Open thread for Sunday August 19: The Big Hand edition

 Here is today’s open thread, please feel free to leave links and discuss whatever is on your mind today. I have decided to cut down the number of open threads to probably two a week, most likely one on the weekend and one mid-week, because it seems as if people are trying to follow the conversation in a couple of different open threads at the same time. I think this will help to consolidate the conversation and make it a little easier on everyone to follow the updates. 

For my musical selection today I have decided to go into relative obscurity to bring you a song from my all time favorite band–The Cure.

This is a song which was recorded in 1992 for the ‘Wish” album but didn’t make the final cut. It was eventually released as a B-side on ‘A Letter to Elise’ and it is one of my all time favorite songs from The Cure.

There are many opinions as to what the song is about, from God, to drugs, to death, but I look at this song through a political prism, although this is unlikely what the song is about–the Big Hand is the government, promising you the world so you fall in line:

but when the big hand speaks
it’s like fireworks and heaven
so you listen
don’t think
and wish for nothing at all
and when the big hand sings
it’s like fireworks and friends

    But then The Big Hand takes everything away despite its promises, and that point is driven home in the closing verse:

so when the big hand holds up all your favourite things
and with a touch like glass
starts to squeeze
you don’t ask
“why me?”
you just slip to the floor
just slip to your knees

  Because this was a B-side there are few live recordings of it, and the recordings I have found are of low quality so I am giving you the official B-side version of the song with a slide show of the band when they were in their heyday.