I chose this as a starting point becauese for one, I love Black Francis, but two because I remember the first time I heard this song. I replayed the track about a dozen times and thought, surely this is not a real person- is it? William Radcliffe did not seem to be a real person after all but the lyric does call attention to the very real possibility of ultra secret experiments performed by the government. A track placed smack in the middle of the 1999 release Pistolero between other equally intriguing songs, (hell, the whole album is intriguing, go buy it!). This song stood out for me and engaged me in a search for Billy.
Below are the lyrics:
Billy Radcliffe-Frank Black and the Catholics:Pistolero 1999
Billy Radcliffe didn't go to town
and when he looked up he was really looking down.
Catching blue in his eyes that were brown, Billy Radcliffe.
Billy Radcliffe owned by the state
from his first breath, to the cemetery gate.
He was the first boy born in space, Billy Radcliffe.(Billy Radcliffe)
Billy Radcliffe very first one
he really had lived just a cursed son
a split in half man sang the cherubim,
Billy Radcliffe
Billy Radcliffe saw what the Devil man saw (He Saw)
a spot of blue in the black of the eye of the Lord (The Lord)
such a cruel love is the kind that has wrought, Billy Radcliffe.
Billy sadly didn't live long he had to stay there
because he wasn't too strong,
he's stepping out the door blowing up like a bomb, Billy Radcliffe.
Billy Radcliffe, very first one.
Really a hatched man, a light switch son.
A split in half man sang the cherubim.
I bet you cried when he died now didja, now didja??
Now Billy Radcliffe saw what the Devil man saw(He saw)
A spot of blue in the black of the eye of the Lord.(The Lord)
Now Billy Radcliffe saw what the devil had
and I feel very bad for..
... William Radcliffe.
Aow!
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10 comments:
Excellent.
Yeah a reply button! I like that song alot, i often find myself thinking well what did the devilman see exactly BTW i'm not a native speaker of english and my popculture knowledge is only soso so lyrics analysing is hard for me, usually people have to point things out for me, eg places named after numbers is a song about black holes, i heard ramona sing is a tribute to the ramones, man called czar was about denver no? that whole first album rocked tho, i know fu manchu is a series of slightly racist books in the sherlock holmes vein by sax rohmer, actually read one of those, they are also mentioned in the secret history by donna tartt BTW other bands i would like to see some analysis of is belly star album i really loved that album in the 90s also throwing muses, what were they all about eh? But ontopic: who actually is Billy Radcliff and what is the pid-relation? I rember when Pistolero came out I thought it was great but looking back I think the albums after that is when he started to be really good again altho I havent really listened to them. I always enjoyed that line rhyming Freddie Fender and Desmond Dekker and i bought albums by both artist as a result, i liked the desmond dekker one and saw him performing live before he died!
I just found out that 85 weeks is about captain beefheart, even tho in retrospect it's very obvious, just to show how much i suck at this
Anon,
Thank you for your comments! I am glad to have you visit.
This forum is not necessarily PID realted or connected, if readers/bloggers happens to stumble across interesting connections, well you know that there will be rejoicing, as PID enthusiasts are always up for a thrill.
My intention is solely to feature songs that are mysterious and/or elusive, and sometimes artists for the purpose of sharing thoughts and ideas about their creation. I thought that sounded like alot of fun. (drool).
That said, I love to whip out Places Named After Numbers on intelligent FB virgins. There's such a pleasure in the realization of it's meaning after the warming, yearning effects of a love song have set in. Black Francis is a genius.
Maybe this song was based on a science fiction novel?
Yes, I have seen this mentioned on the frankblack.net site. Although in all my wanderings I have yet to find a quote from Black Francis himself about this lyric, maybe I should have asked him but instead I kissed his cheek.
Another mystery is that "Tossed" is labeled as "Instrumental Version" and I remember reading that the lyrics were opted out...hmmmm.
From a couple of things I picked up on.... to me it sounds like poor Billy Radcliffe may have been a cloned boy...."the very first one".
I'm sure they do this now, but of course, we only hear about the sheep that was cloned. I would go further and say I know they do this, but of course there is no way to prove it.
I see there are major stories in lyrics if only one knows where to look and how to interpret the meanings. Some of the songs in the PID series on YT has brought up questions for me- but maybe some I really do "get".
Really glad this blog is here as I'm sure I'm not the only one "lost in lyrics" LOL :^)
I choose to restate my prior comment about cloning humans.... I choose to say that I THINK they may be doing this now. :)
I agree: I picture the tiny, lonely embryo growing and born in space. The idea is heart wrenching because the lyric sends my imagination conjuring images of a child unable to ever join the human race it belongs to. I also think of the kid "seeing what the devil had" as being in a wonderful position high above the earth where many humans long to live, and yet feeling deprived, and rejected, and rightly so.
I heard this song for the first time this morning and I have since played it about 30 times (it's only 2 minutes long!). Mojollikins gets very close to what I think it's about. OK so here goes. Frank says categorically at the end of v2 that Billy was the first boy born in space. This makes sense of the first verse. Billy Radcliffe didn't go to town (because he couldn't, he was in space= isolation, like Mo says, a bit like Walt Dangerfield in the Philip K Dick novel Dr Bloodmoney), when he looked up he was looking right down (only possible looking from from orbit around the Earth) catching blue (the colour of Earth's oceans) in his eyes that were brown. So a sense of isolation and disorientation (up/down, blue/brown). Then in v2 the concept of BIlly being owned by the government (State or [United] States) depending on how you hear the lyric, "from cradle to grave" because he is the result of some kind of experiment... First boy born in space -it's the State that sends space labs up there after all, and Billy is an experimental clone (split in half man... A cell split/cloned... A "hatched man" from an egg, a "light-switch son": electricity used to provoke cell division). Then the lines about the cherubim... Cherubim being angels, and Billy being (in a sense) in or near Heaven (in the sky) but almost taunted by these angels, who call him a split in half man. "A spot of blue in the black in the eye of The Lord", again we have eye colour (genetics), The Lord and the Devil go with the angels to give us an indication of Billy's unique cosmic perspective. The black in the eye of The Lord could be space itself, and the blue is once again the earth, only visible from the perspective of someone not on the surface of the planet. Billy didn't live long (clones often die early), he "had to stay there" (in space) because he "wasn't too strong"... The gravity on earth would have destroyed him? So thanks Mojollikins, I think we are on the same page. What a great song!
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