Tear Garden: My Thorny Thorny Crown

A trip to the insanium in chains
They ripped his cranium
Sank wires in his brains
He stayed the same too old to change
He watched the world fall down on tuesdays
He smelled the angel trail
He kissed a snail
He counted to six hundred
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,
21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,
38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46
592,593,594,595,596,597,598,599
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My Thorny Thorny Crown (1)

A trip to the insanium in chains
They ripped his cranium
Sank wires in his brains (2)
He stayed the same too old to change
He watched the world fall down on tuesdays (3)
He smelled the angel trail (4)
He kissed a snail (5)
He counted to six hundred
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,
21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,
38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46
592,593,594,595,596,597,598,599 (6)


(1) In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was the woven chaplet of thorn branches worn by Jesus before his crucifixion. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe.

Tangentially, a Crown of Thorns is also The Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster planci) - a large nocturnal sea star that preys upon coral polyps. The crown-of-thorns receives it name from venomous thorn-like spines that cover its body. This could have relevance to the line in the Peter Gabriel song "Here Comes the Flood"

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"Stranded Starfish have no place to hide - still waiting for the Swollen Easter Tide"
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Here, in Edward's lyrics, the thorns probably represent each and every tiny annoyance of modern day living that threaten to drive someone insane. The song is then a humourous take on this.

(2) Sinking wires into one's brain could be a reference to the Roger Waters penned Pink Floyd song "If"

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"And if I go insane - please don't sink your wires in my brain"
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(3) Interesting that our character only seems to see the world fall apart on Tuesdays...

(4) Another reference to angels - this time our character is following their trail (by smell) "The Angel Trail..." is a song from the 1994 Legendary Pink Dots album "Nine Lives to Wonder".

(5) Kissing a Snail may be a reference to appreciating the slow track in life - taking things easy and not feeling so rushed and insane. Compare with the line "but I laughed when you called me the snail. My red trail runs behind me" from the song "The Month After" on the Legendary Pink Dots album "The Golden Age".

(6) Counting to six hundred is a humourous exaggeration of patience. In the song "The Guardians of Eden", from the Legendary Pink Dots album "Island of Jewels" for instance:

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"We'll count to nine, whenever we are angry"
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or also reflected in the lyrics of the group Gong from the song "Thoughts for Naught" on the album "You":

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"Counting again from One to Nine"