Mad the Swine Questions

[Paul O'Doherty]

Hi all,
I have 2 questions about this song that someone may be
able to explain.

1. On the Queen in Nuce CD it says that the version of the song
is the original and not the remixed version that appeared on the
Headlong single years later. I have both versions and I hear no
apparant difference (other than in sound quality, In Nuce being a
bootleg). I was just wondering if the CD notes were wrong here or
if I just haven't been able to pick the difference.

2. Does anyone know what this song is meant to be about? Is there
really a message behind it? I've tried replacing the words Mad the
Swine with Jesus Christ and if I do that the song makes more sense.
Are Queen really refering to Jesus here or is there no religious
meaning behind the song at all.

Paul.

[Michael Bennett]

On Tue, 1 Oct 1996, Paul O'Doherty wrote:

> Hi all,
> I have 2 questions about this song that someone may be
> able to explain.
>
> 1. On the Queen in Nuce CD it says that the version of the song
> is the original and not the remixed version that appeared on the
> Headlong single years later. I have both versions and I hear no
> apparant difference (other than in sound quality, In Nuce being a
> bootleg). I was just wondering if the CD notes were wrong here or
> if I just haven't been able to pick the difference.

Remix tends to mean just a change in the relative levels of various
instruments/voices.
I can never tell the difference, either.

> 2. Does anyone know what this song is meant to be about? Is there
> really a message behind it? I've tried replacing the words Mad the
> Swine with Jesus Christ and if I do that the song makes more sense.
> Are Queen really refering to Jesus here or is there no religious
> meaning behind the song at all.

Ever heard "Jesus"? It's talking about Jesus Christ. "Mad the Swine" was
the sort of thing the Pharisees used to call Him.

> Paul.

- Michael, Meow Mix Master Chef

"Don't you know it's what goes into your mouth that
makes you unclean, not what comes out of it?"

- Jesus (translated and paraphrased)

[Neil Sheldon]

On Wed, 2 Oct 1996 16:55:47 +1000, Michael Bennett <u91...@student.canberra.edu.au> wrote:

>On Tue, 1 Oct 1996, Paul O'Doherty wrote:
>
>> 1. On the Queen in Nuce CD it says that the version of the song
>> is the original and not the remixed version that appeared on the
>> Headlong single years later. I have both versions and I hear no
>> apparant difference (other than in sound quality, In Nuce being a
>> bootleg). I was just wondering if the CD notes were wrong here or
>> if I just haven't been able to pick the difference.

The fact that it's a bootleg gives me the idea that like lots of the other claims made for them it's probably just a
lie.

I can't hear the difference either.

Neil

[doc...@iafrica.com]

I have a mad the swine question myself.

1. What kind of song is it? I've never heard it.

Cheers.

Trevor

[Meredith Chesterton]

The 'mad the swine' reference is to the the 'Gadarene Swine' story.
The myth goes that JC didn't always just heal the sick by saying 'You're
healed'. Sometimes he used little tricks of the trade, like rubbing clay on a
blind person's eyes and healing them that way. In this case, he 'caused the
evil spirit to leave the man and enter a herd of swine belonging to a Gadarene
man'. The swine went mad, due to the evil spirit, and threw themselves into
the sea - hence references to 'mad swine'.

Make you wonder a bit about how much this god loved all his creaturers...but
that's the story, and the reference in the song.

[Brett Alan Chapman]

Paul O'Doherty <pa...@ke.com.au> wrote:

> 2. Does anyone know what this song is meant to be about? Is there
> really a message behind it? I've tried replacing the words Mad the
> Swine with Jesus Christ and if I do that the song makes more sense.
> Are Queen really refering to Jesus here or is there no religious
> meaning behind the song at all.
>

> Paul.

Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong but...
When Jesus exorcised a group of people, the demons fled into a herd of pigs
who then went nuts and ran off a cliff, killing themselves. Jesus was then
jokingly referred to by the leaders of the time as "Mad the Swine." Don't
know chapter or verse (unless it's apocrypha).
>

[Michael Bennett]

Someone else has just mentioned this story. (Btw, God's _always_ shown a
certain preference for human beings. I guess we can't agree on everything...)
Anyway, it was only one person, and the Apocrypha is OT.
But yeah, this is all true. I've never made the connection until now.
Mark 5: 1 - 20.
(And I've just realised there was probably a Bible in the next room, and
I didn't have to runfrom the bottom of this house to the top to get one.)

- Michael, Meow Mix Master Chef

"What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,'
but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him
'unclean.'"

- Matthew 15:11 (and I can't believe I got it backwards
last time.)

[ProphetM]

In article <N.100296....@196-7-192-182.iafrica.com>,
doc...@iafrica.com writes:

>I have a mad the swine question myself.
>
>1. What kind of song is it? I've never heard it.
>
>

I think I'd describe it as maybe a cross between Seven Seas of Rhye and
Funny How Love Is. It's not real hard - kind of poppy. And it's Biblically
themed. I'm not very good at describing songs; somebody help me out here!

Mike

"Nobody expects the Spanish...

THE END

Oh bugger!"

[Paul O'Doherty]

> Oh bugger!"I'm not very good at describing songs either, but I would add that
it starts of as an acoustic track and introduces some electric
guitar in the middle. The harmonies are nice and it's generally
quite a catchy sort of track. Freddie also sings high in places.
The guitar work is very typical of early Queen. It's well worth a
listen IMO.

I don't think I added much to the original description though!

Paul.

[Steve Close]

On Wednesday, October 2, 1996 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Michael Bennett wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Oct 1996, Paul O'Doherty wrote:

> > Hi all,
> > I have 2 questions about this song that someone may be
> > able to explain.
> >

> > 1. On the Queen in Nuce CD it says that the version of the song
> > is the original and not the remixed version that appeared on the
> > Headlong single years later. I have both versions and I hear no
> > apparant difference (other than in sound quality, In Nuce being a
> > bootleg). I was just wondering if the CD notes were wrong here or
> > if I just haven't been able to pick the difference.

> Remix tends to mean just a change in the relative levels of various
> instruments/voices.
> I can never tell the difference, either.

> > 2. Does anyone know what this song is meant to be about? Is there
> > really a message behind it? I've tried replacing the words Mad the
> > Swine with Jesus Christ and if I do that the song makes more sense.
> > Are Queen really refering to Jesus here or is there no religious
> > meaning behind the song at all.

> Ever heard "Jesus"? It's talking about Jesus Christ. "Mad the Swine" was
> the sort of thing the Pharisees used to call Him.
> > Paul.

> - Michael, Meow Mix Master Chef

> "Don't you know it's what goes into your mouth that
> makes you unclean, not what comes out of it?"
> - Jesus (translated and paraphrased)

I just stumbled across this reading while looking for information on the song. The song's lyrics are pretty self-explanatory. The fact that the "speaker" in the song is only three feet tall, wears no sandals, and exists ages after the one who "walked on the water" rules out Christ. I think the Gadarene Swine story is probably an inspiration for the song, but the story these lyrics tell is of the Second Coming, with God returning as a pig.

[Steve Close]

Wow--I just revived a thread that had been dead for twenty-five years! A MIRACLE!!

[Don Epi]

SC> Wow--I just revived a thread that had been dead for twenty-five
SC> years! A
SC> MIRACLE!!

Aleluya!!!