Well he came down to earth and he hid in a treeI said, Mr. Purple People Eater, don't eat meHe called my name, and my heart stood stillWhen he said, John, go do my will!
With that line, the voice changed to Marilyn Manson's, and the song was now "God's Gonna Cut You Down." I'm not sure how much of the song he sang, but I know it included these lines:
As sure as God made black and whiteWhat's done in the dark will be brought to the lightWhat's done in the dark will be brought to the light
That last line was repeated -- or, rather, sounded as if it was echoing -- several times as I entered the fully sleeping state.
This was a conflation of two different things I had heard in the past. In January 2024 I watched the Jordan Peele film NOPE, which includes a dramatic recitation of part of "The Purple People Eater" in a gravelly voice somewhat suggestive of Cash's.
Searching my blog to find out when I had watched that movie, I found that I had actually posted about that very scene, in "I wouldn't eat you 'cause you're too tough." That post's title is a line from the original version of the song -- what the People Eater says in response to the request not to be eaten. In last night's version, it instead says, "John, go do my will!"
Back in February of 2020, I discovered and posted about Marilyn Manson's version of "God's Gonna Cut You Down." The post, "Go tell that long-tongued liar," included both the Manson and Cash versions, as well as one by Elvis Presley. Sometime later, I found a version that was a mashup of the Man in Black and the Man in Black Lipstick. Just as in last night's fantasy, it begins in Cash's voice and switches to Manson's with the line "When he said, John, go do my will!"
The combination in the fantasy was a strange one, seeming to put the Purple People Eater in the role of God himself. I think it ties in with "June, July, 19th, 21st," though. (Note: NOPE was released on July 22, one day after one of those dates, which also happens to be Bill Wright's birthday.) In that dream, I ran a long distance down a straight path in the desert and then walked down a corridor, but I knew that in the end I would have to face Rosie, a giant dog who I was afraid would eat me. Dog as a cipher for God is obvious, almost a cliche. (See "God and dog at the Panama canal.") In my published post, I described Rosie as a "spotted mastiff," but my own notes were more specific about the nature of the spots: "tri-color merle." Merle dogs are usually classified as "red merle" if they have brown spots and "blue merle" if they have black spots. Rosie had both, making her conceptually "purple."
You can run on for a long timeRun on for a long timeRun on for a long timeSooner or later, God'll cut you downSooner or later, God'll cut you down
In the dream, I ran on for a long time, on a perfectly straight path in the desert. After waking, I connected this with Isaiah's line "make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isa. 40:3) -- which could just as easily be a highway leading to God as a highway for God to use. I have made Bob Dylan's line "The highway is for gamblers" a sort of personal motto, so this is another link to the Cash/Manson song:
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the backbiterTell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em downTell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
Does all this imply that God's gonna cut me down? Well, it is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good. Perfect love casteth out all fear. There are hints of another interpretation, though. In last night's fantasy, the People Eater unexpectedly sends the person on a mission instead of eating him. Bill has also suggested that the warning about Rosie may have been misinterpreted:
It does make you wonder though, if Rosie is as bad as the warning seemed to indicate. You could interpret the remark that a black, brown, or white person wouldn't be that color anymore after Rosie was done with them as their mortal bodies and the associated various skin color as not being relevant anymore, as in via resurrection or restoration to new bodies.
Anyway, after that pre-sleep fantasy, I don't remember much of last night's dreams proper. Just as I was waking up, though, I heard a woman's voice sing a single line:
She's afraid of the light in the dark
I recognized this as coming from the Tori Amos song "Spark," which I hadn't listened to in a very long time. I only knew the first few lines:
She's addicted to nicotine patchesShe's addicted to nicotine patchesShe's afraid of a light in the dark
This past winter, I experimented with wearing nicotine patches while sleeping in order to induce vivid dreams. In one of these, described in "Nicotime, Mars, and the Secret Dojo," "I ran for hours and hours, never stopping or slowing or hesitating. . . . I ran along a desert road under a bright tan sky." This is clearly similar to the Rosie dream, so that's what may have put a song about nicotine patches in my head.
Making a mental note to look up "Spark" later, I checked my blog comments and found this one from Bill:
Just thinking more on Iris' issue with your sofas in the fifth floor classroom.The fact that you actually have a sofa in that fifth floor room, even if it is your chapel and not a classroom, seems like it could be relevant. As does the fact that that sofa is where you conduct your experiments.One possibility is that her meaning was actually expressing concern with the experiments you were conducting conducting on the sofa. She referenced the sofas specifically, but it was what was being done on it that she didn't like or was making the students uncomfortable.This might make sense given her suggestion on what to do with the sofa. Your current experiment relies on you lying down on the couch with the card under the pillow. If you were to rotate the sofa 90 degrees so the the back was on the ground and legs in the air, it would be impossible to lie on the sofa with the card under the pillow (let alone use the sofa really at all, experiment or not). Thus, you wouldn't be able to carry out the experiment, at least in the same way you had been doing it.Even if that is a reasonable interpretation - not sure it is - it does leave the question open as to whether you should listen to Iris or not on the matter.
I was already operating under the assumption that "Iris" in my dream -- who takes her name from the deceptive goddess who leads the too-trusting Turnus to his doom in the Aeneid -- was not too be trusted, so I immediately connected this comment of Bill's with "She's afraid of the light in the dark." Iris doesn't like me to experiment with extrasensory perception because she's afraid I might shine a light on things that she would prefer to remain in the dark. Well, tough beans, Iris. One way or another, "What's done in the dark will be brought to the light."
Later, when I got around to looking up "Spark," what got my attention was not so much the lyrics as this little sidebar on the search page:
"Purple People"! What are the odds?
3 comments:
i used to be obsessed with that Tori Amos song.
Yeah, God as the Dog - and thus Rosie - and covered in brown and black spots I think makes sense.
A white dog covered in brown and black spots would also be reminiscent or symbolic of a dog covered in mud splatter (or "filth"?). One of the overlooked teachings of the Book of Mormon is that God descended to become a man so that he could comprehend them and learn how to assist and succor them in their fallen state. Part of this involved taking upon himself their infirmities, sicknesses, and everything it means to be us. Similar to that story you've shared at times of God becoming a pig (which also gets covered in mud and crap).
This might also tie to why a white, black, or brown person will be a different color after meeting with Rosie. He takes on himself their sins and sickness - ... as you said yourself, vomiting isn't going to dissuade a dog (or God). The spots may be illustrative of that, and God wearing the same mud and crap as we do.
It is interesting your dream included the name John, as I think of God covered in mud and sh**. In Daymon's tales, Jesus has a meeting with Thingol (John in my book, as you know), at a tree, no less, in which Jesus, and is even given a task by him (which relates to Joseph and his household). In that meeting, Jesus-Eru is described as having mud streaked across his face, and Jesus says that both he and John are and will be in the mire and muck:
"... Here become as one, under this One, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone, Thingol friend, beloved, trusting, with me in the mire, amucked, and tuneful".
On the she's afraid of the dark commentary, I think these links you identified are a possibility. However, it may get even more basic and to the point with who she is and who and what the light is. Ungoliant would be my guess on who the she is, and I think it is pretty decent guess for a few reasons. This then flows to who and what the light is that she is afraid of, and I've already given my guesses as to who and what that is, involving both Beings and Stones.
I also thought of another possibility with your sofa orientation in your dream last night. The way Iris wanted you to arrange your sofa is the same way chairs are organized in a rocket ship ready to take off into the sky. The fact that the dream involved a spaceport of some kind I think makes this at least a possible interpretation to consider.
It was interesting to see the Purple People Eater come up again. You may or may not remember some of what we had explored earlier with that. It was really interesting, though, because earlier yesterday afternoon, I had come across a very specific link with a purple person that comes, once again, from that Donkey Kong game and song. Will share in a follow up comment.
So, I had shared that song from Donkey Kong: Bananza previously. Yesterday afternoon, I thought I should look up the scene of Donkey Kong and Pauline fighting Void for reasons I can't quite remember right now.
I found it on YouTube, and realized I had forgotten a couple things. First, the ending credit song I shared is actually first sung this fight against Void. Second, it was used to heal Donkey Kong, who had been turned into... wait for it... a Purple Person. Void trapped him under layers of a purple substance, almost like layers of tape, that has "VoidCo" written all over it.
At the beginning of the game, Pauline was one of these Purple People, but Donkey Kong sang a song which broke her out. In the end, it's Pauline's turn to return the favor, and she sings her song, which leads to Donkey Kong breaking free of Void and the Purple Stuff.
You had equated Brown and Black spots with Purple (via the associated colors of Red and Blue), and above I had further associated those Brown and Black spots with mud and filth. And here we have a Gorilla being freed from the "Purple" that Void placed on him.
It seems symbolically relevant, as does the beating Heart of Gold (a golden sphere) that they had to descend into the core of the Earth to retrieve, being potentially a nod to that Rose Stone in my story being buried in the Earth and which is directly tied to Finarfin, whose Mother Name means Heart of Gold.
In any case, Pauline's song is different in this scene, and I didn't catch it when I played. Hearing it again, these lyrics caught my attention:
"Hard as rock, cold as stone
I was scared, alone...
then your beat showed the way to me"
Pauline is describing herself in terms of something both hard and cold. It struck me that these adjectives are the very ones used repeatedly to describe Eowyn in LOTR, before she was ultimately healed by Faramir. She is the only character in that book described in those terms, to my knowledge. For example, when Aragorn leaves her to ride of to the Paths of the dead: "But Eowyn stood still as a figure carven in stone...".
Or, in Aragorn's description of her in the Houses of Healing: "When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice..."
Hard and Cold.
I have some more thoughts on this, and tying it back into thinking what it might mean to be a Purple People Eater, but will leave it here. I will note that I went back to listen to the Purple People Eater song again, and noticed an interesting detail. The Purple People Eater was said to be "Pigeon Toed", which could be literally taken to mean had the toes of a Pigeon. That combined with one horn (like a unicorn... Joseph?), and a single eye, makes me think we have another Holy Ghost reference. As we've both mentioned before, Pigeon originally meant "Dove".
Here is the Donkey Kong scene. Again, it was just interesting that I went to this random scene which turned out to involve a Purple Person right before you brought that up again here. The relevant part starts at about the 1 minute mark with Donkey Kong being trapped underneath Purple Void:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25iSyZjqYvc
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