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The Annotated ‘Pale Horses’ - Magic Lantern Days

Magic Lantern Days

Hail the blest atomic morn

Unto the earth a bomb is born [1]

The pebble bed reactor core

Up to the sky ascends. [2]

Hail the blest atomic sea,

Its mouth in [Washington D.C.] Oak Ridge, Tennessee [3]

Whose lips--untouched with blasphemy--

Our glowing eyes attend

Bishops [4] wrapped in Bedford cloth [5]

say pride will [would] cast our victories off [6],

The Deep Blue to our Kasparov

Our mortal thoughts impart [7].

“Time will fill the rubbish yards,

the hospitals, the funeral yards…

[“The city dumps fill the junkyards

Fill the madhouses fill the hospitals

Fill the graveyards fill not nothing else fills"

(-C. Bukowski)], [8]

But neither time nor I can hold your

1985 Chernobyl heart. [9]

Brightest and best

Are the [sons] children of the morning. [10]

Dawn on our darkness

And lend us thine aid.” [SHH 132]. [11]

In unmysterious ways [12]

We re-enacted closet plays [13]

From charming Magic Lantern days

For the android whales below [(thank you Harvey)] [14]

You'd be cast as the Nazarene [15]

In the unrepenting [16] desert scene

Near to me, your Mary Magdalene, [17]

Our Lady of the Snow, [18]

Brightest and best

Are the children of the morning.

Dawn on our darkness

And lend us thine aid.

Star of the west horizon deforming, [19]

[T.S. Eliot]

[Bachich:]

Too many humans

Under the brown fog of winter. [20]

Come dawn on our darkness.

Lend us thine aid

Guide where our infant redeemer [21] is laid.

Magic Lantern Days

[1] This a play on a phrase from the bible, commonly associated with prophecies referenced during the nativity narrative of the life of Christ. The original prophecy, from the old testament book of Isaiah:

6 For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

- Isaiah 9:6-7

The prophecy is quoted by angels to shepherds in the nativity narrative:

8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. - Luke 2:8-14

In these opening lines we have a theme that will become apparent as the song goes on. The place commonly held by the infant Christ in the nativity narrative is replaced by a wholly different object of worship: a nuclear bomb. I will make an argument at relevant points throughout this song that the “bomb” here is not merely representative of a nuclear, but is indicative of a larger subservience and worship by society of technological might and advancement. The world presented in “Magic Lantern Days” is a not too distance future technocratic dystopia, as we shall see.

[2] The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative. The basic design of pebble-bed reactors features spherical fuel elements called pebbles. These tennis ball-sized pebbles are made of pyrolytic graphite (which acts as the moderator), and they contain thousands of micro-fuel particles called TRISO particles. These TRISO fuel particles consist of a fissile material (such as 235U) surrounded by a coated ceramic layer of silicon carbide for structural integrity and fission product containment. In the PBR, thousands of pebbles are amassed to create a reactor core, and are cooled by a gas, such as helium, nitrogen or carbon dioxide, which does not react chemically with the fuel elements.

This type of reactor is claimed to be passively safe; that is, it removes the need for redundant, active safety systems. Because the reactor is designed to handle high temperatures, it can cool by natural circulation and still survive in accident scenarios, which may raise the temperature of the reactor to 1,600 °C. Because of its design, its high temperatures allow higher thermal efficiencies than possible in traditional nuclear power plants (up to 50%) and has the additional feature that the gases do not dissolve contaminants or absorb neutrons as water does, so the core has less in the way of radioactive fluids. (from Wikipedia)

That this reactor core is “to the sky ascending” ascribes yet another aspect of Christ/savior language to nuclear power and highly advanced technology.

The Ascension of Jesus is the Christian teaching found in the New Testament that the resurrected Jesus was taken up to Heaven in his resurrected body, in the presence of eleven of his apostles, occurring 40 days after the resurrection. In the biblical narrative, an angel tells the watching disciples that Jesus' second coming will take place in the same manner as his ascension.

The canonical gospels include two brief descriptions of the ascension of Jesus in Luke 24:50-53 and Mark 16:19. A more detailed account of Jesus' bodily Ascension into the clouds is then given in the Acts of the Apostles (1:9-11). (from Wikipedia)

[3] The use of both “sea” and “mouth” here implies a “sea mouth”, that part of a river, estuary or lagoon which broadens out as it meets the sea. In other words that the “atomic sea” has it’s origins where the lyrics imply (discussed shortly). It should be noted that the play on words is further flipped because the “mouth” is also said to have “lips” in the next line. In any event, the implication is clear: this powerful nuclear savior has it’s origin in one of a couple of places, depending on what version of the song you are hearing. As recorded, the song names Oakridge, Tennessee, which implies it’s ties to the infamous Manhattan Project:

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the largest science and energy national laboratory in the Department of Energy system by acreage. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville. ORNL's scientific programs focus on materials, neutron science, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology and national security.

ORNL partners with the state of Tennessee, universities and industries to solve challenges in energy, advanced materials, manufacturing, security and physics.

The laboratory is home to several of the world's top supercomputers including the world's second most powerful supercomputer ranked by the TOP500, Titan, and is a leading neutron science and nuclear energy research facility that includes the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor. ORNL hosts the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, the BioEnergy Science Center, and the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light-Water Reactors.

The town of Oak Ridge was established by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of the Clinton Engineer Works in 1942 on isolated farm land as part of the Manhattan Project. (from Wikipedia)

The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory that designed the actual bombs. The Army component of the project was designated the Manhattan District; "Manhattan" gradually superseded the official codename, Development of Substitute Materials, for the entire project. Along the way, the project absorbed its earlier British counterpart, Tube Alloys. The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2 billion (about $26 billion in 2015 dollars). Over 90% of the cost was for building factories and producing the fissile materials, with less than 10% for development and production of the weapons. Research and production took place at more than 30 sites across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. (from Wikipedia)

Reportedly, when playing a show in Washington D.C., the lyrics were changed live to replace Oakridge with “Washington D.C.” itself. This would seem to imply that Aaron Weiss renders an extended blame for the mismanagement of nuclear power and/or the worship of such power and technology with the government.

[4] A bishop (English derivation from the New Testament Greek ἐπίσκοπος, epískopos, "overseer", "guardian") is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight.

Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Old Catholic and Independent Catholic churches and in the Assyrian Church of the East, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles. Within these churches, bishops are seen as those who possess the full priesthood and can ordain clergy – including other bishops. Some Protestant churches including the Lutheran and Methodist churches have bishops serving similar functions as well, though not always understood to be within apostolic succession in the same way. One who has been ordained deacon, priest, and then bishop is understood to hold the fullness of the (ministerial) priesthood, given responsibility by Christ to govern, teach and sanctify the Body of Christ, members of the Faithful. Priests, deacons and lay ministers cooperate and assist their bishop(s) in shepherding a flock. (from Wikipedia)

In light of the fact that Christian savior language is being applied to destructive technology here, it is interesting to note that it is the clergy that can claim direct succession to the original Christian apostles who give us (I would broadly apply the term “society” here) this warning.

[5] Bedford cord, named after the town of Bedford in England, is a durable fabric that resembles corduroy. The weave has faint lengthwise ridges, but without the filling yarns that make the distinct wales characteristic of corduroy. It can have the appearance of narrow-width stripes with thin lines between.

Because of its stiff construction, it is often used in upholstery or in outerwear that does not require draping. Trousers made with Bedford cord are sometimes called "Bedford cords.” (from Wikipedia)

[6] The bishops’ warning here serves in the place of something akin to the popular idiom, originating in Christian scripture, of “pride going before a fall”.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18

It is humanity’s pride and hubris that Aaron Weiss, in the voice of Christian clergy, warns will be that which thwarts any victories we may have had.

[7] Deep Blue was a chess-playing computer developed by IBM. It is known for being the first piece of artificial intelligence to win both a chess game and a chess match against a reigning world champion under regular time controls.

Deep Blue won its first game against a world champion on February 10, 1996, when it defeated Garry Kasparov in game one of a six-game match. However, Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, defeating Deep Blue by a score of 4–2. Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded, and played Kasparov again in May 1997. Deep Blue won game six, therefore winning the six-game rematch 3½–2½ and becoming the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls. Kasparov accused IBM of cheating and demanded a rematch. IBM refused and retired Deep Blue.

Development for Deep Blue began in 1985 with the ChipTest project at Carnegie Mellon University. This project eventually evolved into Deep Thought, at which point the development team was hired by IBM. The project evolved once more with the new name Deep Blue in 1989. (from Wikipedia)

Here, our pride is metaphorically compared once again to technology, in this case the artificially intelligent computer Deep Blue, which defeats our fully “humble” in his humanity Kasparov. This further emphasizes both that this prideful veneration of the “bomb” denotes a more generalized worship of technology, and that there is a continued theme of artificiality on the album. Mechanical - and even robotic surrogates - are explored later in this song and on bonus tracks like “Chapelcross Town”. Other instances where I contend that artificiality, sometimes on a metaphorical or emotional/psychological level, is presented as a negative antithesis of living “truth” include the “surrogate selves” of “Mexican War Streets” and the “Living Cow vs. Paper Cow” and “photocopied manna” lines from “Watermelon Ascot”.

In this line, too, we see that our own natural tendencies (thoughts) imparts this destructive pride that will be our undoing. It is, in other words, our own fault.

[8] These lines serve as a loose adaptation of the poem “Alone With Everybody” by Charles Bukowski:

the flesh covers the bone

and they put a mind

in there and

sometimes a soul,

and the women break

vases against the walls

and the men drink too

much

and nobody finds the

one

but keep

looking

crawling in and out

of beds.

flesh covers

the bone and the

flesh searches

for more than

flesh.

there's no chance

at all:

we are all trapped

by a singular

fate.

nobody ever finds

the one.

the city dumps fill

the junkyards fill

the madhouses fill

the hospitals fill

the graveyards fill

nothing else

fills.

(Klonsky, M. (1973). Shake the Kaleidoscope; a New Anthology of Modern Poetry. New York: Pocket Books.)

There is a certain sense of existential longing that is inherent in human nature for something more than merely “flesh” to fill the void, as Bukowski puts it. This analysis of Bukowski’s poem illuminates some of its relevant themes:

“Alone With Everybody” is not meant to be apocalyptic or depressing. Like a doctor, Bukowski carefully dissects the aspects of a society misled by its own depravity. The title, “Alone With Everybody” has a double meaning. First, it could be taken to mean that there is an individual who is isolated even though he is among a huge group or crowd. The second meaning could be that everyone is isolated and the feeling of aloneness is mutual. Bukowski knew the initial ambiguity that his title would bring, and he used it to mix both dread and seclusion before the poem even begins. […]

He [the narrator of the poem] knows that we trying to find something beyond the physical, but he is not sure what exactly that is. He is content at leaving this certain void at “the one” and is certain that we will not find it, even while:

the city dumps fill

the junkyards fill

the madhouses fill

the hospitals fill

the graveyards fill

and our lives continue to fill with monotony, even though trash and death counts rise. The last line of the poem is “nothing else/fills.” This is the most ironic statement in the poem, because it is obvious that there are plenty of things that will fill up. But this is a different usage of “fill.” In “city dumps fill” we know that it is something physical that is filling up the city dumps, but in the last line it is implied that nothing physical will ever give us what we need, or we will never be filled with anything that will matter.

(Analysis of Bukowski's "Alone With Everybody" (2005, February 6). Retrieved July 18, 2015.)

[9] The Chernobyl disaster (also referred to as Chernobyl or the Chernobyl accident) was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then officially the Ukrainian SSR), which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.

The Chernobyl disaster was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history in terms of cost and casualties. It is one of only two classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles.[3] During the accident itself, 31 people died, and long-term effects such as cancers are still being investigated. (from Wikipedia)

Here the year given is 1985, rather than 1986 when the Chernobyl disaster actually occurred. This perhaps implies that the individual to whom our narrator is speaking, has a heart which is a disaster waiting to happen, so to speak. The heart, too, is un-fillable in congruity with the Bukowski poem’s themes. Neither the narrator (Aaron Weiss being an obvious candidate for this identity) nor all the time in the world will fill this empty heart. To my mind, this would imply that the individual to whom the narrator speaks is Aaron Weiss’ wife. This effectively renders the line as something of a reminder: Aaron’s love will not be enough to make her whole, no matter how much time is given it; there must be something more to fill up that void. Perhaps this is God, but perhaps there is another explanation. The answer is left fairly ambiguous.

[10] “Children of the morning” here refer to stars, as in the hymn that will be discussed shortly. In the hymn after which this section of the song is modeled, the word “sons” is used instead of children. One interesting note that, to me, affirms this song as a worshipful hymn which a hypothetical society is using to venerate technological power over that of God, is contained in another marked difference between the two versions. Weiss phrases the line as “brightest and best are the children of the morning”, where the original - directed at the star that leads the Magi to the nativity of Christ - uses “brightest and best of the sons of the morning”. This would imply that this new variation removes any room for there to be something beyond this “star” (the bomb, read to me as generalized technological advancement and power) to worship. It is the brightest and best thing in the narrator’s universe, as opposed to merely the brightest and best of the stars in the sky, leaving an infinite amount of room for there to be a Creator worthy of worship.

[11] These lines are adapted from a hymn originating in The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion.

The Southern Harmony is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker. The book was released in 1835 under the full title of The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note singing. (from Wikipedia)

The particular hymn in question is no. 132, entitled “Brightest and Best of the Stars”, and is written from the point of view of the “wise men” known from Christ’s nativity narrative:

Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,

Dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid;

Star of the East, the horizon adorning,

Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

Cold on His cradle the dew-drops are shining,

Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;

Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,

Maker and Monarch and Saviour of all.

Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,

Odours of Edom, and offerings divine?

Gems of the mountain, and pearls of the ocean,

Myrrh from the forest, and gold from the mine?

Vainly we offer each ample oblation,

Vainly with gifts would His favour secure;

Richer by far is the heart's adoration,

Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,

Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;

Star of the East, the horizon adorning,

Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

(Walker, W. (1854). The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion: Containing a choice collection of tunes, hymns, psalms, odes and anthems ; selected from the most eminent authors in the United States: Together with nearly one hundred new tunes, which have never before been published and well adapted to Christian churches of every denomination, singing schools, and private societies: also, an easy introduction to the grounds of music, the rudiments of music, and plain rules for beginners. (New ed.). Philadelphia: Published by Miller & Burlock.)

[12] The use of the word “unmysterious” probably alludes to the term “mystery play”.

Mystery plays (from the Latin "misterium" meaning "occupation") and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song. They told of subjects such as the Creation, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, and the last judgment. Oftentimes they were performed together in cycles which could last for days. The name derives from mystery used in its sense of miracle, but an occasionally quoted derivation is from ministerium, meaning craft, and so the 'mysteries' or plays performed by the craft guilds. (from Wikipedia)

That the play mentioned is done in an unmysterious way suggests to my mind that there is a lack of truth or reverence in the act, possibly a lack of authenticity. It reads, in any case, as a negative descriptor of the play.

[13] A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. A related form, the "closet screenplay," developed during the 20th century. "Although the term sometimes carries a negative connotation, implying that such works either lack sufficient theatrical qualities to warrant staging or require theatrical effects beyond the capacity of most (if not all) theaters, closet dramas through the ages have had a variety of dramatic features and purposes not tied to successful stage performance.” (from Wikipedia)

I do connect the negative connotation in the term to the play being spoken of here. The play in the song is one that should be indicative of reverence: it is a scene that involves Christ and His Mother, after all. Instead it is an unmiraculous play that lacks in quality. Against the backdrop of adoration and worship given to technology in this song, a poor re-enactment of a biblical play lacking anything resembling reverence provides a stark contrast. In this dystopia, society seeks salvation in a nuclear bomb as it’s guide to a redeemer, while the true redemption found in Christ is relegated to play-acting in a shoddy production.

[14] The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector employing pictures on sheets of glass. It was developed in the 17th century and commonly used for educational and entertainment purposes.

The magic lantern used a concave mirror in back of a light source to direct as much of the light as possible through a small rectangular sheet of glass—a "lantern slide"—on which was the painted or photographic image to be projected, and onward into a lens at the front of the apparatus. The lens was adjusted to optimally focus the plane of the slide at the distance of the projection screen, which could be simply a white wall, and it therefore formed an enlarged image of the slide on the screen.

The magic lantern was not only a direct ancestor of the motion picture projector, but it could itself be used to project moving images, which was achieved by the use of various types of mechanical slides. Typically, two glass slides, one with the stationary part of the picture and the other with the part that was to move, would be placed one on top of the other and projected together, then the moving slide would be hand-operated, either directly or by means of a lever or other mechanism. Chromotrope slides, which produced eye-dazzling displays of continuously cycling abstract geometrical patterns and colors, were operated by means of a small crank and pulley wheel that rotated a glass disc.

The later part of the 18th century was the age of Romanticism and the Gothic novel. There was an obsession with the bizarre and the supernatural. Johann Georg Schröpfer began using the magic lantern in séances, before Paul Philidor refined the techniques. In these shows, the illusionists used the magic lantern to trick people into thinking that they had summoned up spirits of revolutionary figures with the lantern mounted on a trolley. They also summoned ghosts by requests. However, Philidor's show was eventually closed by the authorities due to their paranoia. The audiences of these magic lantern shows reacted to the projections with bewilderment. They thought the projections were real dreams, visions, apparitions and ghosts, and the devil. This was just fueled by the fact that this is exactly what the early conjurers and magicians used them for: scaring people using these ghostly images. (from Wikipedia)

The placement of magic lanterns here suggests that this play originates in an era of spiritual trickery using technology. We have a play, performed shoddily and irreverently, using Christian imagery and figures, and it is compared to a common form of trickery, something akin to the earlier Knock Apparition from “Red Cow”. In my estimation, Aaron Weiss is saying that whatever spiritual insight offered by these dystopian play actors is an illusion made by something akin to a magic lantern.

Because we are also dealing with technology in this song, it may be worth mentioning a Magic Lantern along those lines:

Magic Lantern is keystroke logging software developed by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation. Magic Lantern was first reported in a column by Bob Sullivan of MSNBC on 20 November 2001 and by Ted Bridis of the Associated Press.

The FBI intends to deploy Magic Lantern in the form of an e-mail attachment. When the attachment is opened, it installs a trojan horse on the suspect's computer. The trojan horse is activated when the suspect uses PGP encryption, often used to increase the security of sent e-mail messages. When activated, the trojan horse will log the PGP password, which allows the FBI to decrypt user communications. (from Wikipedia)

I find the idea that this software is being referred to here a rather flimsy one, but with computer programs that can defeat humans like Deep Blue already being an element of this song, I think it is worth some slight consideration.

Here we also see another indication of the negative aspects of artificiality, as the audience for the irreverent plays consists of robotic replacements for living things - pretend saviors enacting a play for pretend whales. Aaron Weiss himself has said that this line suggests a “dystopian future where all the real live whales have died and now we have to build whales”. The “android whales” themselves stem from a dream Aaron Weiss’ nephew Harvey had, and thus the acknowledgement of his contribution here.

[15] The Nazarene would indicate a role as the character of Jesus Christ.

Nazarene is a title applied to Jesus, who, according to the New Testament, grew up in Nazareth,a town in Galilee, now in northern Israel. The word is used to translate two related terms that appear in the Greek New Testament: Nazarēnos (Nazarene) and Nazōraios (Nazorean). The phrases traditionally rendered as "Jesus of Nazareth" can also be translated as "Jesus the Nazarene" or "Jesus the Nazorean”, and the title "Nazarene" may have a religious significance instead of denoting a place of origin. (from Wikipedia)

[16] The use of the word “unrepenting” likely serves a similar purpose to that of “unmysterious” earlier. In this closet drama, there is only empty play-acting where there should be reverence and repentance.

[17] Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala and sometimes The Magdalene, is a religious figure in Christianity. Mary Magdalene travelled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named at least 12 times, more than most of the apostles. Carol Ann Morrow views the Gospel references as describing her as courageous, and brave enough to stand by Jesus in his hours of suffering, death and beyond.

The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her,[Lk. 8:2] and the longer ending of Mark says Jesus had cast seven demons out of her.[Mk. 16:9] The "seven demons" may refer to a complex illness, as opposed to any form of sinfulness.; however, this is not a prominent view. She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present. She was also present two days later, immediately following the sabbath, when, according to all four canonical Gospels,[Matthew 28:1–8] [Mark 16:9–10] [Luke 24:10] [John 20:18] she was either alone or as a member of a group of women the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection. (from Wikipedia)

[18] Our Lady of the Snow is a feast celebrated on 5 August to commemorate the dedication of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The church was originally built by Pope Liberius (352-366) and was called after him "Basilica Liberii" or "Liberiana". It was restored by Pope Sixtus III (432-440) and dedicated to Our Lady. From that time on it was known as "Basilica S. Mariæ" or "Mariæ Majoris"; since the seventh century it was known also as "Maria ad Præsepe". The appellation "ad Nives" (of the snow) originated a few hundred years later, as did also the legend which gave this name to the church. The legend runs thus: During the pontificate of Liberius, the Roman patrician John and his wife, who were without heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to Our lady. They prayed to her that she might make known to them in what manner they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, during the night, snow fell on the summit of the Esquiline Hill and, in obedience to a vision which they had the same night, they built a) basilica, in honour of Our Lady, on the spot which was covered with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later, not even by Sixtus III in his eight-lined dedicatory inscription [edited by de Rossi, "Inscript. Christ.", II, I (Rome, 1888), 71; Grisar (who has failed to authenticate the alleged miracle), "Analecta Romana", I (Rome, 1900), 77; Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I (Paris, 1886), 235; Marucchi, "Eléments d'archéologie chrétienne", III (Paris and Rome, 1902), 155, etc.] it would seem that the legend has no historical basis. Originally the feast was celebrated only at Sta Maria Maggiore; in the fourteenth century it was extended to all the churches of Rome and finally it was made a universal feast by Pius V. Clement VIII raised it from a feast of double rite to double major. The mass is the common one for feasts of the Blessed Virgin; the office is also the common one of the Bl. Virgin, with the exception of the second Nocturn, which is an account of the alleged miracle. The congregation, which Benedict XIV instituted for the reform of the Breviary in 1741, proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office and that the feast should again receive its original name, "Dedicatio Sanctæ Mariæ”.

(Ott, M. (1911). Our Lady of the Snow. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved July 18, 2015 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11361c.htm)

This suggests one of a few possibilities: another character in this play is that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus; the play is taking place in or near the church referenced above; the play is taking place on the feast day referenced above.

[19] This line is an inversion of the line from hymn repeatedly drawn from, “Brightest and Best of the Stars”. In the hymn, the line reads “star of the East, the horizon adorning”. The star leading the Magi to Christ decorates the eastern night sky. The inversion has a star from the opposite direction, west, deforming the horizon. A number of themes can be pulled from this imagery. There are notable elements suggesting popular imagery of Satan. He is already associated with the title Lucifer, the Morning Star. Here we have a destructive star (the “bomb”) leading in exactly the opposite direction that Christ is supposedly laying in the manger, also suggesting something rather adversarial. I would suggest that the most likely explanation is simply that the adoration of technology is leading humanity astray, while we nonetheless think that it is leading us to the “truth” that will fill our hearts.

[20] It is unclear to me what the relatively inscrutable word “Bachich” here means, or why the liner notes have crossed out “Eliot” and replaced it with said word. Reportedly, mewithoutYou’s touring mercy table operator has the last name Bachich, and it certainly seems to be something of a name. As “Elliott” is also the name of Aaron Weiss’ father, perhaps there is some connection there. In any case we will move on to the reference itself. These lines adapt phrasing from a small portion of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land:

Unreal City,

Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,

I had not thought death had undone so many.

Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,

And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.

Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,

To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours

With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.

There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson!

You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!

That corpse you planted last year in your garden,

Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?

Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?

Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men,

Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again!

You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”

(Eliot, T., & Eliot, T. (2001). The Waste Land and Other Writings (2001 Modern library ed.). New York: Modern Library.)

[21] The “infant redeemer”, once again pulling from “Brightest and Best of the Stars”, obviously suggests Christ. As we can see from earlier allusions however, this “bomb” is leading the adoring worshippers not to a redeemer, but to their own end.

Concluding observations:

Mimicking an old hymn, sung by the Wise Men in search of the infant Christ, members of a future dystopian technocracy utter a song of worship to their own technological power, manifested in the birth of an all-powerful nuclear bomb. Aaron Weiss contrasts this with a warning from Christian clergy: technology is the prideful overreach that will attend our own destruction. This artificial power, regardless of how sanctified it has been made, will never complete us. While landfills, graveyards, and hospitals fill up, our hearts remain unfulfilled. Lending the metaphor to his own relationship, Aaron admits that his love, even given all the time in the world, will never be enough to hold his own wife’s heart. While the dystopian society continues to praise the bomb, calling it the brightest and best object in the universe. Any last vestige of spirituality is relegated to shoddily produced plays re-enacted by irreverent players who only dimly understand the importance of the Truth in the roles they have taken, and use magic lantern trickery to produce “genuine” miraculous events. There is not even an audience left to give attention to Gospel stories, and they are thus performed for artificial whales, real cetaceans having long since been driven to extinction. Using T.S. Eliot’s words, Aaron contemplates the ever expanding place of humanity in this near future, while they ceaselessly hark unto the Bomb to guide them, like the Magi’s star of old, to their salvation.

#mewithoutyou #aaron weiss #pale horses #magic lantern days #lyrics #the annotated pale horses