I've been listening to some Beatles at work, and every time "Cry Baby Cry" comes on, I can't help but think that it was an ingredient in Toby Fox's bubbling cauldron that he used to make Deltarune.
There are two couples mentioned, and the first two verses describe a royal couple that are quite similar to Toriel and Asgore:
"The king of Marigold was in the kitchen
Cooking breakfast for the queen
The queen was in the parlour
Playing piano for the children of the king"
"The king was in the garden
Picking flowers for a friend who came to play
The queen was in the playroom
Painting pictures for the children's holiday"
The Flower King comparison is obvious (especially since marigolds are golden flowers), but I also want to point out that playing piano and painting pictures both pop up as big parts of Kris's childhood (Toriel taught them to play piano, and they painted pictures as part of art therapy)
Something else worth noting is that the first verse is a direct homage to the English nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence":
"The king was in the counting house, counting out his money / The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey"
... and I can't help but remember that Chapter 5 opens with Toriel hungover on the couch, asking Kris to make her honey toast.
Anyway, the song then goes on to describe the second couple:
"The duchess of Kircaldy always smiling
And arriving late for tea
The duke was having problems
With a message at the local Bird and Bee"
This one is a bit harder to place.
My snap reaction was to map these two to Rudy and Carol, but Carol is not a cheerful person as we've come to know her, and she's also very strict and punctual, which would rule out the second description as well. Although, maybe it's referring to the Cattenheimers instead?
After all, Catti's mom has been portrayed so far as very cheerful, over-the-top, and brash. Not entirely sure how the Duke's description matches with Catti's father, but admittedly we haven't gotten too much from him.
... though he does show up in the headliner GIF for the summer newsletter behind Asgore and Rudy, so maybe there is something to that thought? I can't say for sure.
Either way, the fourth verse is where things get a lot more interesting:
"At twelve o'clock, a meeting 'round the table
For a séance in the dark
With voices out of nowhere
Put on specially by the children for a lark"
Not only have the lyrics changed in tone, but their content intrigues me. A séance at midnight? Who do we even know in Hometown that would be putting on a séance?
Not only is she the only character we've interacted with who actively flirts with the occult, but there have also been multiple references to something happening with Kris in the past that Catti still feels guilty about.
(Dialogue from Catti in the Church in Chapter 5 during the Festival)
(dialogue from Susie in Chapter 4 that corroborates this)
I have heard the counter-argument that this event was Kris creating a Dark World, but there's only so many Dark Worlds that we've been shown so far, and I don't think any of them would line up with childhood Kris:
Closet/Castle Town (formed some time after Susie left to get chalk, creator is currently unknown, but it was recent)
Computer Lab/Cyber City (formed by The Knight, since there was a Black Shard there)
Dreemurr Residence/TV World (formed by Kris in Chapter 3)
Dark Sanctuary (formed after church service in Chapter 4 and briefly re-opened by Susie)
Flower King (formed in Chapter 5 by Kris)
Ancient dark world noted by Asgore (Black Shard again)
So whatever this ritual was, it wasn't a Dark World.
Moving on to the second part of the verse, though, I wonder what those voices were that the children were putting on. Is there anything in-game that would constitute "voices from nowhere"?
... well, yes, actually. After all, we've been trying to go Nowhere for a while now! The identity of that voice is ambiguous, but we have quite a few options: Dess, the laughter associated with FRIEND/ERAM/The Roaring Knight, the Forgotten Man, the voice on the other end of Kris’s phone, or even the garbage noise that comes from the Shelter (and is associated with Gaster/the Goners). After all, mus_smile is a heavily-edited version of Muffet's laugh, so it could also constitute a "voice", right?
The implications are potentially horrifying here. Did Kris and Catti summon a FRIEND? Are they the reason why Dess disappeared? So many questions and implications, and all because of references to a song that may not even be intentional.
... but there is one more part to the song, and it's what cemented this in my mind as being intentional.
The track ends with a hard cut to a song that isn't listed on the inner gatefold sleeve. It plays for about 20 seconds before the album launches into Revolution 9, and the lyrics are fairly straightforward:
"Can you take me back where I came from?
Can you take me back?
Can you take me back where I came from?
Brahma, can you take me back?
Can you take me back?
Mm, can you take me where I came from?
Can you take me back?"
The story goes that it was an unused demo from the recording session for "I Will", and they decided to stick it in on a lark. Cool stuff, but the repeated lyric concerns me.
What would be another way to say "where I came from"?
Found in this song that's unlabelled on the official track list, and hiding between two other songs near the end of the album?
No, this was absolutely intentional. I refuse to believe otherwise. That's WAY too many coincidences to all be in one song.
Not entirely sure what this means in the grand scheme of things, but it is still an incredible thing to discover. Plus, with all the conspiracies flying around regarding the Beatles, what with the "Paul is dead" theory, or ""satanic messages"" being revealed when you play the record backwards, or the mere existence of Revolution 9... It's no wonder that Toby Fox likes the band, and it's no wonder he likes the community theory-crafting so much.
After all, he's basically making his own Sgt. Pepper right now :p
