A.D. 4000 D.C.

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a surreal, almost dystopian picture of the future, starting with "friends fueled by a double carburetor" and a "Founder of the summer" taking them back. An old man, tired after an "escalation," plays cards, while "chloroformed monkeys" tell fairy tales. The scene is a bizarre market where a Guttuso painting is auctioned, setting the "five-year plan of sin." This sets a tone of absurdity and decay, where even seasons and places like Sapporo announce failure, leaving the narrator lost on a "mandarin and hot milk road." The central tension arises from the cyclical, yet seemingly meaningless, progression of events. The recurring chorus, "It's a wheel that turns / That turns and goes away / But returns and then leaves / Turns turns and goes away," emphasizes a sense of futility. Despite the constant motion, nothing fundamentally changes or improves; it's a perpetual, unfulfilling cycle. This is amplified by the imagery of a "recorded tape at a hundred tracks" and the "anthropomorphic voice of the man of two thousand," suggesting a manufactured, repetitive existence. The most striking craft element is the juxtaposition of the mundane with the bizarre, creating a disorienting effect. We see everyday actions like playing cards or selling art, but they are embedded in a context of "chloroformed monkeys," "sin's five-year plan," and a "deserting winter." The second verse introduces an "emigrated Venusian" writing about a "custard sky, blood and honey," feeling "small and cruel." This alien perspective, combined with the image of a "mouse walled alive in a music hall" tap-dancing on its "motocross," highlights a profound sense of alienation and the absurd. These lyrics hit hard because they tap into a latent anxiety about progress and the future. The writing doesn't offer clear answers but instead presents a fragmented, dreamlike landscape that feels both nonsensical and disturbingly familiar. The cyclical chorus, coupled with the bizarre imagery, creates a feeling of being trapped in a loop of manufactured experiences and failed promises, making the listener question the very nature of forward movement and societal development.