As we’re all tossing conspiracies into the hat, allow me to present mine in a more cohesive post then my ramblings.
For those of you who might not know, the motif they played at the end of Sympathy for the Devil has a LOT of meaning behind it. I know we’re all talking about the jacket and the song itself (and believe me, I’ve got a lot to say about all that too) but allow me to talk about this bit of music for a second. It’ll be long but stick with me, I promise this is good.
This is a motif known as Deus Irae - its actually an entire classical piece but these four notes have since become synonymous with death or act as a bad omen within music. It’s hidden in everything, from film scores to musical theatre and of course, music like this. sometimes its subtle, other times it’s in your face. It translates from Latin to ‘Judgement day’ / ‘Day of Wrath’ and is used to forebode death or danger.
This was in no way any sort of coincidence for it to end the song. From the very beginning, Copia has been synonymous with death. Before we even knew of him, he was teased at in the Square Hammer video which showed a Cardinal sat atop a gravestone. It was the only colour in the entire black and white section so was hard to miss.
Then, his arrival at the ministry is marked with the death of the three Papas, as he takes the lead as the new frontman. You have the image where he is holding Papa iii’s head as well to hammer this home. Then, you could look at the chapters, chapter Seven is a parody of the shining, and, well, I don’t think I have to explain why that links to the theme of death…
The last album and tour was themed around it too. The Rats video ended with copier sat upon a white horse - AKA Death on a Pale Horse - another popular motif to symbolise bad times are on the horizon.
And to top it all off, the only reason Copia was able to ascend to his current position as Papa was because Papa Nihil died during “A Final Gig Named Death” whereupon, Copia moved to take the mantle without missing a beat. everyone around him as died for him to be where he is now.
So for the end of this most recent song- his first appearance since the aforementioned gig last year- to end on the Deus Irae motif just puts the final nail in the coffin. Death is on the horizon, and Copia is at the heart of it. I’ve seen the theories going around that he may well be the Antichrist, and that fits rather well with this theory, perhaps he’s more closely related to the Devil than we thought.
