The Soft Doctrines of Memphis Sam Part IV

"Call me Desdenova, eternal light"

--"Astronomy," Blue Oyster Cult

Welcome to the fourth installment in my examination of the Imaginos song cycle of recently deceased producer/manager/lyricist Sandy "Memphis Sam" Pearlman. Pearlman is of course most well known for his work with pioneering American heavy metal outfit Blue Oyster Cult, but his contributions to rock 'n' roll went far beyond this. As was noted in the first installment, he also played a key role in the careers of The Dictators, The Clash, Dio-era Black Sabbath and nearly signed the pioneering doom band Pentagram.

Beginning with the second installment I began to break down the "deep background" of the Imaginos story line. Based upon a series of poems Pearlman wrote in the mid-1960s entitled The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos, BOC songs since they debut would incorporate characters and concept from these poems and at times would be based upon them wholesale. As such, Soft Doctrines became something akin to Lovecraft's Necronomicon or Robert Chambers' The King in Yellow in BOC's lexicon, providing the backdrop to countless songs.

Fans of course had been aware of these implied connections for years, but it was not until the release of the Imaginos album in 1988 that part of the story line was revealed to the general public. And even then the sources that inspired Imaginos --alchemy, Vodun, Ufology, conspiracy theories, and so on --would remain obscure to the general public until the 1990s, when the rise of the Internet enabled fans to seriously research Pearlman's magnum opus.

As I was wrapping up with the second installment, I began to consider BOC's self-titled debut, the first album in the so-called "Black and White trilogy" (which also included their second and third albums, Tyranny and Mutation and Secret Treaties). The Black and White trilogy was recorded when Pearlman's influence over the band was greatest and when the Imaginos cycle was explored at the most regular intervals until the release of Imaginos in 1988. Across the debut's A side I considered Pearlman's penchant for sinister secret societies lurking at the fringes of the counterculture.

With the third and most recent installment I addressed the debut's B side and the entire Tyranny and Mutation album. Therein Pearlman's concepts of "transcendental models" as well as the possible influence of "esoteric vodoun" guru Michael Bertiaux on his work were considered, as well as Pearlman's ties to the legendary (or infamous, considering one's point of view) Warlock Shoppe and the heavily occulted substance of the Pearlman-written tracks on Mutations.

1974

BOC's landmark Secret Treaties album, the closet the band ever came to perfection and the most Soft Doctrines-centric album the group would release until Imaginos, was fittingly released in 1974. I say fittingly as 1974 was quite a banner year for high weirdness and political intrigues. Here's a brief rundown of such highlights from that year:

• On January 29 the Chronicle received the last known letter from the Zodiac killer (and the first the newspaper had received in three years) in which he described The Exorcist as "the best saterical comidy that I have ever seen."
• Heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped in February of that year by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). In the ensuing months she would actively aid the SLA and appear in a series of startling recordings on their behalf while demonstrating signs of brainwashing.
• April 5 witnesses the publication of horror superstar Stephen King's first novel, Carrie
• May Day 1974 witnessed simutaneous pre-dawn raids in San Francisco that allegedly rounded up the perpetrators of the "Zebra killings," a series of racially motivated killings in the Bay area that began in 1973 and ended in 1974, leaving 15 people dead. Much more information on the Zebra killers can be found on this early (and somewhat flawed) series
• On May 17, 1974, the SLA would engaged in massive shootout with the LAPD and other California law enforcement agencies in what would be the first major use of a SWAT team (and thus the onset of the militarization of America's police forces). The SLA's leader, Donald DeFreeze, was killed during the shootout along with five other SLA members; DeFreeze had previously been a patient at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville, an institution compellingly linked to CIA behavioral modification experiments
• Occultist and philosopher Julius Evola, who inspired so much of Italy's neo-fascist Renaissance, dies on June 11
• On June 28 Vannevar Bush, the legendary American scientist who administered the Office of Scientific Research and Development (which oversaw the Manhattan Project, among other things) during World War II, shed his mortal coil. Bush has long been linked to the UFO question with many Ufologist linking him to the highly dubious Majestic 12. As noted before here, there is compelling evidence linking Bush to real UFO study groups and other black projects
• Argentinean strongman Juan Peron, who had enabled so many "former" Nazis to flee via the "rat lines" using his nation, died on July 1
• On July 15, news anchor Christine Chubbuck commits suicide during a live broadcast on WXLT in Sarasota, Florida. Reportedly, this was the first on air suicide. In some accounts, Chubbuck's death is held to have inspired Paddy Chayefsky's syncro-mystical masterpiece Network (addressed before here and here) while in others it is claimed Chaeyefsky had already started work on the script and Chubbuck's death was an eerie "coincidence."
• Italy was rocked on August 4 by the Italicus Express train bombing that left 12 dead and over a hundred dead. This attack was carried out by neo-fascist groups long linked to Operation Gladio. More on information on these groups and Gladio can be found here
• US President Richard Nixon resigns on August 8 as part of the Watergate scandal, the deep intrigues of which I chronicled before here, here and here
• On November Ronald DeFeo Jr murders his entire family with a shotgun in Amityville (a village in the town of Babylon, New York "coincidentially") on Long Island, still home base for Blue Oyster Cult during this time. DeFeo's killing spree would inspire the Amityville Horror series, as well as what were almost surely fraudulent claims of hauntings at the murder scene by infamous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren
• the Arecibo message is beamed out from a radio telescope in Puerto Rico on November 16. This message was intended to give extraterrestrial civilizations information about Earth
• Andrija Puharich's Uri is published at some point in 1974. While nominally a biographer of Israeli stage magician Uri Geller, this work presented the first public revelation of The Nine, alleged extraterrestrial intelligences that appear to have long fascinated the deep state. Much more information on this bizarre topic can be found here and here
• Jonestown established at some point in 1974
• the fantasy tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons, long linked to controversy, is first released in the United States at some point during this year

early D & D books

So yes, there was a lot of strangeness and intrigues abound --presidencies were toppling, cults and revolutionary outfits were growing increasingly violent, Nazism's robust resurgence was more evident and psi and UFOs were seemingly on everyone's mind. And into this fray emerged BOC's Secret Treaties. If there was a more perfect soundtrack to this turbulent era, I know not what it would have been. 

Secret Treaties: Artwork

While the artwork for Treaties was not as immediately striking as the classic Bill Gawlik covers that graced BOC's first two albums, it was no less esoteric. Here's a rundown of many of the key images depicted by the album's artwork:

"The record's Ron Lesser cover art depicted the band posing in front of an ME 262, a World War II fighter yet, pilot's seat filled with the figure of Death. Eric [Bloom, BOC frontman and guitarist --Recluse] dramatically caped, holding the reigns of four German shepherds, which, on the back sleeve are shown mysteriously (ritualistically?) slaughtered. The band is gone and the plane seems to be in motion, although this not clear. Another quirk of the cover art is the shadowy background scene, which appears to depict Mexican farmers, or perhaps images from another time, something like time warpage circa Imaginos. 

"The inner sleeve contained two slight variations of the outer front and back. The band shot is distinguished by a clearer background of an older city scene, something akin to Washington, D.C. The 'slaughtered dogs' shot depicts the jet parked on what looks like a desolate and dusty, urban Mexican street. Albert [Bouchard, BOC drummer --Recluse], on the credit for the concept says, 'Secret Treaties was created by the Columbia Records art department, because they really wanted to get involved. We wanted to keep control of the artwork, but after the first two records, which they thought were really great, they wanted a shot at it. So we let them do it and we didn't like it. The original cover was what was on the inner sleeve. They thought it was too graphic and so did we, so we ended up with this other thing that they did. They did two versions, the inside and the outside. How it ended up was that Sandy's idea was the front cover and Murray [Krugman, BOC's other early manager/producer --Recluse]'s idea was the back cover, with the dogs being slaughtered. But all in all, Secret Treaties was mostly Sandy's idea.' Another complication is the European release of the record sported red lettering; while stateside the text was green.

"The inner sleeve adds this cryptic note. 'Rossignol's curious, albeit simply titled book, the Origins of a World War, spoke in terms of secret treaties, drawn up between the Ambassadors from Plutonia and Desdinova the foreign minister. These treaties founded a secret science from the stars. Astronomy. The career of evil.' As is well-documented, the book does not exist. But the notation ties nicely the band's (most notably Pearlman's) recurring theme of conspirators (be they Rosicrucians, Illuminati, Masons, Gnostics, Hermetics, or secret divisions of the CIA, FBI and Yale!) causing wars and other human upheaval (i.e. Altamont), in addition to the link with beings from other planets and possibly other times."

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pgs. 42-43) 

There's a lot to take in here. Let's start with the final paragraph concerning The Origins of a World War. Citing a quote from a fictitious book is very much in keeping with Pearlman's love of Lovecraft and Robert Chambers. Desdinova is another name of the Imaginos character, given to him after his initiation into the Blue Oyster Cult. Imaginos would make his first appearance in a BOC song on Secret Treaties. But more on that in a moment.

Plutonia is likely a reference to the extraterrestrial race the Imaginos has dealings with. It was also the name of an early science fiction novel by the Russian Vladimir Obruchev. The novel takes place in an underground world known as Pluto (after the Roman god of the underworld) that has its own sun and is inhabited by dinosaurs and other ancient creature. Nowadays this work would be considered in vein of the Hollow Earth mythos. It is unknown if Pearlman knew of this book.

While the faux quote from Origins of a World War hints that the secret treaties alluded too in the title are with extraterrestrial intelligences, another possibility is also presented by the artwork: the Nazis. On the front cover the band is depicted around a ME 262 while a Nazi-revering song of the same name is included on the album. Even more curious, however, are the apparent references to the Process Church of the Final Judgment in the artwork.

The Process Church was a highly controversial group with origins in Scientology. It was founded in the mid-1960s in England and had opened up outposts throughout the United States by the late 1960s. The Process would seek out alliances with both celebrates as well as more unsavory elements such as biker gangs. By the early 1970s the group had been linked to the Manson Family and disintegrated not long afterwards with its original leader being kicked to the curb and much of the rest of the sect carrying on as Christian fundamentalists. The group would continue to be a lightening rod for controversy, however, with offshoots being linked to the Son of Sam killings and the Cotton Club murder. Just how credible all these claims are is highly debatable, but the Process seems to turn up to often in close proximity to one outrage or another with too much frequency to dismiss it all as coincidence. Much more information on the Process can be found here.

the Processians in one variation of their capes --unfortunately no color images of them appear to be available online

As for the references to the Process on the Secret Treaties cover, it comes in the form of frontman Eric Bloom's getup and the German shepherds. Process members were well known for their black capes with crimson insides and German shepherds. They were frequently seen out and about major cities across the US during the late 1960s and early 1970s with both. Curiously, reports of dead German shepherds killed in a ritualistic fashion have also had a tendency to follow the Process around.

"For some reason, there have been reports of sacrifices of large numbers of dogs, mostly German shepherds, throughout the United States in the past thirty-odd years, but notably in areas where we discover confirmed cult activity. This was true in Berkowitz' Yonkers neighborhood as it was in Walden, New York, where a 'total of eighty-five skinned German shepherds and Dobermans were found' in a single year 'between October 1976 and October 1977.' The day of Berkowitz' arrest in Yonkers, the bodies of three slain German shepherds were found in an aqueduct behind his apartment. Two had been strangled with chains; the third had been shot in the head.

"Two days before his arrest, someone phoned an animal shelter using his name and address, inquiring about adopting a German shepherd that had been advertised in a local paper. A few hours later someone else called from the same street in Yonkers, also inquiring about the dog. The caller said he was 'fixing some cars' on Pine Street; an allusion that Terry believes actually refers to the Carr family who figure some prominently in his case. As it turned out, two men did visit the shelter, including one who resembled Berkowitz, but according to Berkowitz himself it was not he, although he acknowledges that someone may have been impersonating him on the phone.

"Why? This was before his arrest and identification in the press as the Son of Sam...

"around the time of the Sam killings, the author heard convincing rumors of the abuse and slaughter of dogs in a warehouse near Brooklyn Heights, within walking distance of the Warlock Shoppe, before Berkowitz was arrested and the connection with dogs was made.

"Terry connects the German shepherd sacrifices with the Process, due to their fondness for the animals. Members of the Process in those halcyon days of the 1960s were to be seen around San Francisco dressed in black and leading German shepherds on the leash. The 'Fear' issue of the process magazine featured a photo spread of twenty German shepherds in a menacing pose. It doesn't automatically follow, however, that the Process would sacrifice the animals.

"Another symbolic association that should be mentioned is the fact that Hitler favored German shepherds above all other animals. That there might be a Nazi or neo-Nazi element ot the Son of Sam cult should not be ignored, especially as mass murderer Fred Cowan --one of the 'Sons' according to Berkowitz --was a neo-Nazi. Further, the Process symbol was a stylized swastika: what some members referred to as 'four P's'; these 'four P's' later contributed to the name of a Process splinter group called 'Four P' after the same symbol. It was this group that remained behind in California after most of the regular Process decamped and went to New York City following the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Four P --and its reputed leader, the Grand Chingon --has been implicated in a number of vile acts, including animal and human sacrifice in northern and southern California. Convicted serial killer and cannibal Stanley Baker claimed to belong to this cult, and Manson Family members were known to refer to Charles Manson as the Grand Chingon. even though the organization was supposedly so secret that its very existence was unknown to all but a few."

(Sinister Forces Book III, Peter Levenda, pgs. 197-198)

the color versions of the Secret Treaties artwork show Bloom with the cape and dogs in more detail (top) as well as the dead German shepherds (bottom)

Again, all of this should be taken with a grain of salt, but there are certainly interesting parallels to Pearlman's work and the allegations surrounding the Process. As was noted in the second installment, BOC's debut featured two signature tunes describing biker gangs subverting the counterculture that are being directed by a secret society/cult within their ranks. As I noted before here, the Process frequently sought alliances with motorcycle clubs during the late 1960s/early 1970s, as did the Manson Family.

Pearlman described the Transmaniacon MC (from the song of the same name) and the Motif of the Rose (from "Before the Kiss, A Redcap") as being based upon French and Belgian fascist organizations (noted before here). While the Process are normally described as hippies, they had ample connections to the far right, as I noted before here, and eventually rebranded themselves as a Christian fundamentalist sect known as the Foundation Church of the Millennium by the mid-1970s.

It would appear then that the possibility that the Process inspired some of Pearlman's early lyrics exists. What's more, it seems all but certain that Pearlman would have been aware of the Process. As was noted before here, the Process frequented Herman Slater's Warlock Shoppe by the early 1970s and there are strong indications (noted in the prior installment) that Pearlman was a part of this scene. What's more, Pearlman was also friendly with Fugs singer Ed Sanders going back to his days at Stony Brook. As a reader kindly informed me, Pearlman was a big Fugs fan and had enlisted the band to play at Stony Brook in 1966 and again in 1967 with Country Joe and the Fish as well as Soft White Underbelly (the first incarnation of BOC) for the so-called "Pot Bust Benefit."

Ed Sanders circa 1968

Ed Sanders would of course go on to publish The Family in 1971. This was the first full length account of the Manson Family and the first time the Process Church was linked to them. In fact, this was the first time the American public at large had been exposed to the Process, though it proved to be quite brief. The Process successfully sued Sanders in the United States and a chapter concerning them was removed from subsequent additions of The Family. The offending addition remained in British editions of the book, however.

So while its rather circumstantial as to whether Pearlman encountered the Process directly at the Warlock Shoppe, it seems highly probable that he could have heard about them and some of the more incredible allegations surrounding them from his friend Ed Sanders. Certainly this seems more plausible than Pearlman "coincidentally" littering the Secret Treaties artwork with imagery closely resembling the fashion and deeds of the Process.

More Pearlman and the Process

If this was not enough, there is also compelling indications that there were more allusions to the Process with the cover of On Your Feet or On Your Knees, a live album that came out the year after Secret Treaties was released. This was the first BOC album to feature a cover in color, but it proved to be no less striking than those from the "Black and White" era. In this instance, a limo sporting a Templar-like flag with the BOC logo on it is shown parked in front of a curious church. A comment left on a previous post I had written about BOC indicated that this church had been used by the Process some time around the early 1970s.

I had been weary of this claim when I had first read it, but after researching the matter I believe that there may be merit to it. The church used on the On Your Feet... cover is St. Paul's Chapel, a part of St. John's Episcopal Parish in the South Salem era of New York state. In 1987 investigative reporter Maury Terry published a deeply flawed work called The Ultimate Evil. This book was based upon Terry's research into the Son of Sam killings and the possibility that some type of cult was behind them. While some of Terry's conclusions are suspect, his raw data is compelling.

Towards the end of The Ultimate Evil, Terry notes that a cult alleged to have been a Process splinter was reputed to have been using a church in the Salem area for black rites during the mid-1970s.

"Another abandoned church offered yet one more meeting site. This edifice was said to have been an 'eastern headquarters' for the group. The informants said it was privately owned (perhaps partially converted) and was located in the vicinity of the northeastern corner of Westchester County, somewhere near (and possibly over) the adjoining Putnam County and Connecticut borders. Vinny couldn't pinpoint the exact location but, quoting Berkowitz, he mentioned 'Salem' and 'Brewster.' 

"North and South Salem, with their historic witchcraft names, were in Westchester, and the village of Brewster lay a few miles north in Putnam County. The area was largely rural, with homes, estates and some farms and stables hidden from the few main roads by thickets of trees. It was a perfect cult site, and a difficult, extensive setting in which to try to locate the old church.

"Vinny said the church's interior (in 1976-77) was adorned with a silver pentagram on one wall; and silver-wire inlays, some in the form of the German SS lightning bolts --a symbol of the cult --appeared on the ends of some pews."

(The Ultimate Evil, Maury Terry, pg. 412)

Even more compelling are Terry's allegations that members of the Process were active in this area during the mid-1970s.

"And the Process itself was even located in that area. In the mid-seventies members of the cult occupied a house off Salem Road in Pound Ridge, a rural community several miles south of North Salem. It was as if the players and environment from the Los Angeles scene of 1968-69 had been magically transported to the specific area Berkowitz and the prison informants referred to."

(The Ultimate Evil, Maury Terry, pg. 419)

The On Your Feet or On Your Knees church is actually located in Lewisboro, near South Salem. And the above-mentioned rural village of Pound Ridge is located right next to Lewisboro, with less than five miles separating the two. In other words, this Process encampment couldn't have been located more than a few miles from the On Your Feet... church.

In Agents of Fortune, the only full length account of Blue Oyster Cult, Martin Popoff sites BOC drummer Albert Bouchard as crediting Pearlman with finding the church used on the cover of On Your Feet or On Your Knees. Thus, Pearlman selected a church located mere miles from a Process Church hub in area in which Maury Terry's informants alleged that a splinter of the cult was using a church for ritual purposes.

the church more recently

Dismissing this as a mere coincidence would be quite a stretch indeed, especially when taken in conjunction with ample Process allusions on the cover of Secret Treaties. But I digress.

Secret Treaties: A Side

With the cover art and my musings concerning the Process finished, let us now turn our attention to the actual music on Secret Treaties. Opener "A Career of Evil" was another BOC song with lyrics from punk poetess Patti Smith, who at the time was dating BOC keyboardist and sometimes guitarist Allen Lanier. Coming off like something of a demented Doors song, this track has at times be linked to the Imaginos cycle, but this seems to derive primarily from the sinister sentiments expressed throughout the track. It was released as the album's first single, but in edited form with the line "Do it to your daughter on a dirt road" being changed.

There is no question that the next track, "Subhuman," is a part of the Imaginos cycle. This another number with a clear Doors influence, this time something in vein of "Riders on the Storm" with a little Dust-style riffing to bring the metal. But it's ties to the Imaginos cycle ensure that its even more sinister and foreboding than anything Morrison and co ever released. In fact, this is the first time the Imaginos figure appears on a BOC song, though he is not mentioned by name in the track. Here are some more details:

"Track two 'Subhuman,' a tune that would be revived 14 years later on Imaginos as signature track 'Blue Oyster Cult,' rightly so as it seems to encapsulate Sandy's complex concept of the band, the character Imaginos, and the intertwining of the two. A type of literal translation of the band's name occurs, similar to graphic artist Greg Scott's approach to the Fire of Unknown Origins artwork, with talk of oyster boys, the sea and the 'blue sky bag.' Overtones of Lovecraft's Cthulhu or 'old ones' can also be spotted in terms of death-like creatures who inhabit the seas. In any event, the occurrences in this lyric seem to mark a traumatic, transformational moment for Imaginos, a character who could change form and traverse time...."

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pg. 43)

Yes, this is possibly the song from which Blue Oyster Cult derived its name. In this track Imaginos, a sailor, is betrayed by his shipmates ("Left to die by two good friend") and abandoned as his ship puts to sea. As he lays dying near the sea some rather curious creatures appear to him (the "oyster boys") who offer to save his life if he'll join them. Imaginos accepts ("Just one deal is what we made") but is in for a surprise. Much more shall be said of this track and its themes when I address the even more esoteric "Blue Oyster Cult" that appears on Imaginos.

"Subhuman" is followed up by another track likely a part of, or closely related too, the Imaginos cycle called "Dominance and Submission." This song also features the curious character of Suzie, whom also appeared in "Before the Kiss, a Redcap" (noted before here) and several other BOC songs. This song revolves around the subversive power of rock 'n' roll and the sinister forces that sought to control it. I've already written an entire blog on this song before, which I found to be thematically closely related to Don McLean's classic "American Pie," and as such will not address this song here for the sake of brevity. But this is a very deep track and the reader is encouraged to take in the prior article.

Side A closes out with the Nazi-revering "ME 262." This song revolves around the Messerschmitt Me 262, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. The ME 262 was to be a kind of super weapon for the Nazis in the closing days of the war, but it was not used to its full potential. The gleeful boogie classic name checks Hitler and Goring and tells of an air battle from Germany's perspective. The main character in the song is a Captain Von Ondine. This is interesting as "Ondine" is close to "undine," a kind of water elemental being similar to a mermaid. As was noted in part three, an undine was also mentioned on "Workshop of Telescopes" off of the self-titled debut.

This track helped further contribute to the group flirtation with Nazism. As was noted in the first installment, despite several Jews being involved with the band and in their orbit (including Pearlman), the group had subtly embraced Nazi imagery from the early 1970s. Pearlman was very much the architect of this and only added fuel to the fire when "ME 262"  was released as a single. Controversy ensued and the band retreated form this imagery as Pearlman's influenced waned. But back to the matter at hand.

Secret Treaties: Side B

Side B begins with "Cagey Cretins," the first of two Richard Meltzer lyrical contributions to Secret Treaties. As was noted in part one, Meltzer was had worked with Pearlman as a rock critic for Crawdaddy in the mid-1960s. He played a key role in the early years of the band and would contribute lyrics to the group for years.

"Cagey Cretins" is probably the closet thing Treaties has to a throwaway track. The lyrics effectively revolve around Meltzer's boredom from his time spent staying at his girlfriend's house in Shirley, New York, in the middle of Long Island. The demented Doors nature of the song and some amusing lyrics ("Being chased around by the neighbor's cat/ Well it's so lonely in the state of Maine!") somewhat redeem the song and the general strangeness of the track is in keeping with the rest of the album.

Next up is Meltzer's second composition, and a much better one, known as "Harvester of Eyes." This song was apparently inspired by a confirmation hearing for LBJ crony Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court that Meltzer watched. At one point during the hearing the medical condition ocular tuberculosis (tuberculosis of the eye) was mentioned and this served as the inspiration for "Harvester." What emerges is effectively a narrative that the great Julian Cope believed could describe Death (who appeared on the Secret Treaties album cover) as a strung out junkie:

"... On a higher plain of existence, however, is the superbly titled 'Harvester of Eyes', Meltzer’s massive ode to the Grim Reaper as a hopeless drug addict. Suffused with imagery that appears to be an Odinist take on Alice’s epic 'Halo of Flies', this tight-assed caffeine blues straddles that bizarre mid-70s hinterland between Joe Walsh’s delightfully clodhopping 'Rocky Mountain Way' and the post-Todd meltdown of The Tubes’ 'White Punks On Dope'. It’s one of Eric Bloom’s finest vocal performances and one which he obviously relished, recounting how the Reaper - so ‘high on eyes’ - needs ‘all the peepers’ he can harvest not only as evidence that the donor of those eyes is truly dead, but also to satisfy his hopeless druglust or ‘ocular TB’ as Meltzer terms it. Nailed it this time, motherfucker!"

While this song was never intended to be a part of the Imaginos cycle, it has been linked to it over the years. It is easy to see why as Meltzer's depiction of a sinister entity is in keeping with the wonders of the invisible world that appear throughout Imaginos.

Pearlman returns to the fold with the next track, the Cult classic "Flaming Telepaths." Drummer Albert Bouchard contributed some of the lyrics to this track, but it is clearly Pearlman's vision. Of it, he noted:

" 'On the new album there's the song called "Flaming Telepaths",' explained Sandy, in conversation with NME's Don Nooger circa spring of '74, 'which deals with the same sort of theme (as "Cities on Flame") but in a scientific way. It's about an attempt to create a mutation, to mutate consciousness. The first lines are, "I will have opened my veins too many times, poison's in my mind, poison's in my bloodstream, poison's in my pride," and that's they key line, "poison's in my pride." It's about this scientist who attempts to mutate consciousness and he just can't do it; he's failed too many times. But the scientist has this poisonous pride and he's got to keep on trying, beating his head against this barrier. And just because he's doing it, that's good enough. It's a very, very noble song...' "

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pgs. 47-48)

What's most curious about this song as how it alludes to the militarization of psi that was this currently being undertaken by the deep state. Stanford Research Institute's famed remote viewing experiments, funded by the CIA and military, had just kicked off in 1972. By 1978 Project Grill Flame, the military's first formal effort to weaponize psi, was launched and would remain active for almost 20 years despite persistent claims that the research was baseless.

Was Pearlman telling tales out of school, as Chris Knowles is fond of saying? Certainly the scientist described in "Flaming Telepaths" could be an effective stand in for Andrija Puharich. Puharich, a man with ample interest in esoterica. played a major role in the first psi experiments undertaken by the deep state in the 1950s (as noted before here). His Uri was released in 1974 superficially to legitimize the psi phenomenon to the general public (though as noted above, it is mostly remembered in this day and age for revealing The Nine) and in the years leading up to this he had become something of a minor celebrity in certain sectors of the counterculture. Given Pearlman's fascination with science, mysticism and their merger, Puharich have likely interested Memphis Sam greatly. I have no evidence of any formal contact between the two men, but certainly "Flaming Telepaths" is an apt account of Puharich's work with the deep state. But moving along.

Puharich

"Flaming Telepaths" bleeds directly into closer "Astronomy," possibly the greatest song that band ever came up with. A long time fan favorite, "Astronomy" was a key piece of the Imaginos cycle and a new version of the song appeared on the 1988 Imaginos album. But nothing can top the original 1974 version, which was co-written by the Bouchard brothers (drummer Albert and bassist Joe) using lyrics (that were slightly rearranged) from Pearlman.

"Astronomy" is another track featuring the character of Suzie, along with Imaginos. The meaning to this track is rather obscure, but a key clue comes from the repeated references to the "four winds." The four winds are of course rich with symbolism.

"On the other hand wind is synonymous with breath and consequently with the Spirit, a heaven-sent spiritual influx. This why both the Book Psalms and the Koran equate winds with angels as God's messengers. Wind even gives its name to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God moving across the face of the primordial waters is called Ruah, 'Wind', and it was a wind which brought the Apostles the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit. In Hindu symbolism, the wind, personified as the god (Vayu) is cosmic breath and the Word. It rules the 'subtle' world which lies between Heaven and Earth, the space which was filled by what the Chinese termed a breath, k'i. Vayu imbues, shatters and cleanses, and is related to the points of the compass, which were generally speaking termed 'winds.' Hence Classical antiquity talked of the four winds and the Athenians built the eight-sided Tower of the Winds.

"The Four Winds, furthermore, were related to the seasons, the elements and the 'humours' in a pattern subject to slight variation..."

(Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrant, pgs. 1110-1111)

Native American symbolism for the four winds seems especially relevant in this case as indigenous mysticism seems to have heavily influenced the Imaginos cycle, as shall be explored in the next installment. For our purposes here, it is interesting to note that Native Americans frequently associated the four winds with square, and frequently used this design in their sacred places.

"Links across time in the symbolic meanings of the square are also found on a smaller scale. For example, shell gorgets recovered from Mississippian sites are found to have cross as well as bent-arm cross designs carved into their surfaces. According to historic Indian accounts... these designs were meant to symbolize the four cardinal directions, the four world quarters, and the four winds...

"Mississippian designs like the Spiro gorget look very similar to some of the designs found in earlier Hopewell contexts, especially those which incorporate cross and bent-arm cross features... Moreover, a clear geometric relationship can be demonstrated between the cross, the square, and the bent-arm cross... Given this relationship, as well as the close proximity in both time and space between the Hopewell and Mississippian cultures --including the southern Ohio-based, Mississippian-influenced Fort Ancient peoples --my thought is that the symbolic meanings of the cross, the square, and the bent-arm cross were the same for historic Indians of the Southeast, the prehistoric Mississippians, and the Hopewell: namely, symbols of the sky, the world quarters, the four cardinal directions, and the four winds.

"To summarize this section in another way, we know from ethnographic accounts that many historic southeastern Indian people laid out their ceremonial grounds in the shape of a square and that these square grounds were thought of as symbolic microcosms of the universe. Moreover, these square ceremonial grounds were oriented to sky phenomena, including cardinal directions."

(Mysteries of the Hopewell, William F. Romain, pgs. 176-180)

a depiction of the four winds in the Seven Nation's symbolism

The four winds then are closely associated with both the sky and the heavens. In the case of "Astronomy," both are rather fitting. I digressed above on Native American sacred space oriented towards this "sky phenomenon" to help explain the reference to the "four winds bar." This reference appears in the second. third and fourth verses of the song:

Come Susy dear, let's take a walk

Just out there upon the beach

I know you'll soon be married

And you want to know where the winds come from

Well its never said at all

On the map that Carrie reads

Behind the clock back there you know

At the four winds bar

Four winds at the four winds bar

Two doors locked and the windows barred

One door let to take you in

The other one just mirrors it

Hey, hey, yeah! Hey, hey

In hellish glare and inference

The other one's a duplicate

The queenly flux, the eternal light

Or the light that never warms

Yes the light, that never, never warms

Yes the light, that never, never warms

Never warms, never warms

The clock strikes twelve and moon drops burst

Out at you from their hiding place

Miss Carrie nurse and Susie dear

Would find themselves at the four winds bar

It's the nexus of the crisis

The origin of storms

Just the place to hopelessly

Encounter time and then came me

As noted above, the Joe Bouchard some what altered the original Pearlman poem. The opening verse, which is a variation on the fourth ("The clock strikes twelve...") originally was the third verse and thus would have come after the "never warms" bit. Thus, Susie and "Carrie nurse" would have been the focus at the onset of the song.

Some fans have interpreted this song to be about Susie having a lesbian experience, presumably with Carrie. There may be some merit to this. I believe the "four winds bar" designates some kind of sacred space where Susie ventures to for a certain kind of marriage --a sacred marriage. Carrie is there to initiate Susie. In the process two gateways are opened ("Two doors locked and windows barred/One door let to take you in//The other one just mirrors it"). One of these gateways is a kind of shadow world ("In hellish glare and inference/The other one's a duplicate") from which entities emerge ("The clock strikes twelve and moon drops burst/Out at you from their hiding place"). But it is one particular being that most interests us and who is mentioned in the final verse:

Call me Desdenova, eternal light

These gravely digs of mine

Will surely prove a sight

And don't forget my dog, fixed and consequent

This marks the first time Imaginos (who was given the name Desdenova by the Blue Oyster Cult) is directly mentioned in a BOC song. I believe the preceding verses dealt with the efforts of two women, Carrie nurse and Susie dear, to summon Desdenova in some type of ritual, potentially tantric in nature. And indeed they succeeded, enabling him to enter their world.

The final line of this verse ("And don't forget my dog...") is interesting as well. Some fans have interpreted it to be a reference to the Dog star Sirius. In ancient times it was often used for navigational purposes because it appeared to be at the same point in the sky ("fixed and consequent) and the Imaginos/Desdenova character worked as a sailor for a time. As noted above and shall be addressed in much greater detail in the next installment, he was also said to have originated from another planet. And indeed there are theories that extraterrestrial intellgiences originating from Sirius visited the Earth in ancient times. 

The basis of many of these theories originate with Robert Temple's The Sirius Mystery. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Temple's presents a compelling account of the detailed knowledge of Sirius that the Dogon tribe of Africa has possessed for hundreds of years despite science only being able to confirm much of this information in the last century. The Dogon claimed that their knowledge of Sirius was brought to them from beings from or near this star centuries ago.

Temple believed that other traditions also possessed accounts of these beings from Sirius and that it had been closely guarded by various secret orders for centuries:

"Temple believes the Contact (which he tends to portray as physical, involving actual space-ships) occurred in Sumeria around 4500 B.C. The knowledge thus gained, he argues (and this is the major theme of his book), was passed on via various secret societies of initiates in the Near East, Egypt, Greece and so on, at least until the time of the 5th century (A.D.) neo-Platonist Proclus. Thereafter, Temple loses track of it, and suggests that it petered out, although he mentions that offshoots of it appeared in 'such bizarre and fascinating figures as Giordano Bruno, Marsilio Ficino, John Dee and even Sir Philip Sidney and the Earl of Leicester --not to mention the troubadors of Provence, Dante in Italy, and the massacred tens of thousands of Albigensians in France, the Knights Templar and an infinite range of hopeless causes over two and a half millennia....' "

(Cosmic Trigger Volume I, Robert Anton Wilson, pg.s. 186-187)

Clearly Temple's premise bears more than a passing resemblance to Pearlman's Imaginos cycle. But even more curious is the fact that The Sirius Mystery was not published until 1976, a good two years after Secret Treaties had been released. And if "Astronomy" had been a part of the original Soft Doctrines... poems, then Pearlman may have come up with this concept nearly a decade before Temple's work was published. Was this merely a coincidence, or was someone (or something...) feeding Pealrman this information?

the Dog star

On the topic of telling tales out of school, it's also interesting to note that parallels to Secret Treatie's final two tracks and the above-mentioned sage of Andrija Puharich and The Nine. "Flaming Telepaths" mirrored Puharich's involvement with the deep state to weaponize psi while "Astronomy" deals with the contacting of nonhuman, allegedly extraterrestrial intellgiences through occult means. In "Astronomy" this is accomplished through some type of ritual, while Puharich relied upon hypnotism and mediumship.

It is curious how these two tracks run into one another, with "... Telepaths" being literally cut off in the middle of its "And the joke's on you" refrain to make room for "Astronomy"'s opening keys. Clearly these two tracks are linked and the strange saga of The Nine makes for one of them sot compelling connections this researcher has uncovered. More information on this strange tale can be found here and here.

Before wrapping up, I would like to return again to the fictitious quote concerning the equally fictitious Origins of a World War on the album's inner sleeve: "Rossignol's curious, albeit simply titled book, the Origins of a World War, spoke in terms of secret treaties, drawn up between the Ambassadors from Plutonia and Desdinova the foreign minister. These treaties founded a secret science from the stars. Astronomy. The career of evil."

Taken in the context of what we've explored in this installment, it seems clear this quote is indicating that Secret Treaties is a kind of concept album. It references both the opening and closing tracks while indicating the "secret science" of astronomy has a rather sinister purpose (a career of evil). The opener "Career of Evil" seems to outline vaguely this sinister purpose while track two, "Subhuman," presents the listener with Imaginos/Desdinova's human death and his realization that he is from the stars. The album then ends with the summoning of this reborn, incorporeal version of Imaginos ("Call me Desdinova, eternal light").

In between the listener is presented with accounts of the subversion of popular culture and mass movements ("Dominance and Submission"), re-emerging Nazism ("ME 262") and the weaponization of consciousness itself ("Flaming Telepaths"). The cover art, with its thinly veiled allusions to the Process Church of the Final Judgment, points to the sinister secret societies addressed in prior albums (noted here). I suspect this is the meaning of the "These gravely digs of mine/Will surely prove a sight" bit in the final verse.

On the whole Secret Treaties presents a chilling picture, one of which with much basis in reality circa 1974. Certainly the whole album has the air of Pearlman telling tales out of school. As such, it should come as little surprise that this marked the last time Pearlman would have creative control of a BOC album until 1988's Imaginos, when BOC was beyond irrelevant. The band opted to go in a more commercial direction for which they were critically acclaimed for while Pearlman was largely kicked the curb (at least until their former patrons began to turning on them towards then end of the 1970s). More on this in the next installment as well as Imaginos itself. Stay tuned dear reader.

The Soft Doctrines of Memphis Sam Part III

Welcome to the third installment in my examination of the Imaginos cycle from recently departed rock producer/manager/lyricist Sandy "Memphis Sam" Pearlman. Pearlman is primarily known for work with the pioneering metal band Blue Oyster Cult, whom he had co-founded as Soft White Underbelly in 1967. After briefly considering being the group's frontman, Pearlman opted for a behind-the-scenes role as their manager and producer. Pearlman's vision, however, continued to dominate the band throughout their early years.

Pearlman's vision revolved around a series of poems he wrote in the 1966-'67 period known as The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos. While H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Chambers are often cited as Pearlman's chief inspiration, the producer clearly had a keen interest in alchemy, conspiracy theories and Ufology, all of which were heavily incorporated into the Soft Doctrines.

As was noted in the first installment, over the years Soft Doctrines became a kind of Necronomicon or King in Yellow for BOC. Various poems from the Imaginos cycle were turned into full fledged BOC songs while tracks not directly using the Soft Doctrines poems were still inspired by them. As such, certain themes and characters would appear time and again on BOC albums for almost two decades, but especially during the "Black and White" trilogy (their first three albums: the self-titled, Tyranny and Mutation and Secret Treaties). This led many BOC fans to speculate that there was a common source that tied together many of the group's most revered songs.

It was not until the release of Imaginos in 1988 that that source was finally revealed to the general public, however. Here parts of Soft Doctrines were done as a full on concept album, with the previously recorded "Astronomy" and "Subhuman" (renamed "Blue Oyster Cult" on Imaginos) reappearing on this album. Imaginos proved to be a major commercial flop, but with the rise of the Internet many fans were not only able to discover this compelling latter period BOC work, but to also finally understand the sources that inspired Pearlman to write it.

With the second installment I gave an overview of some the strands (the Nizari, alchemy, John Dee, etc) that inspired the "deep background" of Imaginos. From there, I began to focus in on the "Black and White" trilogy, the series of albums most concerned with the Imaginos cycle prior to the release of the album with the same name. As I was wrapping up, I had just finished examining the A side of the self-titled debut, and found ample references to biker gangs driven by mystical secret societies with sinister plans for rock 'n' roll (whom Pearlman alleged were based-upon Belgian and French fascist organizations).

Blue Oyster Cult: Side B

Let us then pick up where I left off, with the self-titled's B side. It begins with two moody, non-Pearlman tracks ("Screams" and "She's as Beautiful as a Foot") that are not stellar in and of themselves, but which further add to atmosphere and zietgeist of the album. Heavy rock emerged around 1968 out of the ashes of psychedelia and acid rock. As cannabis and LSD gave way to speed and heroin, music became heavier and more paranoid. "Screams" and "... Foot" perfectly capture this transition. Had either song been recorded a few years earlier, they would have been done as full on psychedelic arrangements. But the paranoia of the early 1970s looms large on these tracks, giving both a sinister, proto-goth edge.

From here Side B marches on to the fan favorite "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll," the first thing BOC had resembling a hit single. The band members have all freely acknowledged that the main riff from this track was lifted wholesale from Black Sabbath's "The Wizard." King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" has also been cited as an influence, but clearly not the extent of Black Sabbath.

Despite the blatant plagiarism, the sinister arrangement and Pearlman's rabble rousing lyrics lift the song to unexpected heights. What emerges is a kind of call to arms, but for whom is left rather ambiguous.

"In any event, the track is a heck of a heavy highlight live, with its many climatic moments, warm boogie chorus and end-jam potential. This version is of course as subdued, muddy, grey and psychedelic as the rest of the record. Look elsewhere for explosions. Lyrically, the song borrows most overtly from MC5's "Motor City's Burning", while also fitting quite snugly into Pearlman's whole idea of rock 'n' roll as a potentially fascist, evil, political, corrupting force, the song imagining a war between three thousand guitars polarized into camps of Marshalls and Fenders. This track also arcs the orbit of Sandy's whole History of Los Angeles motif, even possessing hints of Imaginos, biker themes and of course conspiracy..."

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pg. 29)

As was noted in the previous installment, Pearlman's History of Los Angeles was supposed to be an examination of LA's music scene. This is a curious topic as there was virtually no LA music scene prior to the mid-1960s (around the same time Pearlman began his examination). Then suddenly LA was overflowing with up trending groups --the Byrds, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Zappa and the Mothers, etc. This was certainly a curious development.

"All these folks gathered nearly simultaneously along the narrow, winding roads of Laurel Canyon. They came from across the country --although the Washington, DC area was noticeably over-represented --as well as from Canada and England, and, in at least one case, all the way from Nazi Germany. They came even though, at the time, there was no music industry in Los Angeles. They came even though, at the time, there was no live music scene to speak of. They came though, in retrospect, there was no discernible reason for them to do so.

"It would, of course, make sense these days for an aspiring musician to venture out to Los Angeles. But in those days, the centers of the music universe were Nashville, Memphis and New York. It wasn't the industry that drew the Laurel Canyon crowd, you see, but rather the Laurel Canyon crowd that transformed Los Angeles into the epicenter of the music industry. To what then do we attribute this unprecedented gathering of future musical superstars in the hills above Los Angeles? What was it that inspired them all to head out west? Perhaps Neil Young said it best when he told an interviewer that he couldn't really say why he headed out to LA circa 1966; he and others 'were just going like Lemmings.' "

(Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon, David McGowan, pgs. 20-21)

Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and Eric Clapton hanging out in LA'S famed Laurel Canyons during the 1960s

The late, great David McGowan saw sinister implications behind these arrivals. Given the nearby by presence of the Lookout Mountain Laboratory, McGowan believed this was evidence of an intelligence agenda. This idea is not without merit, though McGowan seriously stretches his premise to the point of arguing the entire hippie scene emerged as part of an intelligence experiment being conducted in LA during those storied years.

In fact, the hippie movement had its origins with the Beats, among others, and had originated in San Francisco. 'Frisco had a very vibrant music scene by the early 1960s, which makes the decision of so many of the artists addressed by McGowan to flock to LA during the mid-1960s all the more curious. Of course, the same could be said about Pearlman's decision to write about the LA scene rather than San Francisco's. But given his penchant for secret societies and conspiracies, perhaps Pearlman had a very specific purpose from addressing the LA scene, seemingly working his take on it into BOC's debut.

As for "Cities...," Pearlman said of it himself:

"Posited Sandy Pearlman, speaking with NME in 1974, 'The function of art in general and the reason these records are the way they are and say the things specifically is that you should provide people with transcendental models, so they'll find themselves reaching out to realms of imagination they wouldn't have ever dreamed of, and maybe some of that can seep over into the conduct of their lives. It may be calls for violence, or it may be calls for other transcendental exercises, and that's what it's all about. In "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" for example, I tried to write a sleazy epic, using tawdry language that would express unfocused teenage anarchistic antiauthoritarian rebellion. It's a real teenage anarchistic epic anthem. I think I succeeded lyrically, and the music the group wrote definitely succeeded.' "

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pgs. 29-30) 

Pearlman's discussion of "transcendental models" is interesting in light of comments the great Christopher Knowles of The Secret Sun left on the first installment of this series concerning Pearlman's work with The Clash. Mr. Knowles wrote:

"Pearlman prepared for Give Em Enough Rope by following The Clash around on tour in the UK in 1978 and set about recreating the effect the band had onstage. Joe Strummer repeatedly made reference to a mystical phenomenon (described variously as 'the burn or 'the X-Factor') in which a spiritual force seemed to take hold amongst the band and within the audience. This is familiar to musicians in general but it's something that Pearlman worked very hard to capture in the studio..."

Sandy Pearlman (the one not wearing black) with The Clash

It is difficult to say if The Clash's "the burn" or "the X-factor" is akin to Pearlman's take on "transcendental models" here,  but certainly it seems like in both cases Pearlman was trying to convey something that went beyond words. This effect was something felt by both the bands and the listeners and appears to have been a bid to knock both out of conventional ways of thinking, and possibly even reality itself.

Yet another possible take on "Cities..." is taking it as an allusion to the "rock 'n' roll wars" that waged throughout the 1960s. This era witnessed what was very much a grassroots and localized phenomenon being co-opted by corporate forces beginning in the mid-1960s. Whereas it was previously very easy for an emerging band to cut a record and get it played on regional stations, things had changed dramatically by the early 1970s when corporate money had managed to gain a stranglehold on the industry. This was a theme that Pearlman dealt with at length in "Dominance and Submission" from BOC's 1974 classic Secret Treaties, the last of the "Black and White" trilogy. I've already written at length on the premise before here.

"Cities on Flame..." is followed up by an even more adventurous and occulted piece, the aptly named "Workshop of the Telescope." This track featured some of Pearlman's most ambitious lyrics. Of them, he stated:

" 'Well, that song incorporates every single one of the alchemical themes,' reflects Pearlman. 'Silverfish Imperetrix is this alchemical creature of sort of like the salamander. There are these signature concepts and creatures in alchemy, embodiments of certain alchemical principals, for example the principal of transformation, which is embodied in several of these alchemical creatures, one being a salamander, which reduces everything to ash. Jung adopted this kind of analytical grid. He thought everything had to be reduced to negrito, the black state, the burnt-out state, to an ash, before it could flourish again in a new and improved, enhanced, more evolved partaking of a higher archival state or form. So Silverfish Imperetrix is a kind of alchemical creature that I thought up, as an embodiment of an alchemical format, or alchemical and transformational principles. So once you have received the wisdom of the Imperial Silverfish, your vision then is pretty much perfect, and you can see through the lives, not only the lives of appearance, but also through the lives of social structure and political formatting. So you can see through the lives of doctors and their wives. It becomes clear once you know exactly what it's about.' 

".... 'The thing about "Workshop of the Telescopes," it's really what I call a gothic technology song. We understand that better now than we used to, because we've had 75 generations of technology in the last 20 years (laughs). So a lot of stuff that really isn't all that old looks gothic now. So it really was a song about gothic technology, the old plumbing and hardware kind of thing, which comes at the dawn of the age of IC, which had been invented, but nobody knew about it at the time, i.e. in '72 and '73. So it has kind of Frankenstein's laboratory techno-gothic take on how things would be transformed, and what the transformative mechanism would be. It would be brought by a technology and it would be physically intensive technology as opposed to the far west physically intense technology that we see today.' "

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pgs. 30-31)

"Workshop of the Telescope" was chosen as the title of BOC's most ambitious greatest hits collection

There's a lot to take in here. When Pearlman talks about "the age of the IC," he is surely referring to the integrated circuit, or commonly known as the microchip. The microchip is a key component of virtually all major modern electronics and was instrumental in the rise of the digital age. Christopher Knowles noted the connections the microchip had to the legendary Bell Laboratories and the potentially incredible origins of the science behind many of the famed technologies pursued by Bell here.

As for the song's allusions to alchemy, they are plentiful, especially in the first verse:

By silverfish imperetrix, whose incorrupted eye

Sees through the charms of doctors and their wives

By salamander, drake, and the power that was undine

Rise to claim Saturn, ring and sky

By those who see with their eyes closed

They know me by my black telescope

The salamander is littered with alchemical significance:

"In Classical antiquity, this amphibian, a close relative of the newt, was believed to be able to live in fire without being burned up. It was identified with fire, of which it was the living manifestation...

"Alchemists regard the salamander as 'the symbol of the Red Stone... and call their incombustible sulphur by its name. The salamander, which feeds on fire, and the phoenix, which is reborn from its own ashes, are the two most common symbols of sulphur.' "

"Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrant, pgs. 821-822)

alchemical depiction of a salamander

Salamanders are also associated with the rubedo, the final stage of the Great Work. This stage is closely associated with the color red, which symbolized alchemical success. The beginning of the Great Work is the nigredo, which Pearlman noted above. But in that case this blackening or putrefaction process was begun by the salamander, which reduces everything to ash.

A drake can refer to a dragon, another creature associated with red and the rubedo. An undine, by contrast, is an elemental being of water. In mythology, this creature is very similar to a mermaid. Undines are also used in alchemical writings (most famously by a Paracelsus), as is Saturn. In such a context, Saturn was associated with the nigredo:

"In Hermeticism, while mere chemists regard Saturn as lead, to philosophers Saturn was the colour black, the colour of matter after solution and putrefaction, or else of common copper, first of metals, or of Ramon Llull's azoic vitriol, which separates metals... All these are images of the office of divider, which is both an end and a beginning, the halting of one cycle and the beginning of a fresh one, the stress being laid more strongly upon the break in or slowing of development." 

(Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrant, pg. 829)

Saturn

Saturn is also frequently associated with a bygone Golden Age. This verse then effectively seems to be about an individual who has completed the Great Work, and in the process receiving wisdom from a being Pearlman dubbed "Silverfish Imperetrix", or the Imperial Silverfish. Now that this individual has received enlightenment, he sees through the facade of modern life (or "the charms of doctors and their wives"). Pearlman implies this illumination was spurred in part by technology (the "black telescope" or possibly black projects?). The telescope, used to observe the stars, is an interesting choice to stand in for technology. Is it meant to imply the origins of recent advances?

The album closes with a curious choice, the folky "Redeemed." Apparently the song was originally written by singer-songwriter Harry Farcas. The band had procured the rights to the song from Farcas, and then had slightly rewritten it. Most significantly, Pearlman had changed some of the lyrics, though he kept the figure of "Sir Rastus Bear," allegedly named after Farcas's Saint Bernard. BOC guitarist Buck Dharma speculated that the lyrics may have ended up having some significance to Pearlman.

"Closing the record was a sinister, but deceptively light-hearted and small-ish tale called 'Redeemed.' Musically it's a rare sort of acoustic southern rock for this staunchly northern band. Great lyric too, but it's willfully obtuse. Buck offers a glimpse into the tune's origins. ' "Redeemed" might have been or might not have been part of Sandy's Imaginos song cycle. And when we did it, I think we were thinking about the way The Grateful Dead would do stuff around the "Uncle John's Band" era. Certainly as an album closer, it seemed like a really appropriate thing.' "

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pg. 31) 

If the song is a part of the Imaginos cycle, its virtually impenetrable.On the whole ,the song seems to revolve around Sir Rastus Bear's attempt to break out on the mental prisons he's trapped in. His jailers include "Goblins of Surcease" and "Villains of wise." As was noted in the prior installment, transmutation is linked to redemption in alchemy. As opening track "Transmaniacon MC" alludes amply to transmutation, "Redeemed" makes for a fitting closing sentiment, bringing things for circle.

Tyranny and Mutation: Images and Intent

Tyranny featured another striking cover from Sandy Pearlman's old school chum, Bill Gawlik. This one implicitly hinted at the subversive powers of rock 'n' roll with its black and white image depicting a megalithic structure (possibly the one from the debut cover) with BOC's famed symbol above it surrounded by alternating black and white circles that appear to indicate a broadcast. It is as if the alien gods were channeling their sinister forces through a sacred megalith via the emerging medium of heavy metal, or something along those lines. As outlandish as this may sound, it is hardly beyond the realm of possibility. Gawlik's covers were clearly inspired on some level by sacred geometry and megaliths, especially ziggurats and pyramids. There is compelling evidence that the ancients had far more ambitious designs for these structures than the planting of crops.

"As may be expected of cultures that placed a tremendous value on the astronomical orientation of their sacred structures, the notion of time and periodicity was inextricably linked to notions of sacred space, and both were essential to their religions. Early on, the ancients demonstrated a sure knowledge of the solstices and equinoxes. The pre-literate culture that created Stonehenge was able to arrange the massive stone circle in such a way that it could calculate the solstice sunrise. This was important to a civilization that depended on agriculture, for they could compute the seasons of planting and harvesting according to the length of the solar year, although we do not know for sure if that was the use to which Stonehenge was put. Admittedly, we can think of no other use unless the calendar was important for other reasons, such as for some unknown ritual calculations.

"In the case of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh, however, the precise astronomical and geophysical design and placement of the structure cannot have had anything to do with seasons of planting and harvesting, which were determined by the inundations of the Nile. There was obviously something much more profound taking place in the minds of the Pyramid architects, something that was also responsible for the spate of pyramid-manufacture throughout the world at roughly the same time, as discussed by Dr. Robert M. Schoch of Boston University in Voyages of the Pyramid Builders: The True Origins of the Pyramids from Lost Egypt to Ancient America, and by anthropologist William E. Romain in Mysteries of the Hopewell: Astronomers, Geometers, and Magicians of the Eastern Woodlands. 

"The astronomical alignments of these monuments and the prevalence of tombs in ore near them indicates an association of sacred spaces with the 'travels' of the dead into the heavens, what Romain calls the 'azimuths of the underworld.' Romain identifies three different types of sacred geometry in use by the Hopewell peoples: the square, the circle, and the octagon. The square he believes was used by the builders of the mounds to indicate the heavens, the circle for the earth, and the octagon for the phases of the moon. While there is not enough space to go into all of Romain's calculations and other evidence, it is enough to say that he provides a compelling argument for the orientation of the various Hopewell mounds as a means of facilitating the transport of souls of the dead to the Afterlife, which, in this case as in the case of ancient China, ancient Egypt, etc., meant outer space. In other words, the Hopewell mounds (and, perhaps the Adena mounds as well) were a type of machine, a technology for extraterrestrial travel. And the travel could go both ways."

(Sinister Forces Book III, Peter Levenda, pgs. 419-420) 

a reconstruction of the Great Ziggurat at Ur

The megalith on the cover of Tyranny clearly is meant to invoke a pyramid or ziggurat while the BOC symbol hovers over the top of this structure in the location rituals would typically be performed. It does not then seem a stretch to suggest that some type of channeling is implied by the cover, and given BOC's penchant for aliens as well, it could well have been intended to invoke such communications. Circles, which as noted above are regular used in sacred geometry, are present throughout the cover, as are squares. The black and white checkered floor at the bottom of the cover is a nice touch as well. Masonic lodges and temples of course frequently feature black and white checkered floors.

Gawlik is credited with naming this album as well, apparently being fond of the expression "Tyranny and mutation." This landmark album cover was part of the same lengthy "scroll" that the debut album cover also appeared on. Gawlik, who spent some time in Lovecraft country (noted in part two) really seems to have been in zone during the early 1970s. His imagery was perfect for the vision his friend Pearlman was trying to convey with the Black and White trilogy.

Despite billing themselves as America's Black Sabbath from early on, BOC in truth did not become a full fledged heavy metal band until their sophomore outing, 1973' Tyranny and Mutation. While there were still occasion traces of Soft White Underbelly's psychedelia, Mutations gleefully embraced the demonic biker boogie hinted at by some of the self-titled's more up tempo numbers (i.e. "Transmaniacon MC," "Before the Kiss, a Redcap" and "Cities on Flame With Rock 'N' Roll") whole heartedly. This was the hardest and heaviest BOC would ever rock

Tyranny and Mutation: The Red and the Black

This new look is unveiled in spectacular fashion with opener "The Red and the Black," easily the most frenzied piece the group ever recorded. "The Red and the Black" was famously a reworking of "I'm on the Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep," from the previous year's self-titled debut. But while the original version was very bluesy, vaguely psychedelic number with multiple parts, "The Red and the Black" is reworked into hard hitting rocker designed to strike the audience like a punch to the chin.

The lyrics were the work of Pearlman and his frequent collaborator, drummer Albert Bouchard. Bouchard apparently got the idea for the song from a dream he had of fleeing theUunited States for Canada to avoid Vietnam. With Pearlman's helped, he crafted a series of lyrics nominally about a fugitive trying to escape Canada's famed Royal Mounties. The song also incorporates images of sexual sadomasochism ("I've got a whip in my hand, baby!") into the imagery it invokes.

While superficially a rather "light" composition, as far as the lyrics are concerned, the significance the band attached to the track has led more than a few fans to wander if there was more to it over the years. Some interesting theories have been put forward:

"It is of note that the new title 'Red & The Black' borrows from a line in the original lyric, but it is also the name of a Stendhal novel, although the connection to the novel from the lyric is pretty much non-existent, none of the band members ever admitting to the influence of the book on the song. The words were also used to demarcate the sides of the original vinyl, side one being 'the black' and side two being 'the red.' Facetiously, I'd have added that while side two's tunes struggled to push the band into the red, side one's songs over the years, have helped keep them in the black! Sandy has also said that red symbolizes Quaaludes and black symbolizes methedrine."

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pg. 36)

The title of Stendhal's The Red and the Black is generally believed to refer to the black of priest's robes and either the red of military uniforms or the red of Republican France. Stendhal's work is a psychological novel set in France during the Bourbon Restoration. The protagonist, a low born individual who initially seeks status via the Church, ends up in a right wing conspiracy in the days leading up to the Revolution. This work would certainly appear to appeal to Pearlman's sensibilities, bu there is no evidence he had ever read it.

The drug references for the red and black are hardly surprising either and surely would have factored into the title. Certainly it would have given them a boast amongst the bikers they most appealed too. But there may well have been a more esoteric purpose as well. One such possibility resides in alchemy. As noted above, the so-called Great Work had four stages. The first was the nigredo and the last the rubedo, the former being associated with black, the latter with red. As was noted above, the A-side to Tyranny was known as the black, while the B was the red. It could then be seen as a reference to the Great Work carried out over the album.

Another such explanation lies with the magickal system of Michael Bertiaux. Bertiaux's system, which can be roughly described as "esoteric vodoun," is vast, encompassing several other rich esoteric traditions. Here's a bit of background on Bertiaux:

"Bertiaux had spent some time in Haiti before embracing his own particular occult path, and became a member of a society --the Ordo Templi Orientis or OTOA --allegedly created by a mysterious and possibly non-existent Haitian occultist Lucien-Francois Jean-Maine (1869?-1960) of whom there is very little hard information. The OTOA was evidently a mixture of quasi-Masonic ritual and initiation and traditional Vodun, forming a bridge between European-style ceremonial magic traditions and the Afro-Caribbean Vodun cultus. Jean-Maine was allegedly the inheritor of an ancient Haitian occult lineage that numbers among its lineage-holders the venerable Ordre des Elus-Cohen which had a branch in Leogane, Haiti. This not the place to go into the history of Elus Cohen (or 'Elected Priests'), so suffice it to say that it was a branch of the eighteenth century Martinist order and the branch most closely connected with ritual magic. Martinism began as a Masonic-type society in pre-revolutionary France but its founder --Martinez de Pasqually --died in Haiti in 1774. Haiti at the time was a French colony. Hence the suggested French Masonic-Haitian Vodun connection.

"Bertiaux worked and expanded upon the system he inherited and brought it into line with Thelema by 1972. His Vodoun Gnostic Workbook became quite well-known for is imaginative combination of Western esotericism, Afro-Caribbean concepts and terminology, and sex magic..."

(The Dark Lord, Peter Levenda, pg. 130)

Michael Bertiaux

One curious feature of Bertiaux's system are what he refers to as red and black "rays."

" 'The Red and the Black Temple Workings are the function and structure of the Osiris-Ra Cultus of Legbha. The power of the Sun is diffused by means of the Red-Sun, or the creative power of evolutionary nature and the Black-Sun, or the occult powers immanent in the natural order. In order to develop the special magickal potencies of these two suns, it was necessary at one time to intuit the Solar Power in such an absolute way, that the hierophants of the Gnosis became one with the Red and Black Rays. In this very special act of intuition, all of the logics and metaphysics and all of the centers of the gnosis were experienced in terms of of their creative fundamentals. This act of cosmic intuition is one of the secrets given by the Gnosis to all of its hierophants and is to be understood as having been handed down from the priestly order of existence, which was in power on the planets prior to the settlement and civilization of the Earth. This powerful secret is symbolized by the ritualistic mysteries of Osirian bodywork, and by means of this work, it is possible to enter into the mysteries through these symbols, because symbols are always doors. The awakening of this power in the magickal bodies of the Afro-Zothyrian gnostics was always viewed as the supreme form of sacramental and theurgical initiation...'

"The Black and Red Rays have their basis of power in what must be understood as the lattice or conjunction of the Afro-Atlantean and Afro-Zothyrian Rays. This means that while these mysteries (for the Rays are mysteries as well as energies) are given as parts of the esoteric symbolism of the African cultures, carefully hidden away by centuries of Osirian culture, they must be electrified by occult contact with the higher levels and the lower levels of consciousness. Therefore, it was the mission of the neo-pythagorean gnostics to connect these powers with the Atlantean components of the unconscious mind as well as with the Zothyrian components of the superconscious mind..."

(The Voudon Gnostic Workbook, Michael Bertiaux, pg. 168)

The "Osirian bodywork" mentioned above is symbolic of the body of the initiate. Thus, these Red and Black "rays" can be reached via his physical body, likely through tantra, yoga or some other such practice. From here they could channel the Solar energy of the red and black suns.

While it may seem a real stretch to link BOC's "The Red and the Black" to Bertiaux, the connection is far more possible than it may initially seem. For one, both Pearlman and Bertiaux were uber Lovecraft fans, Bertiaux being one of the first magicians to seriously study the occult implications of Lovecraft's work, along with his close associate Kenneth Grant. As was noted in the first installment, Pearlman cited Lovecraft as a major influence on his latter occult interests.

H.P. Lovecraft

Vodun plays a significant role in the Imaginos cycle as well. Haiti specifically is given much significance in the story line unfolded on the Imaginos album. Like Bertiaux's Voudon Gnostic Workbook, Imaginos was released in 1988. Many of the lyrics, however, we written much earlier, likely around 1967. Bertiaux was still developing his system by that point, but by the early 1970s he appears to have been active in New York. While California is credited with much of the occult revival than unfolded during the 1960s, New York had quite a vibrant scene as well. Of it, I previously wrote:

Pearlman, along with the rest of BoC, famously hailed from Long Island. Long Island was actually the birthplace of the modern Wicca movement in America, at least officially. It occurred in 1969 when two followers of the legendary warlock Gerald Gardner would establish a coven there.

 "...Raymond and Rowen Buckland, an English couple who emigrated to the suburbia of Long Island, New York, and brought the craft with them... To celebrate the move, the couple invited journalists from the Long Island Press and Newsday to witness a genuine Halloween Witches Sabbath. Dressed in black robes trimmed with gold, the couple led the reporters to their basement, fitted out with velvet drapes, candles and the inevitable pentagram. Then, stripping out of their robes, the Bucklands invoked the spirit of the autumnal equinox sky-clad."

(Turn Off Your Mind, Gary Lachman, pgs. 243-244) 

As the 1970s made the scene Long Island, specifically Brooklyn, would become one of the major hubs of New York City's budding occult scene. Much of this would initially be based around Herman Slater's Warlock Shoppe, a place that has gained some notoriety over the years. Rogue historian Peter Levenda (who has been accused of being the author of the notorious Simon Necronomicon; this accusation has also been made at Pearlman) actually knew Slater and the Warlock Shoppe from the early days:

"...I was friendly with Herman Slater, the proprietor of the store, and had known him since the days when he ran the Warlock Shoppe in Brooklyn Heights where I lived. As the fame and notoriety of his establishment grew --being covered extensively in the overseas press as well as by local newspapers and television shows --he began to attract an equally notorious clientele. The Process would hang out at the Warlock Shop, as well as the odd Satanist and witches of various denominations. The Shop is alluded to several times in Maury Terry's The Ultimate Evil as a hangout for people who knew more about the Son of Sam murders than they were telling."

(Sinister Forces Book II, Peter Levenda, pg. 253) 

The Simon Necronomicon famously had its origins with the Warlock Shoppe, with Peter Levenda (who was a customer of Slater's) involved in some capacity long disputed. This was not the only major modern grimoire to have links to the Warlock Shoppe, however. The Voudon Gnostic Workbook had originally been published by Warlock Shoppe owner Herman Slater's publishing company (dubbed the Magickal Childe, the original name of the Warlock Shoppe) in 1988. And there are indications that Bertiaux had been active in New York by the early 1970s in these circles as well.

Thus, Bertiaux was potentially in Pearlman's orbit by the time BOC set out to record Tyranny and Mutation. There are indications that Pearlman himself was a part of the Warlock Shoppe scene, but this researcher has yet to have found definitive confirmation that Pearlman frequented the Warlock Shoppe. Typically this revolves around Pearlman's alleged authorship of the Simon Necronomicon, a notion that he apparently denied. More compelling, however, is the possibility that Pearlman discovered the infamous Process Church of the Final Judgment through the Warlock Shoppe. This possibility shall be addressed at greater length in the next installment. But back to the matter at hand.

the Simon Necronomicon

While it may be a long shot that BOC's "The Red and the Black" was intended as a reference to Bertiaux's gnostic vodun system, the possibility does exist. Both Pearlman and Bertiaux appear to have had ties to the New York occult scene by the early 1970s, both men had a keen interest in Lovecraft, and both men adopted an interest in vodun at some point as well. Indeed, Bertiaux's system may have had an enormous influence on the story line of the Imaginos, as shall be addressed in a future installment.

Tyranny and Mutation: The Rest of Side A

After Tyranny's rip-roaring opener wraps up, the group lurches into the sleazy, vaguely bluesy "OD'd On Life Itself." This track features more Pearlman lyrics, these far more esoteric than those in "The Red and the Black." The song seems to vaguely revolve around the process of initiation. This most evident in the second verse, which proclaims:

Writings appear on the wall

The curtains part and landscape fall

  There, the writing's done, in blood

Like a mummy's inscription and a bat-wing tongue

Well then the mouth of the cave will open up wide

Wide as the world that's mine, it's mine, it's still mine

Caves are closely associated with initiation rituals the world over.

"As the archetype of the maternal womb, caverns feature in myths of origin, rebirth and initiation from many cultures. Under the heading 'cavern' are included 'cave' and 'grotto', although they are not precisely synonymous. It implies a place, roofed with rock or earth, at any depth in earth or mountainside, more or less dark, often lying at the end of a long passageway, and without direct daylight. Lairs of robbers or wild animals are excluded, since their significance is no more than a corruption of the symbol...

"At the start of many initiation rites, the candidate enters a cave or pit. This is 'the return to the womb', as defined by Mircea Eliade, in material form. This was especially true of the Eleusinian rites..., in which symbolic logic  was strictly translated into action. Candidates were placed, bound, in the cave from which they had to escape to reach the light of day. Prior to this, in the religious ceremonies of Zoroaster, a cave represented the world..."

(Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Gheerbrant & Alain Gheerbrant, pg. 167)

A cave as a symbol of the world was clearly alluded to by Pearlman in the final couplet of the second verse. The prior stanzas allude to this initiation involving rituals, possibly to channel a nonhuman intelligence. The second half of the third verse ("This wedding by heaven was made up in hell/With the victim as bride and life, life itself") implies that this ritual may have involved some form of a sacred marriage. The candidate begins this ritual, struggles with a daemon or something along those lines and emerges from the proverbial cave with a fresh sense of invigoration (hinted at by words spoken behind the chorus that go: "OD'd on life itself/the power of powers/And once luminous spell" ).

From there things segue way into bassist Joe Bouchard's "Hot Rails to Hell." A fan favorite, this menacing number alludes to both night time rides of New York City's subway lines as well as the murder of early BOC booking agent Phil King ("Stoned out looks from the crowd, the king will not know/On the wall it was said/The flash of his cards was sprayed with red"), allegedly over gambling debts. While another strong track on Tyranny's classic A side, this non-Pearlman number is not especially esoteric.

the single version of "Hot Rails to Hell"

Side A's closer, "7 Screaming Diz-Buster" more than makes up for this. This was another hard hitting track with multiple sections that can be described as proto-thrash. A fan favorite, the bizarre and sinister lyrics have long puzzled listeners. The band themselves have only offered a few tantalizing hints:

"Albert has revealed that 'diz' refers to the cleft of the penis, and the 'duster's dust' refers to sperm. But the concept of diz-buster is left ambiguous. The definition of of 'something that can make one ejaculate' most plausibly applies to a reading that these seven diz-busters are evil, paranormal sex sirens, women beings without a conscious, the number seven bringing in a biblical element to the lyric as well. But this track could also be one of Sandy's biker songs, diz-buster referring to the result of a long, vibrating Harley ride (and then, mamas and old ladies joke about the orgasmic qualities of a good ride). Indeed, many lines in the song could have one believe that the diz-buster is a bike (there is a mention of cast iron, the mirror's face, rigid arms, routes, all suggesting this interpretation), especially in light of the fact that females, female pronouns, or sexual ideas are never mentioned in the song."

(Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pgs. 38-39)

It would be rather inaccurate to state that sexual ideas are not present in the song. And while the language does seem to deliberately employ biker images at times, this researcher believes this was done to cloud Pearlman's real meaning.

The great Julian Cope offered up a compelling interpretation of the track:

"... Side One closes with the Cult’s classic '7 Screaming Dizbusters', whose soundtrack I’ve omitted here because it straddles that weird jazz that both Zappa and Todd had a habit of shoehorning into their songs, and which The Tubes and their ilk later appropriated however inappropriate. Despite its absence here, the song is indeed a real wonder, a 7-minute long leviathan and full-on rumbustuous tale of seven itinerant horse-borne paladins and their relationship with Lucifer, or Lugh, in his pre-Christian role as the horned God of the Hunt." 

Lugh

This researcher has a different take. It is likely that this song was a part of, or inspired by, the Imaginos cycle. In the Imaginos album the Loa, spirits in the Vodun tradition, play a key role. In the album, seven specific ones are dubbed the Les Invisibles and are behind many of the intrigues that unfold over the course of the album. There are of course dozens of Loa and no type of ruling council within the tradition. It is likely Pearlman confused the tradition of the Seven African Powers, sometimes described as Orishas in Santeria, with the Loa of Vodun.

Another linkage to the Imaginos cycle are the lines: "They learned from men who'd just refrain/From glancing at a mirror's face." As was noted in the second installment, obsidian mirrors play a key role in the cycle. Historically they were used for divination purposes by a host of sources, including the Aztecs, Dr. John Dee and Joseph Smith.

Roses are mentioned in the song as well. The rose is a common alchemical symbol:

"Whether white or red, roses were the favorite flowers of alchemists, who often entitled their treatises The Rosary of the Philosophers. White roses 'like lilies, were linked to the white stone, the objective of the first stage of the Work, while the red rose was associated with the red stone, the objective of the second stage. Most of these roses have seven petals, each petal relating either to a metal or to an operation in the Work...' A blue rose was to become the symbol of the impossible."

(Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrant, pg. 815)

an alchemical rose

The common use of seven-petaled roses by the alchemist is of course highly compelling in the context of this song. Pearlman also makes reference to a "secret cave." As was noted above, the cave is a common symbol of initiation.

While this researcher believed that sex magick was a possible explanation for "OD'd On Life Itself," this clearly seems to be the purpose of "7 Screaming Diz-Busters." Both the penis (diz) and semen ("duster's dust") are referenced while Diz-Buster clearly seems to be describing an orgasm. The references to alchemy further reinforce this, as many modern scholars have speculated that the hidden secret of alchemy was in fact sex magick, techniques of which were stealthily hidden in their texts. The presence of the number seven is likely a reference to the Loa of the Imaginos cycle, indicating the deities being evoked. And of course the refrain of "Lucifer, the light" is a time honored celebration of hidden knowledge.

Tyranny and Mutation: Closer

For our purposes here, there is not much of interest of side B. While still strong, the songs on this side largely avoid esoteric themes. Opener "Baby Ice Dog" featured the first lyrics the band ever recorded by punk poetess Patti Smith while the Bouchard brothers' moody "Wings Wetted Down" features more of Joe's nightmare psychedelia. Richard Metzer, Pearlman's old colleague from Crawdaddy, contributes the much maligned "Teen Archer." A kind of preview of the arena abomination that would became staples in the late 1970s, the song is driven by a catchy riff that makes for good cock rock fun (pending one doesn't get nightmare visions of Spectres). 

Pearlman finally returns to the fold with closer "Mistress of the Salmon Salt" and it unsurprisingly features a compelling set of esoteric lyrics. Drummer Albert Bouchard took a more conventional view, however, and believes the song is about a woman who disposes of dead bodies: " 'They lyrics are really bizarre, you know, the famous story of the person that kills people, or actually I don't think she kills people, but she performs a service. She would bury the murdered dead, and use them as fertilizer for her plants' " (Agents of Fortune, Martin Popoff, pgs. 40-41).

The last verse of "...Salmon Salt" lends credence to Bouchard's theory, with its references to juke joints and the Coast Guard. And this could also explain the description of the song's female lead as "Quicklime Girl." Quicklime is an actually substance that is extremely flammable when combined with water. It could theoretically be used to dissolve bodies. Curiously, it was known to ancient world and was used as a weapon by the Romans and the Chinese. Some have even speculated that it was a component of Greek fire.

The first three verses, however, hint at a more esoteric significance to the song:

In the garden district

Where the plants grow strong and tall

Behind the bush there lurks a girl

Who makes them strong and tall...

In the fall when plants return

By harvest time she knows the score

Ripe and ready to the eye

Yet rotten somehow to the core...

A harvest of life, a harvest of death

One body of life, one body of death

And when you've gone and choked to death

With laughter and a little step

I'll prepare the quicklime friend

For your ripe and ready grave

For your ripe and ready grave

The lyrics seem to evoke the ancient custom of human sacrifice to enhance the fertility of crops. The Huffington Post provides two compelling example of this custom:

"India has long practiced sacrificial obeisance to Mother Earth. As late as the 19th century, the Kandhs of Bengal sacrificed a person for the Earth Goddess, Tari Pennu, in order to ensure healthy crops and immunity from disease. Blood was especially important in the cultivation of turmeric, which needed it to develop its rich, red color. The Uraons of Chota Nagpur offered human sacrifices to Anna Kuari, who blesses the harvest. And the Lhota Naga of Brahmapootra severed the heads, hands and feet of their victims and planted them in the fields for fertilizer.

"Aztec hymns tell us that Tonacacihuatl, Our Lady of Substance, was once the Goddess of the Hunt, Blood and Night, but as the people grew to depend more on agriculture, She evolved into the Earth Goddess. The son of Her fertility was the corn, which was depicted as being identical with the obsidian knife which was Her symbol. These were the phallic representations of Xipe, the young god identified with the corn and the sunlight, both of which grew up and increased to maturity from the depths of the dark earth. 

"Here, too, fertility, death and sacrifice are connected. The husking of the corn is perceived as the same act as the tearing out of a sacrificial victim’s heart, both accomplished with the obsidian blade. At the celebration of the broom harvest of the Earth Mother, first an older woman, and then a young girl were beheaded and their blood spread on fruit, seeds and grain to guarantee abundance."

As for the lady's mantle of "Mistress of the Salmon Salt," salmon has very interesting symbolism in Celtic mythology:

"... The salmon is of the same essential nature as the boar, in that both are creatures of sacred wisdom. Wells of knowledge recur in Irish literature overhung by hazel-or-rowan-bushes and in them live the salmon of knowledge who feed on the scarlet berries or the nuts dropping into the water. Whoever eats the flesh of these fish acquires second-sight and knowledge of all things. This is what happened to Finn as a boy. He was the pupil of a bard or file and was busy one day grilling a salmon for his master. As he turned the fish on a spit he burned his finger and sucked it. He instantly became omniscient and was given a prophetic tooth. Thereafter he had only put his thumb on his wisdom tooth and chew it to become gifted with second-sight. Salmon, again, was the food of Eithne, the allegorical figure of Ireland, after her conversion to Christianity. With the boar and the wren, the salmon was a particularly druidic creature and one of the symbols of wisdom and spiritual nourishment..."

(Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrant, pg. 823)

Cannibalism could then be implied if the "salmon salt" is the flesh of the Quicklime Girl's consorts, which she may partly consume to gain wisdom. On the whole, however, this researcher suspects this song revolves around some type of modern cult performing ancient fertility rites. The reference to a juke joint in the final verse could even put the song in the same universe as "Before the Kiss, a Recap." Is this possibly a reference to Conry's and Pearlman's "Motif of the Rose" secret society (addressed in part two)?

And with that I shall wrap things up for now. In the next installment we'll address the landmark Secret Treaties album. Stay tuned.