According to Harris, the lyrics of the song are inspired by
the 1963 film of the same name, which, semantically, is the second part
of the movie "Village Of The Damned"
("Village of the Cursed")
(originally filmed in 1960 and
returned in 1995). Both
movies based on the novel
"The Midwich Cuckoos"
Midwich ») (1957), the great
British science writer
John Wyndham (1903-
1969).
The plot unfolds in
small village Midwich, where the
people and the living are immersed in a strange
sleep that lasts a day. A few months later,
it is found that all the fertile women of the village were pregnant. The six
children born upset the village. They have twice the growth of
the normal, overdeveloped intelligence, the same, blond hair and one
a strange, piercing look that can telepathically direct them
actions of their fellow villagers. People feel threatened by it
in the presence of the children and finally decide to kill them so that
prevent their possible extinction by a mysterious, more developed form
of life.
The lyrics of the song seem to be the thoughts of one
an observer narrating the murder of the last child. The narrator,
initially, he seems to be trying to substantiate why the child
must be killed, but after killing the child, leaving temporarily
unanswered the question "what did we learn", wants to make the listener to
realize how unjustified the murder was.
He then addresses the participants in the crime and gives
the answer to his question. He warns them that in reality
these are the "children of the accursed." He tells them that they are at a dead end.
He is "with his back to the wall". The children who were killed are symbolized by
flaming candles that scatter light. Their death is, that is,
didactic. It is a warning to those who participated in that
they will experience a similar fate if they deviate from the limits of what is acceptable
defined by the society to which they belong.
And the lyrics of this piece are governed by the theme that characterizes
the whole album. The role of the victim here has the last child while the role
of the authoritarian power have its persecutors.
