About TQATS: I have a few thoughts. First, take for granted that I hate deconstructive analysis. I believe that the overall flow of a piece is much more important than its composing elements, but; sometimes deconstruction is a good way to relate ideas. WARNING - THAT'S ALL THESE ARE.

Buddhism: I know that Buddhism is a relevant theme to a lot of Suzanne's work, either consciously or not. I am NOT claiming to have a good knowledge of Buddhist beliefs, I have only a very cursory experience with them. They are (however) a considerable part of my life. my study of Buddhism has been the avoidance of mental fixation (sickness), and the facilitation of the "normal mind" which is able to react to it's environments without the hindrance of thought.

Believe me, If this is a confusing statement it is because I am a horrible writer and I will be happy to elaborate. The point is: If the mind is fixed on the movement of feet, than that is where the mind dwells, and it will improperly be able to react to situations of the hand...the same is true of happiness. If the mind is fixed on happiness, and not free to enjoy the buoyancy of its surroundings, then the mind has become sick with happiness.

Reaction is the trademark description of the Soldier. In fact, soldiering itself - a profession of conflict - presents the idea of constant action/reaction. The ability to react via mental training to life, as opposed to having to force the mind to think through situations, is the goal of the Buddhist adept. In the same way, a soldier relies on his training to properly react to his situation instead of taking deadly time to contemplate. Perhaps this is why battle (I neither advocate nor discriminate the quality of violence inherent to battle) is such a constant theme in Suzanne's work. A well trained soldier in battle is a beautiful work of art in motion, like a marvelous dancer with impromptu steps. Please don't get bogged down in the battle metaphor, I'll move on.

Everything that the soldier does represents decisiveness: He fights. He watches, for the decisive purpose of knowing. We wonders, for the decisive purpose of reacting. He sees, for the purpose of understanding. He knows, for the purpose of being. Quite simply the soldier IS. He is less of a person, than a state of being.

Now the innocence and perfection of reaction confronts the corruption of fixation, the Queen. I am not implying that the queen is bad, and the soldier good. Those are, however, relevant determinations to be made. I am not enough to tackle them. I do believe that the song is explicit about the soldier having a certain mature/experienced air about himself, while the queen is young and immature.

The queen lives in solitude, a state which is made sterile of action and reaction. It may as well be death... "How weak you must feel, you are living here alone, and you are never revealed." She does not affect the world, nor the world her. But she has chosen this state (for whatever reason).

The key moment comes when the soldier walks the queen to the "window." Windows are special things aren't they? They are interfaces. Where the inside meets the outside. Much like where the wave exists. The wave is a repeated symbol in Buddhism, often occurring often in Zen as well. The wave is neither water, nor air. It is simply where the two of them react. The window is a state closer to perfection then either inside (the self) or outside (the environment). It is not corrupted by fixation on either.

The queen's sin is in fixation on the torment of her own soul, her "secret burning thread" which haunts her like Paul's "thorn in the flesh." When the soldier takes her to the window (everything he represents seems to be a sort of "purging" for the queen) he is holding out a form of redemption. He offers her more enlightenment of herself than she has, the window. But upon receiving awareness of her own retched state (The crown falls) she withdrawals back to it. Why? Every human being knows the answer to this better than I can express in words. It's a personal security issue, remember how timid and vulnerable she is.

Why kill the soldier - good question. It's the first decisive thing we see her do. Perhaps she is on the road to her own metamorphosis. Whatever the case, she has been forced to be decisive (if even by proxy), and she has been forced to a new level of self awareness. I am not going to go into further questions about "would the soldier have forgiven her..." I don't think it matters.

This is a song for us, not the queen. The queen probably wouldn't even understand - as Manning said "a man who is a complete mystery to himself may be an open book to others." So take it for what you will. I am quite willing to accept the critique that this has all been a diatribe de merde. The point is, perhaps this song has been influenced by Buddhism. Meaning that to understand the song, we should understand it's intellectual inheritance from the author.

By the way I think this is a really great song for listening to. I prefer that to deconstruction. If art is really good, none of that is necessary.

PS, if you ever have the choice between being pissed on, or being beheaded, always choose to be pissed on. Because if you don't, after you're dead, they might just piss on you anyway. (Perhaps the soldier knows this) Logic of a Hoopie Frood, 1.1