Of Walking Abortion (Live)

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a bleak, almost nihilistic picture of humanity, starting with a sense of existential dread and moral decay. The opening lines present a world where life feels heavy and stagnant, posing stark choices between purity and corruption, passive observation and active suffering. This sets a tone of profound disillusionment, where societal ills are framed as a collective "moral suicide," populated by the marginalized figures of "junkies, winos, whores." The core of the song's visceral impact lies in its shocking central metaphor: "We are all of walking abortions!" This isn't a literal statement but a powerful, provocative image suggesting a fundamental flaw or incompleteness in humanity, a potential that was never fully realized or was tragically cut short. The juxtaposition with "Shalom, shalom! We all love our children!" creates a jarring dissonance, highlighting a deep hypocrisy or a desperate, failed attempt at peace and love amidst this perceived brokenness. The repeated phrase "There are no horizons" reinforces this sense of stagnation and hopelessness. The second verse escalates the despair by invoking historical figures associated with immense cruelty and destruction – Mussolini, Hitler, Horthy, Tiso. The lyrics suggest that the "worm of your soul" can harbor these monstrous impulses, implying that the capacity for evil is not confined to history's villains but resides within everyone. The "fragments of uniforms" and "open black ruins" in the pre-chorus further evoke a post-apocalyptic or war-torn landscape, a physical manifestation of the moral devastation described earlier. The narrator points out that "You've no wounds to show," implying a disconnect between internal corruption and outward appearance, or perhaps a lack of genuine suffering that would lead to true remorse. Ultimately, the lyrics confront the listener directly with a sense of shared culpability. The bridge's image of "little people in little houses" like "maggots" underscores a feeling of insignificance and worthlessness, while the "massacred innocent blood stains us all." The relentless repetition in the outro, "Who's responsible? You fucking are," leaves no room for evasion. It forces a confrontation with the idea that this collective moral failure, this state of being "walking abortions," is not an external condition but an internal one, for which each individual bears responsibility.