“To see evil and not call it evil is evil.”
John Hagee
It’s been a long time since putting pen to paper so to speak and, I’m not gonna lie, I’m feeling nervously optimistic. As writers we draw inspiration from numerous sources and over the past two years I find myself listening to music to drown out the incessant drone of the flooding thoughts which threaten to burst from my skull on a daily basis. Being the neuro-divergent mess I am this inevitably results in me latching onto specific songs every week and playing them absolutely dead until they have consumed every facet of my mind and personality. The first of such songs that I would like to share and dissect with you is Evil by Interpol.
Released in 2005, Evil is a song of jarring origin based on the infamous West duo serial killers who were active between 1967 and 1987 in Gloucestershire, England.
Some brief backstory on the Wests:
Fred West, alongside his wife Rosemary West, committed atleast twelve murders during their active years and are still considered to be Britain’s worst serial killers even decades after their crimes.
Their victims of preference being young women; one of which included Fred’s own daughter, Charmaine. The remans of atleast eight women were discovered in the cellar of the West’s home in Gloucester which notoriously became known as the “House of Horrors”. Their murders typically involved bondage, rape, torture and mutilation all for the West’s sickening sexual gratification. The couple were finally charged and arrested in 1994.
It should also be noted that both Fred and Rose were victims of rape themselves as children at the hands of their parents which is a likely explanation as to why they saw no wrong in their actions towards their own children and other young girls.
Fred, however, hanged himself during detainment on 1 January 1995, leaving Rose to stand conviction for ten murders and serve ten life terms for their crimes on her own.
Dissecting the song:
The first important thing to understand is that the song is written in the form of a letter from Fred West to his partner, Rosemary.
Feel free to follow along either on YouTube or Spotify as I dissect the song piece by piece.
Quick disclaimer: the below interpretation is my own drawn from my personal conclusions and research into the West murders and not at all confirmed as being accurate by the band or otherwise. With formalities out of the way, let’s dive in:
Rosemary
Heaven restores you in life
Right off the bat, the above intention of the lyrics being directed toward Rose West from Fred West becomes obvious with Fred West’s futile attempt at absolving himself and Rosemary of their crimes. As though heaven could absolve them for what they had done. It also displays West’s intention of suicide as though the lyrics were his final words/suicide note left behind for Rosemary to read after his departure to ‘heaven’ as he suggests.
You’re coming with me
Through the aging, the fearing and the strife
I believe the above can be interpreted in three ways: either as 1.) Fred’s attempt to ask Rose to also commit suicide so that they can continue to be together even after death or; 2.) it can point towards how Rose stood beside him in their crimes through the years sharing in his fear of being caught and the strife’s dealing with what they had done; or 3.) that Rose is going down for the crimes alongside him as they are being sentenced together. Personally, I think it to be either 1 or 3 as, characteristically speaking, the Wests never really showed remorse for their crimes.
a) It’s the smiling on the package,
b) It’s the faces in the sand,
c) It’s the thought that moves you upwards,
d) Embracing me with two hands,
e) Right will take you places,
f) Yeah, maybe to the beach
Let’s break this down line by line –
a) I believe this points to the objectification of women on Fred’s part seeing their victims as no more than a package with a smile waiting for them to collect.
b) Since the West’s buried their victim’s in the cellar it’s logical to conclude that this could be perceived quite literally as the faces buried in the sand of their home or perhaps to a specific spot on a beach where they’d buried one of their victims.
c) Perhaps indicating that the mere thought of the gratification they received from selecting and torturing their victims was enough to send Rose into high spirits, resulting in her
d) eagerly joining him in his perverse acts and accepting him for who he is despite his perverse tastes.
e) Although unclear, I think this refers to Fred stating that them performing these acts is “right” and will take Rose to new sexual heights.
f) Could point to a certain spot where they’d hunt their victims.
When your friends, they do come crying
Tell them now your pleasure’s set upon slow release
Indicates that Rose’s friends would come looking for her but it can be assumed that Fred’s possessiveness prohibited her from leaving the house and that she would be required to tell them off by suggesting she no longer gains pleasure or enjoyment from being with them but rather from the slow torture which her and her husband make their victims endure.
Hey wait,
Great smile.
Sensitive to fate, not
Denial
But hey, who’s on trial?
This interlude makes me think of the moment the West’s spotted a victim that fitted their criterion engaging them to stop because they are pretty as though their passing by were fate and the Wests were not to be denied the pleasures of the young flesh before them. “Who’s on trial” feels like a bit of a tongue-in-cheek phrase as though to remind Rose that they are the ones now actually on Trial for their actions where they were previously the ones in control judging their victims based on appearance where now they are the ones being tried for those very actions actions forcing the listener back to the reality of their heinous crimes and out of the fantasy that Fred was describing before. Also Rose is the one who is facing trial as Fred would be dead at the time of the hearing.
It took a life span with no cell mate
The long way back
Sandy, why can’t we look the
other way?
The song builds to an epic climax bringing us back to the reality of their situation wherein, firstly, Rose is destined to face her life in prison without her husband again pointing to Fred’s suicide forcing her to take the long way to penance from their crimes – by serving her life in prison with no chance for parole. There are various theories as to the mention of a “Sandy” in the chorus so I will cover the popular ones. 1.) Sandy was one of the first victims of the West’s crimes and Fred is reminiscing thinking back to how they possibly could have just engaged in their sexual acts without the repercussions that he is now facing, alternatively the lyrics are replaced by either “says me” or “say Mae” instead of “Sandy” wherein 2) Fred is again saying that he wishes the crimes could just be overlooked or 3.) more disturbingly he’s referring to his daughter Mae (Charmaine) who was one of Rose’s first victims, wondering why they couldn’t just turn a blind eye to the sexual acts and continue without her having to die at Rose’s hand.
He speaks about travel
Yeah, we think about the land
We smart like all peoples
Feeling real tan
I could take you places
Do you need a new man?
We return to Fred’s fantasies in the second verse pointing to the fact that the Wests may have targeted holiday goers perhaps luring them with promise of lodging or directions. They make mention of being smart indicating that they always operated with preparation and feeling tan could imply “confidence” in being “well prepared”. Fred may have made promises of travel and a better life for these girls in further attempt to lure them.
Wipe the pollen from the faces,
Make revision to a dream while you wait
in the van.
This is where the pretense of the West’s claims would fade into gruesome reality where Rose was likely told to wait in Fred’s van while he lured the girls and Rose likely drugged them using chloroform or similar drugs hence the “pollen”. It also points to that Rose would likely fantasize about what they’d do to the victims upon their capture while waiting for Fred to return.
<interlude>
The chorus returns bringing us back to reality once again but this time with an additional two lines:
It took a life span with no cell mate
By the long way back
Sandy, why can’t we look the other way?
You’re weightless, you are exotic
You need something for which to care
Sandy, why can’t we look the other way?
Here we see that the line to look the other way is repeated stressing the importance Fred may have felt to not have had the victim die so that they may have continued with their “fun”. Again, sticking with the theory that the lyrics are referring to Fred’s daughter Mae, I believe the “weightlessness” to be referring to how her limp/lifeless body may have felt in his arms when he was forced to bury her as well as the small size of her as a parent may note in a caring way, except Fred notices it in a perverse way hence the use of “exotic” almost illustrating that his daughter was forbidden fruit. “You need something for which to care” is slightly more complicated but I think that Charmaine might have been pregnant with Fred’s child giving another reason for Rose’s jealousy and hence murder of her step daughter.
Leave some shards under the belly
Lay some grease inside my hand
It’s a sentimental jury
And the makings of a good plan
You’ve come to love me lightly
Yeah, you’ve come to hold me tight
Is this motion everlasting
Or do shudders pass in the night?
Rosemary
Oh, heaven restores you in life
The final verse is perhaps the most complicated and shows that Fred has come to acceptance with the reality of their situation and his end. It is possible that the “shards” are pangs of guilt which Fred now feels for not having taken the better path and not repeating the evil which him and Rose were both subjected to as children. The “grease” is believed to refer to money/bribery where Fred hoped he may be able to bribe the jury to absolve them of their crimes; “sentimental” referring to a sympathetic or biased jury in the West’s favour which Fred thought to be a good plan. He goes on to talk directly to Rose asking if she will still love him after his death or if their love is simply as fleeting as the shudders of a fever that is slept off during the night. The final line is almost a prayer that Rosemary will be forgiven of her crimes during her time served in prison.
The final chorus serves to wrap up the fantasy and reality of the West’s story with the addition of three new lines once again:
You’re weightless, semi erotic
You need someone to take you there
Why can’t we just play the other game?
This time it is believed that these lines are directed to Rose specifically with Fred expressing a vague concern to the sexual wellbeing of his wife saying that he’ll need someone else to take her to new sexual heights in his absence. And once again a glance back to their old life before sentence asking why they can’t return to their old games of sexual gratification instead of facing imprisonment and death in his case.
Sources:
https://genius.com/5156960
https://beatcrave.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-evil-by-interpol/
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/04/europe/fred-rosemary-west-murders-gbr-cmd-intl/index.html
The Official Music Video:
It’s only befitting that a song as sinister as Evil be accompanied by an equally as sinister music video. The music video was directed by Charlie White who had previously assisted the band with music videos before wherein the band gave White artistic freedom to create a video that would compliment the song’s ominous tone.
Fans immediately became enthralled with Norman, the animatronic-puppet featured in the Evil music video, Norman’s story starts in 2004 where he quickly gained fame through the music video. As with most animatronic-puppets, Norman disappeared until 2014 where he was found on a collector site and he was severely dilapidated. After a few more years of silence, in 2021 Norman resurfaced once again when fan John Kolbek located and purchased him; a GoFundMe was started to return Norman to his former glory where $3000 was raised and he was sent off to Luna’s Puppets for his restoration.
By March 2022, Norman’s restoration was completed. After two decades Norman is still not forgotten by his fans.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g65bBvh7Pmk
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=evil+interpol+puppet&type=E210US91105G0#id=2&vid=766b67a8b03e00a49321b445798dd896&action=click
Aftermath by Peter Robinson
Admittedly the song drew my attention also because the West case reminded me of a murder-mystery novel I read as a teenager called Aftermath which I now fully believe to be inspired by the West murders.
In the book, the investigation takes place in the cellar of a house in a small British town which was home to Terence Payne and his wife who were both involved in the murder, torture and rape of young girls before burying them in their cellar.
It remains one of my favourite novels, albeit gruesome and disturbing, and now even more so with the obvious connection and inspiration from the West case and song.
If you’re interested here is the Amazon link for the book.
Takeaway thoughts:
Irrespective of how one interprets the song lyrics, there is one thing om which we can all agree: the entire work and it’s inspiration ooze nothing other than what can be manifested as total and utter dark evil and the cleverly written lyrics by Daniel Kessler and deep bass riffs only help to further accentuate this.
What is your interpretation of the song? Let me know in the comments below and if you liked this please do follow me on my socials or drop a share because it really does help 💜 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Noaria's Reviews: A Geek's Insights 