# Red Queen | | | | --- | --- | | __Title__: | Red Queen | | __Featured on__: | Musick To Play In The Dark,Vol. 1 | | __Original__: | | | __Derivative__: | | | __Previous Version__: | | | __Next Version__: | | | __Alternate Version:__ | | | __Interpolated in:__ | | | __Interpolates:__ | | --- *__Red Queen__* is a song originally released on Coil’s 1999 album [[Musick To Play In The Dark]]. As seen in [[Jhonn Balance]]’s notes, the song was written in 1993 about Balance’s former Psychic TV partner Genesis P-Orridge.[^1] The time of writing implies that this was more directly inspired by [false allegations of child abuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_P-Orridge#Psychic_TV_and_Thee_Temple_Ov_Psychic_Youth) levelled against P-Orridge the year prior. From the *Track-by-Track* feature: > “*This is about the phenomena that I see in media-based people that if you say something three times then, like the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s books, it becomes true or perceived as true). The original source is lost in translation. I hate HIS-STORY. The lies on the page. In print. There is NO truth anywhere. See Charles Manson (again) for true vision reTRUTH. This was in the works when John Everall phoned up and it clicked into this embittered, world-weary vocal take. We were discussing the appearance of the Giant Red Spiders that had been plaguing us both from out the corner of our eyes. A fact. And talking about where they might be originating. Arachnoid subspace? Lovecraftian dementia-dimensions? This is based on the experiences I have had with an old Royalty-fixated old Queen I once new. Viva La Revoltion…revolution. Off with her head! She’s off her head anyway. Two red tracks, hmmmmm.*” ## Lyrics > Now that you‘ve absorbed it into your system > Now that you‘ve allowed it to be true > Now that you‘ve neutralized it, made it safe, made it yours > Now that you’ve been photographed, recorded > What are you going to do? > What are you going to do? > - > Now that you‘ve absorbed it into your system > Now that you‘ve allowed it to be true > Now that you‘ve neutralized it, made it safe, made it yours > Now that you’ve been photographed, recorded > What are you going to do? > What are you going to do? > - > Is it so unsafe when you are insecure in the space where you are? > Is it so, really so? > Is it more real, is it more yours? > Is it more yours, is it more real for you than it is for him or me? > And the people who perceive it repeat it, distort it, improve it, update it, slightly change it > And these people believe it and write it all up for you > And is it more real? > And is it more real? > Does it make it more yours? > Now you‘re recorded as having said it, and been seen, and done it > And people have been seen to take notice > So empty > Is it so awful to be seen to feel and fail? > Overheard and noted to authenticate his story? > An unsafe male trait > You know what they say: that empty vessels ring true, like bells > Make the most noise > The ink is still wet > In this case, the medium is not the message > Is it so unsafe when you are insecure in the space where you are? > Is it so, really so unsafe you can‘t let— let go? > Is it so unsafe when you are insecure in the space where you are? ## Versions ## Personnel |Name|Credit| |---|---| ||| ||| --- ## References [^1]: see John Balance, ed. Clause Laufenburg: *The Cupboard under the Stars*, publ. Timeless, 2023