Talk:Of Walking Abortion

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I wrote this page yesterday. I am fairly happy with the content, but I think I need some help with making the page more professional looking. My links need to look better and i think I need a table with album/track details. If anyone could do this, I would be very grateful.

The page is full of original research and point of view statements. It needs to be extensively referenced. At present, it reads as a review/opinion/interpretation of the song. This is not what wikipedia is about.Nouse4aname 13:59, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article

Below is the article as of 2007-11-07. It is completely unreferenced, and full of interprative statements regarding the lyrics. Ihave removed all such POV writing, but have placed the original text here for easy reference if required. Nouse4aname 14:52, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

"Of Walking Abortion" is a song by the Manic Street Preachers appearing as the third track on their third album, The Holy Bible. It is a dense and often abstract song, with lyrics written predominantly by the band's rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards, as he did with most songs on the album. Some of its lyrics are so cryptic and obscure that even the co-lyricist Nicky Wire has openly speculated on the meaning of certain lines, such as "So wash your car in your X baseball shoes". However it is worth noting that many lines in the song are direct references to other sources in literature and history (a common feature in Manic Street Preachers songs) and once these references are cited, the song is a lot more understandable than it may appear upon first listening. As with all Manic Street Preachers songs, other bandmembers James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore wrote the music, which in "Of Walking Abortion" is cathartic, distorted and abrasive throughout.

The song's title refers to the American radical feminist Valerie Solanas's SCUM Manifesto, a seminal feminist tract in which she justifies the archaic upheaval of females against patriarchal oppression, through scientific evidence that the male lacks sufficient chromosomes and is therefore an incomplete female - 'a walking abortion'. An extract taken from the manifesto is also quoted on the sleeve of the band's debut album Generation Terrorists, representing the track "Little Baby Nothing", itself a celebration of the female sex.

Overall, the song explores the relationship between masculinity and violence, and ultimately the narrator appears to express dissatisfaction with humanity, since there is evil and potential for cruelty in all of us naturally. The first verse contains several elliptical, and almost slogan like statements, which appear to be investigating the concept of an individual's moral choice, for example, the lines "Pure or lost, spectator or crucified". It also references the Christian concept of acedia, a type of spiritual depression. It ends with the line "The nations moral suicide", the implication of this verse being that the narrator is seriously disappointed by the morals (or lack thereof) in the world s/he views around him/her. The first bridge takes the form of an abusive rant at an unknown person. However the last line "fucked up, don't know why, you poor little boy" appears to be directed at the songs narrator, the implication being that he is attacking the malaise he describes in the first verse, and laments the state of mind that caused him to express those feelings in the first place.

The chorus is based around the imagery of the songs title "Of Walking Abortion" which indicates an attack on masculinity. However this is juxtaposed with the Hebrew term shalom (meaning 'peace') and the positive statement "We all love our children", which compounds the sense of dualism and confusion expressed throughout the song. However, the chorus ends with the negative line "There are no horizons", so the listener is left with the feeling that the narrator continues to hold a predominantly negative view of humanity and a complete loss of hope.

The second verse of the song goes on to namecheck fascist leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, along with the lesser known contemporary European leaders Miklós Horthy and Jozef Tiso. The imagery surrounding these people is is rather violent and horrific eg, "hangs from a butchers hook". Possibly this is meant to condemn their violent activities during their lifetime, or to express a wish for retribution on the narrator's part. The line "Hitler reprised in the worm of your soul" is one such line that appears to address the apparition of evil on the level of such an instigator of mass murder as Hitler within the dark side - 'the worm' - of the ordinary everyman. However, this is a fairly ambiguous section of the song, so most attempts at analysis are sheer speculation. The second bridge is also rather obscure and it is difficult to fully understand. It also has a sloganeering tone, as abstract statements are sung over a fairly cacaphonic musical sound. It again references morality and contains the line "you've no wounds to show" which could be both a reference to the Christian belief that Jesus showed the wounds he received during his crucifixion to his followers after his resurrection, and Edwards' own well documented self harming. The intention of this line is not explicitly stated in the song. The line "X baseball shoes" could refer to the youth movement Generation X, and the trend amongst fans of its associated movement grunge to wear baseball shoes, but yet again it is difficult to decide on any particular meaning to some of the sentiments it describes.

The coda of the song contains the line "Little people in little houses, like maggots small blind and worthless" a quote attributed to the brother-in-law of serial killer Myra Hindley, David Smith. The intention of including this quote is typically ambiguous, especially when viewed in the context of the whole song which has a rather misanthropic tone. However the next line "Their massacred innocent blood stains us all", which possibly refers to the victims of serial killers, or of the fascist regimes described in the song, and the sentiment that atrocities occur as a result of a lack of morality on the part of the population as a whole. This feeling is compounded by the final line "Who's responsible? You fucking are", repeated five times, it carries an aggressively accusitory sentiment, and as the recipient of the statement is not overtly clarified, its implication is that it is addressed to humanity in general. The music during this segment becomes increasingly more frantic, building up into a climax, before coming to an abrubt halt as James Dean Bradfield's vocals continue to become progressively more distorted and abrasive.

The song begins with a recorded quotation regarding the futility of life and death uttered by the writer, Hubert Selby, Jr..

[edit] External links

v • d • e Manic Street Preachers

James Dean Bradfield • Nicky Wire • Sean Moore Flicker (Miles Woodward) • Richey James Edwards

Studio albums	"Generation Terrorists" (1992) • "Gold Against the Soul" (1993) • "The Holy Bible" (1994) • "Everything Must Go" (1996) • "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" (1998) • "Know Your Enemy" (2001) • "Lifeblood" (2004) • "Send Away the Tigers" (2007)

Singles and EPs	"Suicide Alley" (1989) • "New Art Riot EP" (1990) • "Motown Junk" (1991) • "You Love Us (Heavenly Version)" (1991) • "Feminine Is Beautiful" (1991) • "Stay Beautiful" (1991) • "Love's Sweet Exile/Repeat" (1991) • "You Love Us" (1991) • "Slash 'N' Burn" (1992) • "Motorcycle Emptiness" (1992) • "Little Baby Nothing" (1992) • "Theme From MAS*H (Suicide Is Painless)" (1992) • "From Despair To Where" (1993) • "La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh)" (1993) • "Roses In The Hospital" (1993) • "Life Becoming A Landslide EP" (1994) • "Faster/P.C.P." (1994) • "Revol" (1994) • "She Is Suffering" (1994) • "A Design for Life" (1996) • "Everything Must Go" (1996) • "Kevin Carter" (1996) • "Australia" (1996) • "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" (1998) • "The Everlasting" (1998) • "You Stole The Sun From My Heart" (1999) • "Tsunami" (1999) • "The Masses Against The Classes" (2000) • "Found That Soul" (2001) • "So Why So Sad" (2001) • "Ocean Spray" (2001) • "Let Robeson Sing" (2001) • "There By The Grace Of God" (2002) • "The Love Of Richard Nixon" (2004) • "Empty Souls" (2005) • "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" (2007) • "Autumnsong" (2007) • "Indian Summer" (2007)

Promos	"UK Channel Boredom" (1990) • "God Save The Manics EP" (2005) • " Underdogs" (2007) • "Ghost Of Christmas" (2007)

Other releases	"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (1995) • "Know Our B-Sides" (2001) • Leviathan" (2005) • "The Instrumental" (2006) • "Umbrella" (2008)

Compilation albums	"Forever Delayed" (2002) • "Lipstick Traces" (2003)

Box Sets	"Six Singles from Generation Terrorists" (1997)

Videos	"Everything Live" (1997) • "Leaving the 20th Century" (2000) • "Louder Than War" (2001) • "Forever Delayed" (2002)

Official book	"Forever Delayed" (2002)

Related articles	Manic Street Preachers Discography Manic Street Preachers B-sides