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Built-In Bastard Radar

Introduction: From the notes on www.marillion.com: Steve Hogarth commented on John Helmer's lyrics, "It's a song about girls being attracted to bastards, as they often seem to be. I get the feeling he'd maybe lost 1-0 to a bastard way down the line, and it was his way of getting back. I don't know. Maybe he was taking the piss out of me, deriving some quiet, mischievous joy out of asking me to sing these words."

I was able to ask John about this when I interviewed him for the Web UK in 2005: "No, but he's definitely my love rival, if that's what he's getting at!

"It might have been the other way round. I remember when I was a young man and I was behaving with such probity as I now behave with in my relationships, I certainly found the worse you behaved, there were benefits for cheating when you were 20-something and in a band. But it definitely wasn't trying to get at Steve."


'Best of three...  with his angel'
Based on the Biblical story of Jacob and the Angel from Genesis 28:11-18:

11 And he lighted upon the place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13 And, behold, the LORD stood beside him, and said: 'I am the LORD, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.'

16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said: 'Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.'

17 And he was afraid, and said: 'How full of awe is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.'

18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

'Boul' St. Mich'
The Boulevard Saint Michel in Paris. The road is one of the major thoroughfare's of the Latin Quarter, and contains many expensive designer boutiques.

'Corniche'
The Corniche was Rolls-Royce's coupĂ© and convertible version of the Silver Shadow produced between 1971 and 1996, so the song must be set a while ago for it to be a new one! 

'Death where is thy sting?'

From the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 15:54-57:
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lyrics: John Helmer

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