Evil Is So Civilised
Unveiling the Darkness: Boy George's Poetic Reflection on Civilized Evil
Lyrics
Evil is so civilised.
Evil is sophisticated and refined.
Far out across the rooftops,
Far away, above the rooftops.
Where the televisions sleep.
Where the televisions are inactive or dormant.
Behind the perfect picture,
Behind the flawless image or representation.
Lie fanatical beliefs.
Hidden beneath extreme and uncompromising beliefs.
White sheets and burning crosses.
Reference to Ku Klux Klan symbolism – white sheets and burning crosses.
Strange fruit, blood on the land.
Allusion to racial violence and injustice, referencing the lynching of African Americans.
Free will, twisted religion.
Free will corrupted by distorted religious ideologies.
Do you love your fellow man?
Questioning the love for humanity in the face of such hatred and discrimination.
Sometimes I cry.
Expressing moments of sorrow or despair.
Sometimes I weep.
Reiteration of emotional distress.
Sometimes I cry.
Repeated expression of emotional pain.
'Cause evil is so civilised.
Highlighting the paradoxical nature of evil appearing cultured or refined.
Weak minds and shallow prophets.
People with feeble minds and superficial prophets.
Send your money and spare your doom.
Encouraging financial contributions to escape impending doom.
Fear rides the silver bullet
Fear is spread through influential oratory.
From the pulpit to the womb.
From religious sermons to the beginning of life.
Death on the blood, red clay
Symbolic imagery of death in the Texan landscape.
Under the texas moon.
Referencing violent acts beneath the Texas moonlight.
Queer killers, redneck saints.
Addressing prejudice, mentioning both victims and perpetrators.
Oh god, I pray for you.
Expressing a prayer for divine intervention in the face of such atrocities.
You make me run from god.
Feeling compelled to distance oneself from a distorted representation of God.
You make me terrified.
Inducing fear or terror in the speaker.
I pray the lord your soul to keep.
A traditional prayer for protection, possibly ironic given the context.
I hope you wake before you die.
Expressing a desire for awakening or enlightenment before death.
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