The Pale Emperor
- Release date: January 16, 2015
- Genre: Rock, Blues
- Length: 51:40
- Label: Loma Vista
- Written by: Marilyn Manson, Tyler Bates
Track List
| Lyrics | Music | |
|---|---|---|
| Marilyn Manson | Tyler Bates | |
| Killing Strangers | X | X |
| Deep Six | X | X |
| Third Day of a Seven Day Binge | X | X |
| The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles | X | X |
| Warship My Wreck | X | X |
| Slave Only Dreams to Be King | X | X |
| The Devil Beneath My Feet | X | X |
| Birds of Hell Awaiting | X | X |
| Cupid Carries a Gun | X | X |
| Odds of Even | X | X |
Introduction
The themes that started coming up were based around the Faustian tradition, relating either to myself as the devil, or to my own devils or to just the metaphorical idea of selling your soul to become who you are. I think that, for the past couple of years, I've been hearing a knock-knock-knock on my door—the hellhounds on my trail, saying it's time to pay up. And this record is my payment, and my payback.
Manson's previous album, Born Villain, was supposed to be his comeback album. That didn't really work out that way, as its reception was mixed, but The Pale Emperor actually became the comeback album that Born Villain was supposed to be, and a lot of it could be attributed to Tyler Bates, Manson's new collaborative partner. Tyler Bates, a film score composer by trade, invigorated Manson's music with a bluesy approach, which in turn inspired Manson to do things lyrically and vocally that he hasn't done before. The pair utilized a semi-improvisational approach in their collaboration, with Manson figuring out the lyrics in the middle of improvisation sessions with Bates. The result was an album that did not start from the point of a predetermined concept, but rather one whose themes emerged as part of the creative process. Below is an overview of these themes:
The Blues and Faust
Tyler's bluesy approach to the music inspired Manson to embrace one of blues' most iconic folklore: that of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil. Robert Johnson was an American blues musician who is considered today as a master of the genre, but when he was just starting out, he was reportedly a terrible guitar player. Then, after leaving town for a while, he came back and was suddenly highly proficient in it. This miraculous improvement, coupled with the mystery shrouding the details of his personal life, gave rise to the legend that he sold his soul to the devil at a local crossroads in exchange for musical ability. His short career in the music industry came to an end when he died under mysterious circumstances.
The story of making a pact with the devil is an archetypal story that often appears in Christian traditions. Perhaps the most iconic incarnation of this concept is in Johann Wolfgang Goethe's play Faust, where the Mephistopheles character referenced on the song The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles comes from. In Goethe's play, Faust- a highly accomplished scholar who is deeply unsatisfied with life- makes a deal with Mephistopheles (the devil in German folklore), who offers to become Faust's slave on earth, and strive to make him reach true satisfaction, in exchange for Faust becoming his slave in hell after his death.
In interviews, Manson described the album numerous times as following the Faustian tradition:
The record is about the blues in a sense. But it's more about me. If you take the Faustian theme, [this idea] that I created some sort of square for myself, where in the beginning of my career I sold my soul to the devil in order to become famous, like Robert Johnson in blues history, the mythology of it... I think for the past few years I've been hearing [starts slaping his leg to make a knocking sound] on my door, hellhounds on my trail, saying, "It's time to pay up. You owe us back." That was maybe me to myself, or my fans to me, or maybe people I didn't know, or maybe, if there were a devil... This record is my payback, my payment that was due. I had tried to outrun... You can outrun your cliché but you can't outrun your demons. You have to deal with them eventually, and I think that this record is me saying that I was not, as a person, who I was supposed to be. According to my own set of rules, and I had to take that back. And to take that back, I had to become the pale emperor I suppose.
The New Testament
Although Manson made his fame on the basis of being an antagonist to Christianity, this time his approach to the bible was as a source of inspiration. Biblical references pop up a lot during this era, from tour names ("Hell Not Hallelujah", "The End of Times"), to music videos (Manson performs a baptism in The Mephistopholes of Los Angeles music video), to stage props (his church-inspired tour set), to references in lyrics.
In an interview for Revolver magazine, Manson said that:
...there are elements of the album that are very biblical, but I don't think it's about me trying to speak out about religion, like I have in the past. It's more about me seeing it from both sides. Both sides are always going to be a part of me, because I grew up around religion-whether I want to hate it or not, it's still a part of me.
Other prominent influences
Greek Mythology
Fans first noted Manson's growing interest in Greek mythology on the previous album Born Villain, and on The Pale Emperor the references to this body of work only increased, with the likes of Zeus, Narcissus, Icarus, Hermes, and Hades popping up in various songs.
Sons of Anarchy
In 2014, when the album was written and recorded, Manson landed an acting role in the last season of Sons of Anarchy, a TV show about a gang of bikers. Based on how often he talked about the show in interviews of the era, it's clear that it has made a big impression on him, and it is my belief that the themes of tough masculinity that are present in it contributed to the assertive attitude of the album. The music video for The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles seems to be inspired by the show, with its tough looking, tattoo clad crowds and a location that may well be a prison courtyard.
The Pale Emperor
The name of the album was inspired by the book Heliogabalus: Or, the Crowned Anarchist by Antonin Artaud, a biography of the first Roman emperor to deny the existence of God. He was nicknamed 'The Pale Emperor' due to his complexion.
Song Analysis
Killing Strangers
Although Manson did not write this song specifically about his dad, he discovered in retrospect that it fit him quite well. In interviews, Manson recalled the day when his father came to visit him in his new house in California, and told him things about his military service in Vietnam that he never talked about before:
When people talk about post-traumatic stress syndrome, I don't think people understand that when you've killed so many people and then you have to come back to a normal world, it's very difficult to adjust to it.
To me, this is the best conceptual framework to interpret the song: being a killer in a world that doesn't have a place for killers.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| This world doesn't need no opera We're here for the operation We don't need a bigger knife (Cause we got guns) We got guns, we got guns We got guns, you better run (you better run, you better run, you better run) | Introducing the song's subjects: they're killers, they got guns, and they're here for the
(military?) operation. They're ready to kill, and you better run.This world doesn't need no opera The contrast between an opera and an operation highlights the way in which these killers deviate from the rest of the society. Both words are really talking about the same 'thing'. On a conceptual level, they're both a production where a group of people, each acting out their own role, work together in coordination to orchestrate dramatic events. But, even deeper than that, the two words literally come from the same root. 'Opera' is a Latin word that means 'work', and 'operation' comes from the Latin 'operari', which means 'perform work/be in effect/exert force or influence'. Etymologically, they're the noun and verb version of the same concept. Most people are interested in a regular 'opera', but these people's 'opera' is a military operation where they are killing people. It's interesting to note that this lyric originally appeared in a short film called F**K YOU - F**K ME. It was produced during the Born Villain era by photographer and fashion consultant Chris Sutton, who also acted as Manson's personal fashion consultant at the time. The short movie contained a vocal contribution by Manson, where he recited the following poem: I came to this place. The above poem can be summarized as saying that this world is broken, and that Manson is put in the position to have to deal with this reality. There are no military connotations in this poem, so the use of the word 'operation' seems to be referring to a medical operation- the need to cut the sickness out. Before discovering the above early use of the lyric, I was wondering if there was a hidden message in the claim that "the world doesn't need an opera", but having seen this lyric used in two very different contexts to communicate two different messages, I think it's reasonable to assume that it wasn't meant to be an idea of its own, but rather the setup for the punchline that's inherent in the wordplay. |
| We're killing strangers We're killing strangers We're killing strangers, So we don't kill the ones that we love Love, love, love, love | When killing is part of your nature, it is something you always need to contend with. That is why can't you keep predatory animals as pets, because the possibility that they will turn on you never goes away. So how do you make a tiger safe to be around? You make sure it's satiated by some other prey. Likewise, these killers make themselves safe for their loved ones by satiating their blood lust somewhere else. |
| We pack demolition We can't pack emotion Dynamite? We just might So blow us a kiss, blow us a kiss Blow us a kiss, and we'll blow you to pieces No one | These men are volatile (explosive), lacking in ability to contain their emotions (can't pack emotion), nor can they respond appropriately to displays of emotion (they blow up in response to a kiss). Such is the emotional handicap of war trauma. |
| We're killing strangers We're killing strangers We're killing strangers, so we don't kill the ones that we Love, love, love, love We got guns, we got guns Motherfuckers better, better run We got guns, we got guns Motherfuckers better run And we got guns, we got guns Motherfuckers better, better, better run We got, we got guns Motherfuckers better run We're killing strangers We're killing strangers We're killing strangers, So we don't kill the ones that we (better run!) We're killing strangers (we got guns!) We're killing strangers (we got guns!) We're killing strangers, So we (we got guns!) don't kill the ones that we Love, love, love, love You better run We got guns, we got guns, we got guns, we got guns |
Deep Six
The song is about being defiant against a narcissist's behavior, and there are mild hints that it is written with a romantic relationship in mind. The name of the song is a phrase that means "to get rid of someone (especially by killing)". Its origin is rooted in burial practices. Six feet is the standard depth for graves, and out at sea, a depth of six fathoms was the standard depth for burial at sea.
Some of the lyrics in Deep Six are taken from Marshall McLuhan's introduction to Subliminal Seduction by Wilson Bryan Key, a book that explores the topic of subliminal sexual messages in advertising. McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher who made significant contributions to the study of media theory. His introduction, which covered topics such as advertisements as windows into the subconscious and how information is consumed in the age of "electric information", finished with the following passage:
The close relation between sex and violence, between good news and bad news, helps to explain the compulsion of the admen to dunk all their products in sex by erogenizing every contour of every bottle or cigarette. Having reached this happy state where the good news is fairly popping, the admen say, as it were: "Better add a bit of the bad news now to take the hex off all that bonanza stuff." Let's remind them that LOVE, replayed in reverse, is EVOL—transposing into EVIL and VILE. LIVE spells backward into EVIL, while EROS reverses into SORE. And, we should never forget the SIN in SINCERE or the CON in CONFIDENCE.
Let's tighten up the slack sentimentality of this goo with something gutsy and grim.
As Zeus said to Narcissus: "Watch yourself."
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| You want to know what Zeus said to Narcissus? "You better watch yourself" | This is one of the phrases imported from Marshall McLuhan's text. Zeus and Narcissus are both from Greek mythology. Zeus is the king of the gods, and Narcissus was a hunter who was so in-love with his own reflection that nobody else could compete for his adoration, and he ended up dying alone. The tale is the inspiration for the term "Narcissism", a personality disorder characterized by self-aggrandizing and preoccupation with their own needs at the expense of other people's needs. "Watch yourself" therefore has a double meaning. "Watching himself" is what Narcissus loved to do, but the phrase is also colloquially used as an implied threat. The double meaning connects the two concepts: the threat is in response to the narcissist being narcissistic. |
| It's like a stranger had a key, came inside my mind And moved all my things around But he didn't know snakes can't kneel or pray Can't try to break my psyche down | It's like a stranger had a key, Narcissists are very good at manipulation, and it can be quite confusing and destabilizing to be in a relationship with them because of that. They get in your head and create a mess. But he didn't know snakes can't kneel or pray But this narcissist made the mistake of messing with a snake, who can't be made to submit (can't kneel), and can't be forced to worship them (can't pray). Snakes are an ancient metaphor for evil, so calling himself a snake is also a form of a threat, because he's saying, "you didn't know you were messing with a monster". |
| It's as if my feathers were wax And your artillery lead Do you like our bed? Do you like our bed? | It's as if my feathers were wax The waxy feathers are another reference to Greek mythology, this time to the story of Icarus, who made himself a pair of wings from feathers and wax to escape from Crete, but then flew too close to the sun and the wax melted, causing him to fall down to the sea and drown. He is saying that he feels like he is losing the ability to fly and is plummeting down, and the metaphor implies that it's because he's flying close to a sun. The sun represents the narcissist. It's apt for the self-aggrandizing way a narcissist would look at themselves, but it also follows from the fact that the song is about being close to someone who isn't having a good effect on you, as was the case for Icarus when the sun disintegrated his wings. And your artillery lead Lead is the go-to metaphor to represent that something is heavy (in fact, this is what weights are usually made from). The artillery is the barrage of abuse the narcissist shoots his way, and so not only is he losing his wings, he's also being pulled down by the artillery. Do you like our bed? This line has multiple meanings: Bed as a thing you sleep in can be a metaphor for a relationship because this is where intimacy happens. So, this line implies the romantic relationship context of the song. Bed can also refer to the bottom of the sea or a lake, which fits with the Icarus reference in this verse. Bed can also refer to an area of the ground, typically in a garden, where flowers and plants are grown. In an interview with KROQ, Manson pointed it out explicitly, saying: ...this song, well, the term "deep six", I think off, I mean it was a navy term in some sense, but it also refers to your garden, for example my back yard. [...] I purchased a new home and it did have a incinerator in the back yard and a garden, now that I said deep six, it's with a shovel, it's an implied threat. |
| Deep six, six, six feet deep Yeah | The repetition of the word six three times gives us the number of the beast, 666. |
| It's like a stranger had a key, came inside my mind And moved all my things around But he didn't know snakes can't kneel or pray Can't try to break my psyche down It's as if my feathers were wax And your artillery lead Do you like our bed? Do you like our bed? Deep six, six, six feet deep You want to know what Zeus said to Narcissus? "You better watch yourself" | |
| LOVE is EVOL CON is CONFIDENCE EROS is SORE SIN is SINCERE SIN is SINCERE | This is the second part imported from Marshall's introduction. I see it as a description of how narcissists twist everything around into its opposite (for example they would act abusive towards you, and then make themselves out to be the victim and you the bad guy). |
| You want to know what Zeus said to Narcissus? "You better watch yourself" |
Third Day of a Seven Day Binge
In the past, Manson described himself as flypaper for damaged women, and this song is exploring that dynamic. The acoustic version of this song is called Day 3.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| We've only reached the third day of our seven-day binge And I can already see your name disintegrating from my lips | He's on some sort of binge that is meant to help him forget his latest relationship, and it
seems to be working, because we're not even halfway into it and already he feels the other
person's name disappearing from his consciousness (and thus his speech). In interviews Manson mentioned that the third day is a subtle hint at Christ rising from death on the third day after his crucifixion, so it's a symbol of transformation- from who he was in the relationship to who he became once he shed the relationship off himself. |
| I can't decide if you're wearing me out or wearing me well I just feel like I'm condemned to wear someone else's hell | Since he's damaged himself, all the damaged women he attracts seem to be a good
fit (thus she is wearing him well), but at the same time being in a relationship with a
damaged person exposes you to their inner trouble and makes it your trouble as well, which
wears you out, and it's such a big negative that he's not sure which of the two is more
true, in the grand scheme of things: a good fit or a bad situation? He also doesn't know how to get out of this pattern, which is why he feels condemned to wear someone else's hell: it's always a relationship with someone that has a personal hell. |
| We've only reached the third day of our seven-day binge I can already see your name disintegrating from my lips | |
| I've got bullets, in the booth Rather be your victim, than be with you | The booth he's referring to is a confessional booth, and the bullets are the destructive confession he's about to make: that being her lover is worse hell than being her victim. ...and that's the punchline of the song. |
| We've only reached the third day of a seven-day binge I can already see your name disintegrating from my lips I'd rather be your victim, than to be with you Rather be your victim, than be with you |
The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles
In interviews Manson described this song as the heart of the album, and in fact the song name was originally intended to be the name of the album. This is the song that directly refers to the Faustian theme that Manson said represents the album as a whole, talking about how it's time for him to sever ties with a past in which he avoided having to pay the devil his due, and rise up to the obligation.
Mephistopheles is the name of the devil in German folklore, and a character in Goethe's play Faust. In this song, Manson is either about to meet Mephistopheles to pay his dues, or is himself Mephistopheles to Los Angeles (perhaps implying that rising up to that role is his payment to the devil).
The acoustic version of this song is called Fated, Faithful, Fatal.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| I don't know if I can open up I've been opened enough I don't know if I can open up I'm not a birthday present | This can be seen as a reference to his past few albums, maybe not necessarily Born Villain, but certainly The High End of Low, and Eat Me Drink Me, both are albums in which he opened up about what he was going through. Now it seems like he's done oversharing. He emphasizes it by comparing himself to a birthday present, a thing that's designed to be opened. He isn't designed for that. |
| I'm aggressive aggressive The past is over Now the passive seems so pathetic | "Aggressive aggressive" is a play on the phrase "passive aggressive". Just as he isn't
interested in opening up anymore, he isn't interested in being passive either. These are all
things that are in the past. Today he is a new man. It's interesting to note that later in the song Manson is describing the past as his "pathos", a Greek word that means "suffering", and in this verse he describes his passive past as "pathetic", a word that originated from the Greek word "pathos". So, he's covertly using the same word to describe the past in two different ways. |
| Are we fated, faithful, or fatal? | In this segment, Manson is wondering if it is inevitable that we be controlled by powers
greater than us. "Fated" means that your life is predetermined by the forces that be, and
"faithful" means that your life is judged and controlled by a god that you are in a
subservient relationship with. "Fatal" is a word that's tempting to interpret in the modern
sense of "lethal" or "destined to end in disaster", but that would make it the odd one out,
and so I think that a complementary interpretation can be found in the fact that the word
"fatal" also comes from the word "fate". So "fated" and "fatal" are the same idea at the core,
making all three options to be roughly the same choice: either way you're controlled by an
external force stronger than yourself. The modern interpretation of "fatal" simply adds a
negative meaning to the controlling- that it's to our detriment and ultimate demise. So, on
the surface he's asking which of the three is us, but since all three are the same option,
it begs a follow up question of 'is this really the only choice we have?'. This ties in neatly with the Faustian theme of this song, because making a pact with the devil is simultaneously a rebellion against divine control over your life (you call upon dark forces to unnaturally alter the circumstances of your life), and also another form of being controlled by supernatural forces, because you are fated to pay back the devil his due. In the end you're fated no matter what you do, and you have no choice but rise up to the reality of it. It's also interesting to note that these three words are concepts that Manson played with in the past: On the previous album Born Villain, in the song Hey... Cruel World, Manson is contrasting fate with faith, suggesting that he has the former on his side and that it's the stronger one of the two: Hey cruel world, you don't have what it takes. The idea in that lyric was inspired by Greek mythology, where fate is the strongest force in the universe, since even Zeus, king of the gods, is beholden to it. "Fatal" in its modern meaning of "lethal" or "leading to disaster" is the most appropriate word for how he felt about relationships during the Eat Me, Drink Me era and The High End of Low era. The High End of Low even had a song called Running To The Edge of The World, where this word was used directly: Everyone turned their backs 'cause they knew So, the trinity of fated, faithful, and fatal is actually a very personal choice of words for Manson, being motifs of his art and his life. |
| I feel stoned and alone like a heretic And I'm ready to meet my maker Lazarus got no dirt on me Lazarus got no dirt on me And I rise to every occasion I'm the Mephistopheles of Los Angeles | In an interview, Manson said that he intended the phrase "I'm the Mephistopheles of Los
Angeles" to have a double meaning: Either he is the Mephistopheles to Los Angeles, or Los Angeles is his Mephistopheles. This makes this section somewhat complex to analyze, so buckle up. I feel stoned and alone like a heretic Stoning was a method of execution in the old world where a group of people would throw stones at the subject until they died from blunt trauma. "Meet your maker" is an idiom for dying, so we can interpret this part as him being at rock bottom, and ready to die. However, the Faustian angle of the song gives us a slightly different interpretation: His maker is the devil, whom he made a pact with to obtain success, and now it's time to pay the devil his due. The reason why he is in ruins, as he is ready to face the devil that made him, is because a pact with the devil is designed to end in ruin for whoever agreed to it. Lazarus got no dirt on me Lazarus is a biblical name most associated with the story of Jesus Christ. There are actually two Lazarus characters in the story of Christ: One Lazarus of Bethany, an old friend of Jesus, whom Jesus resurrects from death, and the other is Lazarus the beggar from The Rich Man And Lazarus parable, that appears in the Gospel of Luke. This is the Lazarus that this song is referring to. In The Rich Man and Lazarus parable, Lazarus is a starving and sick beggar, covered in sores and perched at the feet of a rich man, longing to eat whatever scraps of food may accidentally fall from his table. The punchline of the parable is that the fates of Lazarus and the rich man flip in the afterlife- the beggar finds himself in heaven, while the rich man burns in hell. The phrase "he got nothing on me" could mean either that he has no incriminating evidence on you, or that you are better than him (he has nothing with which to one-up you). Here the phrase is used in the latter sense: Lazarus got no dirt that can compete with what the speaker has. We can interpret this statement as doubling down on the idea that he is at rock bottom (being worse off than even Lazarus), or we can associate it with the next section of the verse, the one introducing Mephestopheles, in which case the meaning would be that "Lazarus' dirt is nothing compared to Mephestopheles' dirt". And what is the dirt? The dirt represents suffering. Either suffering you have (like Lazarus), or suffering you deal in (like Mephistopheles). Putting it all together: The biblical interpretation: I feel stoned and alone like a heretic, and I'm ready to die. I'm worse off than Lazarus, but just like (that other) Lazarus, I will rise again as the Mephistopheles of Los Angeles. The Faustian interpretation number 1: I'm at rock bottom and ready to meet the devil that made me, and I'll rise to the challenge, for I am the Mephistopheles of Los Angeles. Faustian interpretation number 2: I'm at rock bottom and ready to meet the devil that made me. [switches perspective] Description of the Mephistopheles that's coming after him (dirtier than Lazarus, rises to any occasion). |
| Don't know if I can open up I've been opened too much Double-crossed and glossed over in my Pathos | Double-crossed and glossed over in my Pathos Pathos, as we previously covered, is an old Greek word for suffering, and the term "double cross" means betrayal. He opened up, and as a result of that he was betrayed, and his suffering was ignored. This could be a reference to a number of things. He could be talking about previous relationships. There was one interview with Spin magazine where he said: I did have an experience where I was struggling to deal with being alone and being forsaken and being betrayed by putting your trust in one person, and making the mistake of that being the wrong person. This could also be talking about how his most personal albums- Eat Me, Drink Me, and The High End of Low- on which he talked primarily about his emotions and "opened too much", weren't as successful as his other albums. The term "double cross" could also be a reference to the Cross of Lorraine, which Manson used extensively in his artwork and also as the symbol for the Celebriterian Corporation, his self-proclaimed art movement. Manson often referred to the cross of Lorraine as a "double cross" in interviews. The concept for the Celebriterian Corporation has never been properly fleshed out in my opinion. Manson spoke at length about it in some interviews- grand plans for the website that never materialized, collaborations with artists that never penned out, hazy descriptions such as "the art movement in itself is a betrayal to the people who didn't believe in it" that don't really communicate much about what it is specifically, and other etceteras that are just as cryptic. At the end of the day, what I think it was, is not so much a banner for a movement, but a label under which he could release new art, be it his own or that of his friends, like Gottfried Helnwein and John Galiano. So, for the purpose of these lyrics, the double cross represents his art, and the double meaning of "double-crossed" would mean "betrayed by his art". That is often the nature of making a pact with the devil: the thing that you wish for is the same thing that traps you into the penalty of the pact. |
| Are we fated, faithful, or fatal? I'm feeling stoned and alone like a heretic And I'm ready to meet my maker I feel stoned and alone like a heretic I'm ready to meet my maker Lazarus got no dirt on me Lazarus got no dirt on me And I rise to every occasion I'm the Mephistopheles of Los Angeles Of Los Angeles Are we fated, faithful, or fatal? I'm feeling stoned and alone like a heretic And I'm ready to meet my maker I feel stoned and alone like a heretic I'm ready to meet my maker Lazarus got no dirt on me Lazarus got no dirt on me And I rise to every occasion I'm the Mephistopheles of Los Angeles |
Warship My Wreck
Generally, this is a song about reacting badly to a breakup. But more specifically, I think that this is really a revisit of the infamous "I called Evan 158 times, and cut my face or hands every time she didn't answer" event, and looking on it from a different perspective. For those unfamiliar with the story, Manson's relationship with Evan Rachel Wood originally ended when she refused his marriage proposal (they later got engaged anyway), and Manson took it incredibly hard, because he had an unhealthy dependency on the relationship. In an interview with Spin magazine, Manson said that his lowest point from the breakup was on Christmas day 2008 when
I did have an experience where I was struggling to deal with being alone and being forsaken and being betrayed by putting your trust in one person, and making the mistake of that being the wrong person. [...] I made the mistake of trying to, desperately, grasp on and save that and own it. And every time I called her that day — I called 158 times — I took a razorblade and I cut myself on my face or on my hands.
In the same interview, he also pointed out that the song Into The Fire was about that event.
Heres how Warship My Wreck appears to be connected to that event:
- It talks about marriage that doesn't happen.
- It talks about "scars on my fingers", and self-destructive behavior.
- It talks about "cut the hands off", which might be mirroring the song Into The Fire where one of the lines in the lyrics is "Cause I'll break off my own arms".
Back when the event was fresh, Manson was in the throes of the drama of the event, and he had written Into The Fire as an account of it, and the overall sentiment of the album was that he felt betrayed by Evan for leaving, which is placing the blame outside himself. Warship My Wreck on the other hand is a more critical look on it, reflecting on how he was self-destructing and how he was the one who "tied his own noose" in that drama, which is taking responsibility for how he reacted.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| You're a paper doll I'll fold you how I want You're not my noose I tied this knot If this won't be Our fingers locked together Then this is total war Method not objective | You're a paper doll A paper doll is a plaything, something that is fully controlled by the operator. There's also an implication of weakness about her, since paper is a weak material that can't resist how it's shaped. This establishes the idea that the woman he is talking about is not a threat to him, in fact- she isn't his noose at all: You're not my noose, I tied this knot A noose is a rope arranged into a loop, used to hang someone, so it can be symbolic of suicide, or of something that kills you. To "tie the knot" is an idiom for marriage, but also a knot is a functional component of the noose, so what I believe Manson is saying is that his desire for marriage (he was the one who tied the knot) was him tying his own noose. Taken together with the previous section, what is said here is: she was not the one who was dangerous to me (she's just a paper doll, and not my noose), I was the one who made the relationship into my own noose. If this won't be This part is a continuation of the knot symbolism from the previous lines. The reason why the phrase 'to tie the knot' represents marriage is because it's referring to the handfasting ceremony, an old Celtic wedding tradition of binding the couple in matrimony by tying their hands together. So, when Manson is talking about their fingers locked together, he's referring to marriage once again. Then this is total war If marriage cannot happen, a war is going to break loose, and the focus is going to be the method, not the objective; in other words: the war isn't going to be about reaching a goal, but rather about the waging of the war itself. |
| You can't ever say that I'm breaking the rules If I can glue them back together Back together | This is a way of saying that he has his own method of doing things. Although he is
technically breaking the rules, his process ends up with things being whole, lending
validity to his method. So, if his method is valid, how can you criticize him for doing
things wrong? In the context of this song, we can look at it as a self-compassionate attitude, meaning that: "I know that the way I reacted was broken, but that is how I needed to deal with things, and how in the end I did deal with things (managed to glue things back together)". |
| Scars on my fingers, bruises, my neck Crashin' my trains, warship my wreck | A description of being hurt, and being in a destructive frenzy (he is crushing his own
trains). As stated in the introduction for this song, this is very fitting to how he acted
following his breakup with Evan Rachel Wood. The final phrase- warship my wreck- could be interpreted to mean that he is waging war from the vantage of his own wreckage, by turning his own wreck into a warship. However, the "warship" he is referring to might actually be his partner, and he is saying that he is wrecking into her. This is because in the next verse, he is talking about "Kamikaze into your soul": |
| Cut the hands off Kamikaze into your soul | Kamikaze attacks were a form of aerial warfare executed by the Japanese in World War II,
where a pilot would suicide crash his plane into the enemy. The target of such attacks were
typically Allied Forces warships, hence my idea that the warship the song is referring to
might actually represent his partner, rather than his ambition for destruction. The "cut the hands off" section, as I mentioned in the introduction, might be a reference to the song Into The Fire. Another interpretation can be found in the idea that whenever you fall, you use your hands to try to break your fall, so the hands are the failsafe that you use to stop what's happening before it turns into a disaster. To take the plunge without them is an act of choosing the disaster. |
| Scars on my fingers, bruises, my neck Crashin' my trains, warship my wreck Worship my wreck You can't ever say that I'm breaking the rules If I can glue them back together You can't ever say that I'm breaking the rules (warship my wreck) If I can glue them back together (warship my wreck) |
Slave Only Dreams To Be King
This song is about power struggles.
Samples
"You can't ask me to explain the lyrics because I won't do it. You understand that, right?"
Said by Lou Reed (most famous for being the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter of the
Velvet Underground) in a 2003 interview.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| The human will, that force unseen The offspring of a deathless soul Can hew the way to any goal Though walls of granite intervene Be not impatient in delay, but Wait as one who understands When spirit rises and demands The Gods are ready to obey | This passage is not part of the lyrics, but is used as an introduction to the song. The words are taken from Ella Wheeler Wilcox poem Will, and the recital is by Walton Woggings, who played a transgendered woman on Sons of Anarchy, where Manson also had a role. In the album's credits, Walton is credited as playing the "Preacher Man". |
| Take my money like an ugly bee Covered in my honey, too dumb to see My Fibonacci blinded by your jealousy | Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician who was responsible
for introducing the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to Europe. His other noteworthy achievement
was the Fibonacci sequence, which is a series of numbers in which every number is the sum of
the two previous numbers. The sequence looks like this: 0, 1, 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8, 5+8=13, and so on... The significance of the Fibonacci sequence is that it appears unexpectedly often in mathematics, and also unexpectedly often in natural phenomena. One example of this is the fact that bee ancestry follows the Fibonacci sequence, and Manson has a long fascination with this fact. Examples of this can be found in his watercolor portrait titled Fibonacci 
As well as the marilynmanson.com website from 2007, where the user could click on a section
and cause bees to multiply according to the Fibonacci sequence.In this lyric, Manson complains about being robbed by those who are too jealous and stupid to understand his profound commentary about them. This is represented by the fact that they are bees, and he has a Fibonacci about them. Just like the Fibonacci sequence reveals a profound pattern about how bees work, so does Manson's social commentary reveal insights about society, the same society that appears to be oblivious to its meaning as they are robbing him. |
| I'm happy to pull my veins out and braid a rope I don't need hope to know that you'd die slow | The rope he wants to braid is probably a noose, since he wants them dead. The willingness to
hurt yourself in order to hurt someone else is the ultimate display of resentment. He doesn't need to hope that they'll die slow, because he'll make sure that that is the case. |
| You are what you beat, yeah | This is an obvious play on the phrase "you are what you eat". You can interpret the word "beat" in two ways: you are what you overcome (appropriate for someone in an oppressed position), or you are what you oppress (appropriate for a tyrant king). |
| And then we met our brand new parents But they didn't know it yet So we chanted, "WED, WED, WED!" But they didn't know they were dead Didn't know they were dead | I can't figure out what this is supposed to mean. Maybe it's not a coincidence that this chorus is followed by a sample of Lou Reed saying "You can't ask me to explain the lyrics because I won't do it. You understand that, right?" This is a sentiment that Manson shares with Lou, saying in one interview "I don't ever want to explain my art". So maybe the idea is to give the middle finger to all the people asking him to explain what he means by writing a chorus no one has a chance of deciphering. That certainly would fit into the subject of the song being about power struggles (they're pressuring him to explain himself, while he exerts his power to be cryptic). |
| Then the witch tied her fruit to a stick When our coin was looking too thin It's like a winter in Hades, we drooled for the ladies As if the apple was owned by God | The fruit tied to a stick is similar to the imagery of a carrot tied to a stick- a
contraption intended to coax a mule to walk forward as it attempts to reach the carrot that
will forever be out of reach. Fruits are often used in sexual innuendos, and that is indeed
the implication here. The witch is goading them to follow her bidding using the promise of
her never attainable sexuality. The winter in Hades line refers to the story of Adonis from Greek mythology. In that story, two goddesses both fall in love with Adonis. First Aphrodite- the goddess of love, and later on Persephone- the queen of the underworld. Since Aphrodite becomes his lover first, when Persephone also falls in love with him, his existing relationship with Aphrodite stands as a challenge to her desires. When Adonis is killed during hunting, he ends up in Hades, the Greek underworld, where all the dead go to, and he spends an entire winter there with Persephone using the opportuning to seduce Adonis for herself. When Aphrodite comes to the underworld to demand the return of Adonis, Hades and Persephone reject her demand, claiming that she has no right to demand anything, and that Adonis belongs to Persephone now. Aphrodite responds by extinguishing love from the world, forcing Zeus, king of the gods, to interfere, and ask for a compromise in which Adonis will divide his time between the underworld and the world above it, so that he could be with Aphrodite during the summer, and Persephone during winter. Thus, "a winter in Hades" is used as a metaphor for controlling someone through seduction. we drooled for the ladies as if the apple was owned by God Recall that the core imagery of this section is of a witch seducing someone with the fruits of her sexuality tied to a stick. The men being seduced are so obsessed with the fruit, it's as if it belonged to God himself. Through the trappings of her sexuality, the witch made herself godlike to the men she's seducing. "Coin was looking too thin" means they were poor. I think the idea here, in connection with the rest of the verse, is that if they were rich and powerful, they wouldn't be in a position to be controlled by the witch, because the witch would've been controlled by her desire for them. Maybe it's also a continuation of the first verse; in the first verse they took his money, and now his coin is too thin. |
| And then we met our brand new parents But they didn't know it yet So we chanted, "WED, WED, WED!" But they didn't know they were dead Didn't know they were dead | |
| Slave never dreams to be free Slave only dreams to be King | If you can only see the world through the structure you're participating in, you don't
consider the possibilities outside of it, you only look for getting the best deal out of
what's available, so within the king-slave power dynamic, you'll endeavor to become the
king, rather than choose to opt out of the game. Here the concepts of slave and king are used metaphorically, but it's worth noting that there were actually instances of freed slaves who accumulated wealth and then became slave owners themselves. |
| You are what you beat, yeah Slave never dreams to be free Slave only dreams to be King Slave never dreams to be free Slave only dreams to be King (You are what you beat) Slave never dreams to be free (yeah) Slave only dreams to be King (You are what you beat) | |
| They say a slave is a man who's subservient to another man. Well I ain't your slave, I ain't nobody's slave I'm a king! I'm a king and I have a god! I'm a king and I wear a crown of thorns! | This outro is not part of the official lyrics. To the best of my knowledge, it isn't based
on a known source. Once again, the narrator is Walton Woggings. There's an obvious reference to Jesus via the crown of thorns line, and it's worth noting that Jesus was referred to as king of the Jews. |
The Devil Beneath My Feet
This song is an expression of confidence. It's Manson finding empowerment in his inner drive to be who he needs to be, and it's expressed metaphorically in the concept of being grounded in the devil (having the devil beneath his feet). With that foundation and the inner strength, he is aiming high (I want power to get higher), he's done putting up with his woman's tantrums (don't bring your black cloud to bed, when I wake up you better be gone), he's back to causing chaos (too many pills and not enough kills, I need the bug house or the big house... it's better to be blamed for robbing Peter than being guilty for paying Paul), and telling authority to fuck off (they'll never take me alive, don't need a motherfucker looking down on me). This is him being back to his old self again.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| I don't want your God and your higher power I want power to get higher And I'm not a liar, and I'm not a liar When you look up, what will you see? I don't need a motherfucker looking down on me Motherfucker looking down on me At least I know wherever I go I've got the devil beneath my feet Beneath my feet | I don't want your God and your higher power Although one could interpret it to mean "want power to get high on drugs", within the context of the song it's better understood as "power to elevate myself", in whatever context is meaningful to the narrator (getting stronger, achieve illumination, gaining status, etc). And I'm not a liar, and I'm not a liar And he means it. Look up, he's already up there climbing. I don't need a motherfucker looking down on me To look down on someone is to treat them as unworthy of respect. Within the context of this verse, it could also mean that he doesn't want God to look down on him and judge him. At least I know wherever I go The thing beneath your feet is often used as a metaphor for the foundation for your stability. If you stand on solid ground, it means you are stable, if someone were to pull something from under your feet, it means that they destabilize you. In this case, his foundation is the devil himself. The devil is the thing his life is grounded in. |
| Don't bring your black cloud to bed When I wake up you best be gone Or you better be dead | "Don't bring your black cloud to bed" was something he originally texted to Lindsey Usich, his then girlfriend and currently second wife, after a fight they had. Manson has a long history of finding himself trapped in the drama of complicated romance, so this sentiment of "I don't want your drama, go take that elsewhere" is a new attitude for him, one in which he puts himself first. |
| This what happens when you put an apple on your head You can laugh all day but you can't laugh the darkness away Can't laugh the darkness away | This part of the song is an aside. It's a break, musically and lyrically, from the energy of
the rest of the song. Here Manson becomes introspective for a moment, recognizing that
this crazy lifestyle of living on the edge of danger (put an apple on your head) is a form
of distraction from lingering darkness. Sure it causes riots and laughs aplenty, but there's
something deep it can never compensate for. The apple on your head line is an obvious reference to the feat of shooting an apple off someone's head, a feat of marksmanship with a bow. To take the position of the person on who's head the apple rests is to place yourself in danger, which is why in this song Manson uses it as a metaphor for living on the edge of danger, a lifestyle that is high stakes, but also high in excitement. Anyway, back to confidence... |
| Too many pills and not enough kills I need the Bug House, or the Big House They'll never take me alive, never take me alive Never fucking take me alive | He's crazy and dangerous. He should be locked up in an asylum (bug house) or prison (big house), but they'll never take him alive. I think the sentiment here is that he's back to causing mischief, not that he's out of control or fucked up. We see that point made again in the final phrase of the verse (It's better to be blamed for robbing Peter, than guilty for paying Paul): |
It's better to be blamed for robbing Peter Than guilty for paying Paul | Peter and Paul were both apostles of Jesus, who have become linked to one another in
Christian tradition. They have a feast dedicated to the both of them, and many churches were
dedicated to them as a pair. "To rob Peter to pay Paul" is often used in the sense of
covering one debt by incurring another debt, but given the connection between the two
apostles could also have the ironic meaning of "taking from one person in order to give back
to the same person". Manson uses the phrase to make a different point though: If people are willing to suspect you of robbing Peter, it means that you're known as an outlaw, someone who doesn't play by the rules, and this is a quality that Manson respects, because breaking the rules is how meaningful things emerge. In other words, no one would've blamed Manson for inspiring the Columbine school shooting if he were an uninspiring artist who took no chances going against the status quo. Note that Manson isn't saying that it's good to be guilty of robbing Peter, just that it's good to be accused of it, because the fact of the accusation means that you are a rebel. On the other hand, if you're actually guilty of paying Paul, then you are guilty of being someone who plays by the rules, and thus you contribute nothing of value. |
| Don't bring your black cloud to bed You best be gone Or you better be dead You best be gone Or you better be dead I don't need a motherfucker looking down on me Motherfucker looking down on me At least I know wherever I go I've got the devil beneath my feet Beneath my feet At least I know wherever I go I've got the devil beneath my feet |
Birds of Hell Awaiting
This was the first song written for the album. In this song, Manson is painting a picture of having the threat of your own self-destructive tendencies looming over you.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| The birds of Hell are waiting With their wings on fire This ain't no Phoenix, baby It's your death's desire | A Phoenix is a mythological bird that dies in a blaze of fire and then reincarnates from the
ashes. It's often used as a death-and-rebirth metaphor, so with this line Manson clarifies
the imagery he uses: that these birds truly represent the end of life, not the continuation
of life through transformation. "Death's desire" is another way of saying "death wish", an idiom for the (subconscious, but sometimes conscious) desire for self-destruction. These birds are your death wish looming over you, the agents of hell that you brought upon yourself, and they're waiting for their chance to take you out. |
| This is your death This is your death This is your death's desire This ain't no Phoenix, baby It's your death's desire The birds of Hell are waiting With their wings on fire This ain't no Phoenix, baby It's your death's desire This is your death This is your death This is your death's desire |
Cupid Carries A Gun
Cupid Carries A Gun was the last song finished for the album. It lay around in draft stage for a while, until Tyler Bates, who was hired to work on the score for the TV show Salem, saw the show's title sequence, and thought that the song was a perfect fit for it, thus encouraging him and Manson to finish the song.
The song itself is somewhat of a love song between two outcasts- him the coiled fist that looks like death, she the crow black eyed witch that fucks like a comet- and the idea that when they are in love, they become a deadly force that can take on the world, which is why Cupid, who goes hand in hand with him, carries a gun now.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| Pound me the witch drums, witch drums Pound me the witch drums Pound me the witch drums, the witch drums Better pray for hell, not hallelujah | Pound me the witch drums This is like saying "play me that song I like". Salem is a supernatural horror show inspired by the 17th century witch trials, but Manson is on the side of the witches, hence: better pray for hell, not hallelujah. |
| I'm the curled up fists Dead and hardened spiders Like two mangled crowns On the white heads of the meanest coiled snakes | Dead and hardened spiders When spiders die and rigor mortis sets in, their legs twist into themselves like fingers closing into a fist. Like two mangled crowns on the white heads of the meanest coiled snakes His fists are the mangled crowns, and his hands are the snakes. The two coiled snakes imagery is a reference to the staff of Hermes, also known as the caduceus. This connection is validated by the fact that Manson used the caduceus in the set design for the Hell Not Hallelujah tour that supported the album. The caduceus is a symbol that is highly loaded in meaning, even incorrect meaning. For example, its most common misuse is as a symbol of medicine, even though its mythology has nothing to do with medicine. As a symbol rooted in Greek mythology, its canonical meaning is associated with what its bearer god Hermes stood for, which was trade, negotiation, travelers, liars and thieves. Over time it found its way into Hinduism and alchemy, where it took on a bunch of new interpretations. 
Of all this wealth of symbolism, the part that I think is relevant to the song is actually
not the symbolism of the staff itself, but rather the qualities of Hermes. Hermes' role in
Greek mythology was as messenger of the Gods, and also as a divine trickster. These are the
same roles that Manson likes to cast himself in- he acts as a messenger to society via his
social commentary, and he acts as a trickster by being a subversive artist. By likening his
hands and fists to the tool of Hermes, he likens himself to Hermes and the roles he performed. |
| Folks say that I Look like Death Lived in the hotel of my eyes Blinds wide open like a whore Paid in spit from that hearse between her thighs | When he looks at them, it's like they are living in his eyes, and when they live in that
hotel, the blinds on their windows are wide open. When someone's blinds are wide open, they
are exposing themselves for all the world to see (hence the whore imagery), so that's a way
of saying that when they are in his eyes, they are fully exposed. He sees them for who they
are, and who they are is a whore who wants to be paid by being intimate with death: "paid in
spit from that hearse between her thighs" is an allusion to death going down on her. This
brings us all the way back to the beginning of the verse, because who is death? He is death.
Folks say he looks like death. In other words, this is a complex way of saying the following: Folks look at me, and say I look like death, and as I look back at them, I see that death is really what they are attracted to, so much that it's as if they want to whore themselves out to me. |
| Keep your halos tight I'm your god or your guardian Keep your halo tight One hand on the trigger, the other hand in mine Because now Cupid carries a gun Now, now Cupid, Cupid carries a gun | Keep your halos tight A halo around someone's head represents that this person is a saint. For the "good guys"- the ones who aren't society's outcasts- their halo is their identity, their center, their way to interact with the world. From his vantage point as an outcast, but a powerful one, Manson says "keep your halo close to you, because you're gonna need it to deal with me". Why? First of all because I'm your god or your guardian He's their god because as discussed in the previous verse, they have a strong attraction to what he represents, even as they denounce him. He's their guardian because he keeps them in check. ...and second, because he has love on his side, and love is a deadly force (he's hand in hand with Cupid, and now Cupid is carrying a gun). |
| She had those crow-black eyes Starless, but she fucked like a comet She laid as still as a Bible And it felt like Revelations when I looked inside | Here is his witch, the one he's in love with. Their love is profound (felt like Revelations when I looked inside her). When he says she is starless, it might mean that she lacks a certain glamor, but what she lacks in glamor she more than makes up for by the enthusiasm of her sexuality. Her fucking itself is star-like (like a comet). Actually, a comet isn't technically a star, but that let's not let this spoil the imagery. I think Manson chose to describe her fucking as a comet because it's a wordplay on the word "come"- reaching an orgasm. She fucks like an "orgasmette". |
| Keep your halos tight I'm your god or your guardian Keep your halo tight One hand on the trigger, the other hand in mine Because now Cupid carries a gun Now, now Cupid, Cupid carries a gun |
Odds of Even
The song starts and ends with a recording of coyotes tearing apart a small animal. In an interview for Revolver magazine, Manson gave a detailed description about the meaning of this song:
I think "Odds of Even" was probably influenced by [my mother passing away], since it was written after that, and she died in the house that we lived in. While I was in the studio, I heard some coyotes outside tearing apart a small animal. The story [of the song] had already formed itself, in the sense that you take on the world, and you stand up and fight, and then maybe you meet somebody, a romantic sort of situation—and you think you can win, but in the end you always die alone. It's not really a sad story. We all die alone. It's what you do when you're alive that counts. And if you make a deal with the devil, don't try to outrun him, because in the end, he's always going to be there. Hearing that animal being torn apart made me think of how I'd been ganged up on before in life—verbally, personally, physically, and things like that.
The lyrics focus on the point of death, and the idea that when you're about to die, that's when you have nothing left to do but be honest about yourself, because you're the only one that's left on this journey, and there won't be a tomorrow to worry about. In the context of the Faustian theme of the album, this is where the devil claims his payment.
The acoustic version of this song is called Fall of The House of Death.
| Lyrics | Commentary |
|---|---|
| Stood in the face of the grim death Screaming monsters bring me to deafness My dagger and swagger are useless in the face of the mirror When the mirror is made of my face | When you're facing death alone, you're left with only yourself as company, and though your
dagger and swagger may impress other people, you can't fool yourself with your persona. This
is the end of the show, and there's nothing left to do but take a look at yourself before it
ends. When he says the mirror is made from his face, he is personifying it, and thus elevates it above being a mere reflection for him to look at. Now it's an entity that looks back at you, and judges who you are, and since the face is his own, it means that he is looking critically at who he is. That is what it means to truly take a look at yourself. |
| This is the House of Death Where even angels die in arms of demons | In the end, the agents of death claim everybody, even angels. The choice of the "house" of death seems to have been inspired by the house his mother passed away in. |
| Hide your heart in your gut But for what? When they're waiting to pull you apart like a scarecrow On death row, so now all of your secrets are shown | What is the point of hiding all of those emotions you were too ashamed to admit to, if they're just going to spill out for all to see when the predators tear you apart? When facing death, everything you've been guarding will not be guarded anymore, so you might as well make this the one time you choose admit the emotions you've been hiding all this time. |
| This is the House of Death Where even angels die in arms of demons | |
| No one is exempt from the odds of even | Death is a certainty, so the odds of one person to die are the same as those of any other person: 100%. In other words, the odds are even- everybody have the same chance. |
Artwork
The artwork for the album was developed by the visual artist Hasan Raheem, who said in an interview that his focus when working on the album quickly shifted from attempting to represent the music, to attempting to represent Manson's entire legacy. Something that would be a "maturation from previous aesthetics but with the same attitude". The result was an assortment of portraits, a sample of which can be found below (note: not all of these photos are featured in the album itself):
One of the photos, which was used as a cover for the single for Cupid Carries A Gun, seems to be a nod to the Faust paintings by Ary Scheffer:
Beyond The Record
The Pale emperor era yielded 3 singles, and 3 music videos.
Music videos
Deep Six music video
Third Day of A Seven Day Binge video
The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles video
In this video, Manson assumes the role of Mephistopheles. He is seen acting as a messiah figure
for a group of dangerous looking men and women, blessing them, making them bow down to him, and
preaching with evangelical fervor.
Then, we transition to three women dressed in similar white robes. These women do not look like
they are part of Mephistopheles' congregation, so it's possible that they are his disciples,
since he appears to have a special relationship with at least one of them (based on how he
kisses and holds her in the baptism scene), and their white robes can be seen to represent
purity. It's also possible, given the heavily religious theme of this video, that these women
represent The Three Marys:
In the gospels, there are three women present at the crucifixion, and three women at the tomb of
Jesus. In Christian tradition it is believed that they were all named "Mary", one of whom is
supposed to be Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus' favorite disciples.
Mephistopheles picks one of the women, who might be his version of Mary Magdalene, and gives her
a baptism that ends with him drowning her. Perhaps, the baptism ends in her death because she
made a pact with Mephistopheles, so the baptism, being the thing she wished for, causes Mephisto
to invoke her side of the deal, which means becoming his in death.
Tour
The primary tour for The Pale Emperor era was called "Hell Not Hallelujah", and a secondary tour with the Smashing Pumpkins was called "The End of Times". In interviews, Manson said that he intended the live show to be "biblical", and what that turned out to be involved a cathedral-like set with stained glass windows that featured Manson related designs:
Designed for Manson by Alan Penn-Berkeley, there is a total of two designs, one featuring the caduceus, and another with a saint-like Manson, somewhat inspired by the design of The Heirophant and The Magician Tarot cards.
As described in the analysis to the song Cupid Carries A Gun, the caduceus is a staff carried by the Greek god Hermes, who acts as the messenger of the gods, and as a divine trickster, both concepts that Manson identifies with (he acts out being a trickster by being a subversive artist, and he acts out being a messenger by being someone who offers social commentary).
The Cross of Lorraine is a symbol that Manson adopted for himself. As explained in the commentary for The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles, it is a symbol that Manson used for the Celebriterian Corporation, his self-proclaimed art movement. In interviews he liked to refer to it as the "double cross", because he of the irony of the double meaning of the term.
The second design also features the Cross of Lorraine at the bottom. At the top we have the letters MMXV, which stand for Marilyn Manson XV, or Marilyn Manson 15. 15 is a significant number for Manson. Initially inspired by his interest in numerology in the 90s, the number has been featured many times in Manson's art (for example, the songs New Model No.15 from the album Mechanical Animals, and the song 15 from The High End of Low), and has become a number that represents Manson himself. He even has the number tattooed behind his ear.
The halo around his head is a star-like design which has 15 points. This design was posted on Manson's Instagram with the caption "keep your halo tight" (a lyric from the song Cupid Carries A Gun), and on another occasion was featured in a picture from The Pale Emperor artwork photoshoot where Manson is seen wearing a crown of thorns, so perhaps the many points of the star are also meant to invoke the crown of thorns imagery as well.
Manson's image resembles the Tarot card The Heirophant, with the throne, the robes, and most importantly, the hand gesture, which is an ancient sign of blessing. The pointed halo in Manson's version can also be seen as analogous to the Heirophant's crown. The name hierophant comes from ancient Greece, where it was constructed from a combination of ta hiera ('the holy') and phainein ('to show'), so in other words, the hierophant is someone who brings his congregation to the presence of holy, although he is also regarded as a teacher of wisdom, or interpreter of sacred mysteries.
Manson's hand positions however deviate from The Heirophant card design, and instead resemble those of The Magician Tarot card. It is widely interpreted to mean "as above, so below", an occult principle.