyricist Noel Jones said it was more personal than that, being about "an old boss of mine in the Civil Service. He was a devout Christian and a Toad. He didn't like me being in a rock band, that was far too different. He dropped little problems in my lap that I got blamed for and sacked by angry people who were sure I was incompetent, when all the wrong things had been staged by him. A true hypocrite who would drop [people] in the mire for being a minute late back from lunch, he would be out of the office for a lot longer praying for his miserable soul at Southwark Cathedral. He tried to get a girl sacked for being pregnant out of wedlock! After he got rid of me he tried to [ingratiate] himself with one of my old colleagues who happened to be gay. My old mate sent him packing, the sad, lonely and obviously frustrated little man. God rot him!"
  • Running to 3 minutes 59 seconds, "Hypocrite" which features some blistering axework from lead guitarist Simon Pengilly, was released on the band's own Wild Party label in 1985 as the B-side of "This Poison Fountain." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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