Soma Bath

Two main versions:

* "Sloppy Guitar Version" (1981) - Only Dreaming (2:34)

Begins with a short, odd drum pattern and a siren, then goes into the song itself. It fades out completely after the "not what we do" lines. The "drown in your soma bath" section is not there.

Instruments: Drum machine (single pattern); two tracks of vocals; oddly inept, detuned, plinky guitar in the right speaker; capable bass guitar; rhythmic organ chords; monophonic squeaky keyboard melody.

* "Jolly Version" (1981) - Chemical Playschool Volume 1 (3:39), Kleine Kreig (3:35), Brighter Now (3:48)

Starts immediately and is in a different key. Contains the final "Drown in your soma bath" section. The "Chemical Playschool" mix ends sharply on the last note, the "Brighter Now" mix fades down almost to silence for the last note, and the "Kleine Krieg" version gradually merges with a windy prelude to "Peace Krime #2."

All three are noticeably different mixes. The "Brighter Now" mix is slightly slowed down (hence the additional ten seconds and the lower pitch).

Instruments: Drum machine; single track of vocals with plate reverb, heavy reverb near the end; more aggressive bass guitar; rhythmic organ chords; monophonic squeaky keyboard melody joined by a second identical keyboard during the bridge; guitar is still strangely jangly and out-of-tune but it is more buried in the mix. Burbly keyboard noises during part of the final section.

What it's about:

A drug-addicted, oversexed religious zealot suffers a much-deserved decline in popularity when he has a non-fatal overdose in his bathroom. At his nightmarish trial he is apparently sentenced to die by enforced overdose, though that part of the story is a little hazy. Judge for yourself.

Lyrics (adapted from the Cloud-Zero archive):

Powdered heaven dressed in plastic
pulled the shades down on his eyes.
Pinprick pupils soaring skywards
offer him no alibis.
Then, who needs them, he's quite perfect,
perfect body, perfect teeth.
The flash sublime and blind the kids who
spread their legs for their belief.

Cross themselves at the drop of a parable,
shriek they're saved when they've touched his jeans.
Swear his wisdom's just infallible,
beg for mercy in his dreams.

Another day, another sermon,
broken bread, forgotten lines.
A line for comfort keeps him human.
The needle trembles, band on tight.
Another little perforation
ventilates him, paints him white.
A wordless song, a prayer to no-one
helps him whistle through the night.

They found him on his throne of porcelain,
rusty chain draped 'round his head.
Incapable and incoherent,
eyes switched off but a king no less.

Jury all wore black chewed razors,
witnesses looked D.O.A!
O.D'd, amoral, senses skewered,
dribbling lies and tooth decay.
Declared his guilt, defense said nothing,
sobbing as the judge turned blue,
washed their hands said "Lord forgive us,
for we know not what we do..."
Know not what we do,
not what we do.

"Drown in your soma bath!"
They said, "Drown in your soma bath.
What are we gonna do with you?
Let the punishment fit the crime!
We have the technology. We've got the instruments.
Down! Down in your soma bath!"

Why you should care:

It's the first song off the first album, which has to mean something. They also liked it enough to put it into their first LP (Brighter Now), though it doesn't exactly fit with the rest of the songs on there.

Trivia:

You may already know that "soma" was a ritual Vedic drink, though it is more widely remembered as the drug from Brave New World.