I think the song is a christian reference to the doomed love of christ (the singer) for the soul of the world or humanity (angelina) No I'm not a christian myself I am a Wiccan so this is not a preach :) Here is my take on it.

The song is a riddle. It asks who the singer is and who he is singing to.

Verse 1

The bells of the crown being stolen by bandits. - Which crown has bells on? Only a jesters cap not a kings crown. So whats been stolen? Laughter I think. Hapiness. The trumpets playing slow and the trianlge tingling are basicly the rest of the world carrying on as normal watching this theft and doing nothing about it, not even understanding that it matters.

The fiery sky is apocalyptic all the way through and means in my view a mushroom cloud shaped ending.

Verse 2. No need for blame or anger - because thats not what the Singer was looking for. nothing to prove and evetything still being the same means that nothing has changed. Nothing has been learnt.

The table standing empty by the edge of the sea. What is a table for? originally? Well to eat at. Its an invitation to share food and friendship and trust, even love. The table is empty. The invitation was made. No one accepted it. The edge of the sea means extremity i think. The last hope. The trembling sky reinforces this.

The jacks and the queens have forsake the courtyard. Jacks and queens are leaders. Kind of. There is no king. If there was a king he was a jester since his jesters crown lost its belles earlier. The courtyard isnt a courtyard its a COURT yard. The royal court. No one is in charge in other words and the place is a madhouse. The fifty two gypsies is the whole of humanity. 52 for the all the cards in the deck (all the weeks of the year too) - theyre gypsies because they have no home, no one is leading them and they dont know where theyre going. They file past the guards though, so they dont have the gypsies freedom. They lost that. As the next phrase shows. The ace and the deuce (the lowest) once ran wild - were free. but not anymore.

The sky is folding - its another card reference. folding means to quit - to give up. The sky = god giving up on humanity. farewell angelina = christ saying goodbye to the soul of humanity - the implication is that despite everything the soul is beautiful and he loves it but neither can do anything to stop whats going to happen.

A cross eyed pirate perched in the sun. Cross eyed because he cant see what he is doing. A pirate = classicly have an eye patch. Ok means he cant be cross eyed but in this case its a reinforcement. cross eyed and one eyed, cant see well and cant see straight. And he has a sawn off shotgun that he is using to blow away anything near him while the rest of the world watches and cheers despite the stupidity and futility of the exercise. The sky is getting worse and the Singer has to go fast. who wouldnt.

King king and the little elves - the highest and the lowest. Everyone in other words again. All of humanity, dance on roofops. pointless and dangerous and insane, while the makeup men hide the corpses so everyone else can pretend there isnt a problem. But the sky - God - can see the problem and is ashamed. also its turning red and its not just because of the blushing.

The last verse is outright war, and an insane one. The pupets us, fighting. pupetts because were being used and have no idea what were doing or why were fighting. The fiends are demons. Time bombs to the hands of the clock - the end of the world, the apocalypse, and thats why its demons doing the nailing.

call me any name you like, i will never deny it. Means 2 things. First its the point of the song. a riddle. it asks 'who am I? that is singing?' it also means that he is expecting to be insulted and abused but he doesnt blame us for it. He is sad.

Then farewell again, this time for the last time because the sky has really gone this time, and I'm pretty sure its mushroom clouds everywhere at this point. He must go where its quiet - back to heaven, and Angelina, our collective soul, the only beauty left is the one who is going to die, not him. He tried to save her but she didnt come to the table which is still empty back in verse 3.


Thats what i think anyway :)

Aurore