Show Notes: Body and Blood
This grave hill stinks of death
A reek from the ground
Catches whiff of the hound
A dead ones breath
In setting the scene for this song, I think it’s important we first establish the over-arching theme surrounding it and importantly, who is singing it.
In my opinion, this song is from the perspective of the general public, the churchgoers who are still following God but, with a new power arriving on the scene, beginning to doubt the rituals of faith they are being asked to perform by the church, the main one in this song by the act of communion.
I think the first part of this verse is describing the churchgoers arriving at the church (which is often surrounded by graves, hence the grave hill) and acknowledging the morbidness of that. It might not literally stink, but the thought of it is enough to provoke a reaction in someone who no longer believes.
“The Hound” in this scenario is more than likely referring to the people themselves, not an actual hound. They have a heightened sense of danger, a heightened sense of moral disgust because their minds are starting to become unclouded of the teachings of god.
The casket lid is cold
But waiting inside
Is someone petrified
That odor's old
The casket lid in this sentence I don’t think is a literal casket. What I actually think it’s referring to are the cold doors of the Church, containing the dying spirit of God inside them.
The “someone petrified waiting inside” I believe is the holyman who runs the Church this is set in. He is not petrified because of death, but because he knows what is happening and is losing his position of power and following.
That odor’s old is a metaphor for the shifting dynamics. Again, not referring to an actual odor, it’s more like the population saying “Yeah, this place is getting old. Something new has come along to take your place in us”.
His body and blood
Sharing in common
His body and blood
His body and blood
Serving Messiah ooh
His body and blood
Sharing in common
His body and blood
His body and blood
Serving Messiah
Son of God
This brings us to the meat of the song and the act of faith that the churchgoers are being asked to perform. “His Body and Blood” are references to the Last Supper and longstanding tradition of Holy Communion within the Catholic Church.
During the last supper when giving his disciples bread, he took a piece and referred to it as “my body” and a cup of wine as “my blood”. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"
The serving messiash line is actually quite a funny double entendre. While yes, it means that by taking in the communion of Christ they are fufilling their roles in his servitude, it also means that the Church is literally serving their messiah on a plate for all to eat.
The bitter taste is sweet
So eat Nazarene
And you kiss the obscene
Anointed feet
I believe the perspective of this song has switched yet again, this time coming from the priest/clergyman of the Church. It gives the air of someone forcing their beliefs on someone, telling them “the bitter taste of this is actually sweet” for example. Don’t believe your own brain, trust me.
This line is again a double meaning. “Nazarene” is a title used to describe people from the city of Nazareth in the New Testament and is a title applied to Jesus. It is also an early term used to label the followers of Jesus. So it can mean “eat Jesus” or “eat up followers of Jesus”
These last two lines are a direct reference to the bible, specifically “Luke 7:38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.”. This is basically the priest telling the congregation to bow down before their lord.
The usage of the word obscene could be that he sees this as a sexual act, or it could be that the feet themselves are disgusting, having not been washed before kissing.
Receive, consume
Receive, consume
Digest
Defecate
This could be the first lines we are hearing from the perspective of the Anti-Christ. In these lines, he is whispering into the ears of the population to continue as normal for now, but with the purpose now of not absorbing the intended “love” but to pass it along as waste.