Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

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Mark^Bastard
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Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by Mark^Bastard »

I've always had my own interpretation of this song but thought I'd google around and see other views. This one had some interesting takes.

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/138552/

For the song name, there's two suggestions put forward. One was the name of a resistance army in Czechoslovakia. Another was that it referenced 7 graveyard encircling London. The former sounds like something Joe would be into. The latter fits the theme of the song more.

As for the lyrics, most of them are straight forward and about the drudgery of working under capitalism and being compensated for it again by capitalism/consumerism. Drinking, maybe buying some trinkets for your girl to keep her happy.

But the more interesting lines are as follows:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
Came to the checkout at the 7-11
Marx was skint but he had sense
Engels lent him the necessary pence
These are my favourite lines. I hope they're a tongue in cheek piss take that Engels was the son of a rich industrialist and that he supported Marx and his writings. But I'm not sure of the greater intention in the context of the song. Was Joe saying that even Marx was subject to this form of mundane existence? Is it just an extension of the overall pessimism? Like in a "don't look for answers there" kind of way?
Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win fifty-nil
Seems straight forward. The good guys lose. The bad guys win, big.
You can be true, you can be false
You'll be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way through the kitchen
What does 'through the kitchen' mean?
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who's more famous to the billion millions?
My interpretation: A dog was more famous than one of the most important and influential thinkers of all time.

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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by SuzukiSamurai »

Mark^Bastard wrote:
12 Apr 2022, 10:10pm
I've always had my own interpretation of this song but thought I'd google around and see other views. This one had some interesting takes.

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/138552/

For the song name, there's two suggestions put forward. One was the name of a resistance army in Czechoslovakia. Another was that it referenced 7 graveyard encircling London. The former sounds like something Joe would be into. The latter fits the theme of the song more.

As for the lyrics, most of them are straight forward and about the drudgery of working under capitalism and being compensated for it again by capitalism/consumerism. Drinking, maybe buying some trinkets for your girl to keep her happy.

But the more interesting lines are as follows:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
Came to the checkout at the 7-11
Marx was skint but he had sense
Engels lent him the necessary pence
These are my favourite lines. I hope they're a tongue in cheek piss take that Engels was the son of a rich industrialist and that he supported Marx and his writings. But I'm not sure of the greater intention in the context of the song. Was Joe saying that even Marx was subject to this form of mundane existence? Is it just an extension of the overall pessimism? Like in a "don't look for answers there" kind of way?
Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win fifty-nil
Seems straight forward. The good guys lose. The bad guys win, big.
You can be true, you can be false
You'll be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way through the kitchen
What does 'through the kitchen' mean?
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who's more famous to the billion millions?
My interpretation: A dog was more famous than one of the most important and influential thinkers of all time.
I've always interpreted this song rather straight-forward and understood it as the standard 7-hour work day, which I believe is easier to understand in the first couple verses. You bring up from some connections that I haven't heard before and they made me reconsider the song a little bit, but I still can't think of a better interpretation than it simply being based on a long work day. "Fucking long, innit?" certainly aids this thought, at least to me. Really it just made the most sense to me. But there is a lot to consider with this song as it is packed dense, especially the verse about Italian mobsters shooting lobsters, but I always figured it as media covering news stories that weren't very relevant to the world at the time. To each their own, I guess.
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Mark^Bastard
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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by Mark^Bastard »

Yeah most of the song is a stab at the drudgery of the work day, and the modern world with bullshit news covering topics that don't really matter. But I see some of them expanding further than that, the ones I've focused on. I was trying to cover the less obvious ones.

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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by SuzukiSamurai »

Mark^Bastard wrote:
12 Apr 2022, 11:41pm
Yeah most of the song is a stab at the drudgery of the work day, and the modern world with bullshit news covering topics that don't really matter. But I see some of them expanding further than that, the ones I've focused on. I was trying to cover the less obvious ones.
You're right sorry, I missed the part where you clarified that in the first part. I love Mag 7 and I love hearing new insight on what else it might mean. I hadn't heard those angles on it yet and it adds yet more depth to a song deeper than other bands try to go for.
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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by Low Down Low »

Mark^Bastard wrote:
12 Apr 2022, 10:10pm
I've always had my own interpretation of this song but thought I'd google around and see other views. This one had some interesting takes.

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/138552/

For the song name, there's two suggestions put forward. One was the name of a resistance army in Czechoslovakia. Another was that it referenced 7 graveyard encircling London. The former sounds like something Joe would be into. The latter fits the theme of the song more.

As for the lyrics, most of them are straight forward and about the drudgery of working under capitalism and being compensated for it again by capitalism/consumerism. Drinking, maybe buying some trinkets for your girl to keep her happy.

But the more interesting lines are as follows:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
Came to the checkout at the 7-11
Marx was skint but he had sense
Engels lent him the necessary pence
These are my favourite lines. I hope they're a tongue in cheek piss take that Engels was the son of a rich industrialist and that he supported Marx and his writings. But I'm not sure of the greater intention in the context of the song. Was Joe saying that even Marx was subject to this form of mundane existence? Is it just an extension of the overall pessimism? Like in a "don't look for answers there" kind of way?
Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win fifty-nil
Seems straight forward. The good guys lose. The bad guys win, big.
You can be true, you can be false
You'll be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way through the kitchen
What does 'through the kitchen' mean?
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who's more famous to the billion millions?
My interpretation: A dog was more famous than one of the most important and influential thinkers of all time.
I think you're spot on with your analysis there, it's a fascinating song built around some fairly standard themes with some very clever wordplay hidden underneath. The Socrates-Nixon line I take to be a reference to the famous so-called "kitchen" debates that took place between Nixon and Krushchev in the late 50s or early 60s and i guess Joe is unfavourably comparing them to the Socratic way of getting at the truth through dialogue. When Joe then says "Bye Bye....buh buh" that's a further reference to Kruschev saying Russia would soon be taking over and saying "Bye bye" to America and the rest of the world. A lot going on there!

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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by Mark^Bastard »

Thanks, that kitchen thing is interesting!

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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by Silent Majority »

I've taken the Socrates and Milhous Nixon to refer to their similar ends, and the "through the kitchen" to be about Bobby Kennedy's assassination.
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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by lanini66 »

I always thought that the title was referred to the western movie, but I remember Thai I had read somewhere that the magnificent 7 was a reference to the e street band (they were 7 at the time) as a tongue in check commentary to the fact that they couldn’t book a studio in nyc because at the last moment the owner favored Bruce and the band (they were recording The River).

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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by Wolter »

If I’m not mistaken, the lyric is actually “Karlo Marx,” which I think is an allusion to Carlo Marx from On the Road, who was himself an Allen Ginsburg stand-in.
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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by APACHES67 »

Mark^Bastard wrote:
12 Apr 2022, 10:10pm
I've always had my own interpretation of this song but thought I'd google around and see other views. This one had some interesting takes.

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/138552/

For the song name, there's two suggestions put forward. One was the name of a resistance army in Czechoslovakia. Another was that it referenced 7 graveyard encircling London. The former sounds like something Joe would be into. The latter fits the theme of the song more.

As for the lyrics, most of them are straight forward and about the drudgery of working under capitalism and being compensated for it again by capitalism/consumerism. Drinking, maybe buying some trinkets for your girl to keep her happy.

But the more interesting lines are as follows:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
Came to the checkout at the 7-11
Marx was skint but he had sense
Engels lent him the necessary pence
These are my favourite lines. I hope they're a tongue in cheek piss take that Engels was the son of a rich industrialist and that he supported Marx and his writings. But I'm not sure of the greater intention in the context of the song. Was Joe saying that even Marx was subject to this form of mundane existence? Is it just an extension of the overall pessimism? Like in a "don't look for answers there" kind of way?
Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win fifty-nil
Seems straight forward. The good guys lose. The bad guys win, big.
You can be true, you can be false
You'll be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way through the kitchen
What does 'through the kitchen' mean?
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who's more famous to the billion millions?
My interpretation: A dog was more famous than one of the most important and influential thinkers of all time.
Hi, i have a better interpretation about the title "The Magnificent 7" :The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada (since 1976)[3]....what do you think?

Mark^Bastard
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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by Mark^Bastard »

I think it's another option! But I have no idea.

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Re: Lyrics Analysis: The Magnificent Seven

Post by APACHES67 »

Mark^Bastard wrote:
24 May 2022, 4:12am
I think it's another option! But I have no idea.
We wake up soon ,we work hard, we buy what they tell us to buy and we make rich those countries...what do you think Mark?

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