Week Forty-Two: XTC - "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" - Nonsuch

Okay, since I mentioned the Pope in this week's opening post and since this song mentions the Vatican and gold, I am going to share with you one of my biggest issues with the Catholic church... and I have had an issue with this since I was a very young girl!!!

One thing I will never understand is why every Pope thinks it's okay to live in a palace of sorts with priceless artwork all over, while there are people starving and dying from illnesses and such within miles of him. Call me crazy --- you definitely wouldn't be the first to do so --- but I don't recall Christ having such a posh lifestyle...

Priests and nuns have to take vows of poverty, so why is it okay for the Pope to be livin' it up?!?!? I finally worked up the courage to ask a priest about it one day. He was silent for a very long time before he finally responded to my question.

His explanation was a great effort to appease my curiosity, but it did not sit well with me at all!!! He basically attempted to convince me that the Pope could very well sell all of the artwork and riches within the Vatican and feed the starving and clothe the poor; however, it would never solve all of the problems of hunger and poverty. So it is better to keep all of those riches in place so that many people can enjoy the beauty of them and be inspired by them... I'll give him an "A" for effort, but um, (okay sorry --- this is a horrible pun), I'm not buying what he's selling!!!

Again, I still have a contract to finish out; so I need to stop while I'm ahead... 'cause I'm not independently wealthy or anything, and I kinda need my job... at least for a little while longer... although, I was just offered an assistant principal position as incentive to stay on next year... yeah, thanks, but no thanks... it's time for me to locomote on out of there!!!

I'm also including one of their lesser-known tunes, but it happens to be one of my favorites  --- it's called "Then She Appeared"... you should know where to find it by now... but the clip I'm including is a little different from what you would find on the album.

 Peter Pumpkinhead came to town 

Spreading wisdom and cash around 

Fed the starving and housed the poor 

Showed the Vatican what gold's for 

But he made too many enemies 

Of the people who would keep us on our knees 

Hooray for Peter Pumpkin 

Who'll pray for Peter Pumpkinhead? 

Oh my! 

Peter Pumpkinhead pulled them all 

Emptied churches and shopping malls 

Where he spoke, it would raise the roof 

Peter Pumpkinhead told the truth 

But he made too many enemies... 

Peter Pumpkinhead put to shame 

Governments who would slur his name 

Plots and sex scandals failed outright 

Peter merely said 

Any kind of love is alright 

But he made too many enemies... 

Peter Pumpkinhead was too good 

Had him nailed to a chunk of wood 

He died grinning on live TV 

Hanging there he looked a lot like you 

And an awful lot like me! 

But he made too many enemies... 

Hooray for Peter Pumpkin 

Who'll pray for Peter Pumpkin 

Hooray for Peter Pumpkinhead 

Oh my oh my oh! 

Don't it make you want to cry oh?