[Introspective] Luna Park and the other political songs

[Bill Cash]

Hullo, all, it's one of my rare posts to the list!

I received Fundamental and Fundamentalism a week or so ago and I am really enjoying them.  I wanted to see if people had a similar impression of what Luna Park was actually about.  (I'm excerpting below an old e-mail from Erik Cedergren, which is the only thing I think I read about the song so far.)  I should say I'm an American.

My take on the song is that it isn't just about escapism, but that I read a deeper meaning of terrorism and the new post 9/11 (or 7/7) security state.  I see Luna Park as our society as a whole, but society thinks it is being menaced by this brooding danger.  When the lyrics say "when we're scared we're happy," I think it is saying that there is a fearful public that either secretly wants there to be terrorist threats or else the governments need to have them around to make us feel like somebody's doing their job.  The future's dark in Luna Park, and we muddle-headed citizens want to believe that there is so much danger in the world.  Even the line about "mak[ing] your mark" seems to refer to shooting people or targeting cities for destruction.  

In this light, I think the song should be read alongside Integral.  Whereas Integral is the government's anthem to "the persuaded we," Luna Park is our own song about being paralyzed by fear.  When you put these two alongside I'm With Stupid and ILTR (which I think is about wanting to be proud about being British, but being repulsed by the current Government), much of the album seems political.  

Comments are invited!

Bill Cash
Columbus

 
-----For a good time, visit www.billcash.org.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Erik Cedergren <ecgn at algonet.se>
To: introspective at tcp.com
Sent: Saturday, May 6, 2006 1:36:52 PM
Subject: [Introspective] First listen to Fundamental - My 1/50

Hi folks!

        Luna Park - Another slow track, an electric harpsichord 
playing in the background all the time, alluding (probably) to the 
mechanical instruments used in amusement parks, maybe Blackpool. A 
song about escapism, or at least that's my impression. Rhythmically, 
it reminds me of "Boy Strange"