Hair Shirt
Marshall Andrews
Can anyone explain what the term "Hair Shirt" that is used in "What A
Good Boy" means?
Kazmar100
>Can anyone explain what the term "Hair Shirt" that is used in "What A
>Good Boy" means?
>
>
>
I read, from somewhere on this board, that a hair shirt was a torture device
used in the middle ages of Europe....it was a suit of armor with hair stitched
into the inside, and the wearer would itch a lot...not sure if it's true...but
it's what I read...and it kinda makes sense...
Kevin
smcbride
At one concert I was at, pine knob '96, Ed explained that it was a shirt
made of hair that was worn by monks. I don't remember what the religious
significance was, weather it was punishment for sins, or part of a ritual,
like fasting, to become closer to god?
Marshall Andrews wrote in message <34F8E2C9...@erols.com>...
Tim & Lisa Webster
Marshall Andrews wrote:
>
> Can anyone explain what the term "Hair Shirt" that is used in "What A
> Good Boy" means?
I've always heard that a hair shirt is worn for protection. (Mystical
spiritual stuff).
Lisa
^kat^
Marshall Andrews <wm...@erols.com> wrote...
> Can anyone explain what the term "Hair Shirt" that is used in "What A
> Good Boy" means?
well, i asked a fairly knowledgable source (read: my mother, when that song
was playing one time), and she said back in olden times, hairshirts were
literally shirts made of animal hair that were very uncomfortable. almost
a form of punishment. the word intrigued me b/c on r.e.m.'s _green_ one of
the titles of the tracks is "hairshirt." i wondered if it was just kind of
some bizarre musical term or sum'n. ;p
thrilled b/c "brian wilson" has made it into normal rotation on her
favorite radio station,
^kat^
HaystackCD
I heard/read that a hairshirt is indeed a sort of torture. It was the upper
part of a suit of armour and the inside had hair stuck in there somehow. The
torture was that whoever wore it would itch, but since he/she was wearing
armour, he/she couldn't. Sounds like fun, huh?
Jeff
"smcbride" <smcb...@advdata.com> is rumored to have said:
> At one concert I was at, pine knob '96, Ed explained that it was a shirt
> made of hair that was worn by monks. I don't remember what the religious
> significance was, weather it was punishment for sins, or part of a ritual,
> like fasting, to become closer to god?
(Barenaked)Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner.
The ascetics, a bunch of monks with fairly strict relious beliefs, even
for Catholics several centuries ago, wore shirts made of camel hair as a
kind of punishment; they held that through simple life and suffering one
became worthy of the Kingdon of Heaven. Material possesions were shunned,
and I don't believe they really ate all that well either. Harmless bunch
of guys, really, but they did give us the legacy of hair shirts to wonder
over in song lyrics.
Give it up for my European History class in high school-- a public
education really _does_ work. ; )
----------------
Jeff je...@dante.skidmore.edu
"Down here, I'm considered the apotheosis of cool."
http://www.skidmore.edu/~jbiddick
Heather Tudhope
I believe the person who said that hairshirts were worn by monks or the
religious as part of a punishment or the like was correct. I can not
remember but there was a story in christian history (I studied it in art
history) about a saint who wore a hairshirt and I can't remember if he had
to wear it because he killed someone in the church or if he himself was
eventually killed while in the church (and being punished for something
else). It's been a while. Regardless there is religious significance as
well as the idea of a punishment. Maybe my mixed up account of the
story will spark someone's memory.
--Heather
_____________________________________________________________________________
Heather Tudhope
la...@h2net.net
www.h2net.net/p/lampy
_____________________________________________________________________________
BigBri67
Casting my vote in favor of the religous background to the hairshirt reference.
It's been a few years since I blew the dust off the good book, but I think it
had something to do with John the Apostle in the desert, Book of Revelations or
somethin'.
erin m reeder
On Sun, 1 Mar 1998, Tim & Lisa Webster wrote:
> Marshall Andrews wrote:
> >
> > Can anyone explain what the term "Hair Shirt" that is used in "What A
> > Good Boy" means?
>
> I've always heard that a hair shirt is worn for protection. (Mystical
> spiritual stuff).
>
> Lisa
>
>
Yeah lisa is right. If you have ever read the Fountainhead, the female
character is refered to as the male character's hair shirt. (it has been
a while since i read it, so i can't remember names!)
erin in chicago
Carrie
BigBri67 wrote:
I should know this, we just studied it in my history class..... from what i
remember it was definitely a monk thing... there was a tendency in that time for
monks to be wealthy and materialistic, and from this arose movement towards the
simpler life.... some monks would forsake all possessions, don a hairshirt, and go
off to live alone in the desert. Anyway, 'twas definitely a monk thing. =)
--
Carrie Jamrogowicz
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/1744/
Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll
have to ram them down people's throats. --Howard Aiken
Tim & Lisa Webster
erin m reeder wrote:
>
> On Sun, 1 Mar 1998, Tim & Lisa Webster wrote:
> > I've always heard that a hair shirt is worn for protection. (Mystical
> > spiritual stuff).
> Yeah lisa is right. If you have ever read the Fountainhead, the female
> character is refered to as the male character's hair shirt. (it has been
> a while since i read it, so i can't remember names!)
Hmmm Erin, maybe the other ppl are right about torture and we were
supposed to get that Dominique tortured Roark... (that's true enough
right?) but I thought I got the protection thing from somewhere else!
Can anybody else back us up?
Lisa
bch...@magpage.com
Marshall Andrews wrote:
>
> Can anyone explain what the term "Hair Shirt" that is used in "What A
> Good Boy" means?
This is a very appropriate question as we are now in that time of year
known as Lent. A hair shirt is a shirt made of hair, generally
horsehair I believe and is very scratchy and uncomfortable. Christians
in the Middle Ages (read Catholics) used to wear them during lent as
well as rolling in ashes (which I assume is also uncomfortable) as a way
to atone for their sins through suffering. (The ashes are now
symbolically put on the forehead for Ash Wednesday.) Considering that
one of the next lines states that "this song is the cross that I bear"
I assume that this, suffering for one's sins, real or imagined, is the
meaning the lyricist intended. Or maybe I just spent too many years in
Catholic school.
Cathy (who can very well imagine that this song might have been written
about her friend Al.)
MGS 375
I think that Cathy's summation of how hair shirts have been used in the
Catholic tradition was fairly on target, but there is one nuance I would like
to emphasize. Hair shirts, to my knowledge, were rarely used as a form of
punishment, but were taken on by the monks themselves to atone for their sins.
Therefore, it's a type of suffering one willingly, on some level, accepts,
rather than has forced upon them.
And, as long as I'm not reading to far into the lyrics, I think that comes out
in the song...
--Matt
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Sullivan
mgs...@aol.com
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smcbride
uh, I'd like to thank the academy....
Jeff wrote in message ...
Hollis
There has been excellent explanation of "hair shirt" but it should be noted
that they were worn by choice. To "wear the hair shirt" was to admit your
wrong and accept the criticism or punishment or ridicule ON YOUR OWN. It
was like saying, "I screwed up so I deserve this discomfort."
>