The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Screenplay draft (part three)
Rael walks through a tunnel in the rock. There isn’t any light so he gropes the wall to keep him on his feet. He comes to an entrance (exit?) in the cave wall from which a light is emitting. He steps through to find a middle aged woman at a desk. Behind her is a huge warehouse. Confused, Rael asks timidly, “where am I?” The woman looks up, smiles, and starts in to her sales-pitch-like explanation:
"This is the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging, those you are about to see are all in for servicing, except for a small quantity of our new product, in the second gallery. It is all the stock required to cover the existing arrangements of the enterprise. Different batches are distributed to area operators, and there are plenty of opportunities for the large investor. They stretch from the costly care-conditioned to the most reasonable mal-nutritioned. We find here that everyone's looks become them. Except for the low market mal-nutritioned, each is provided with a guarantee for a successful birth and trouble free infancy. There is however only a small amount of variable choice potential - not too far from the mean differential. You see, the roof has predetermined the limits of action of any group of packages, but individuals may move off the path if their diversions are counter-balanced by others.”
A whistle is heard while the saleslady is still speaking. (the organ intro to “The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging” starts). The woman finishes her spiel, sits down, then after a pause says:
“It’s the last great adventure left to mankind"
(then the band version of the song continues) Rael walks out in to the warehouse and notices the stock is large rectangular boxes, with plastic window fronts, stacked to the ceiling on high racks. Rael continues moving along, looking about him with interest, and awe. He notices that all the boxes are full of human dolls of various ethnicities, each with distinctive clothing marking them as having different vocations. The dolls in boxes are motionless, while lining the walls of the warehouse are other sets, or displays, with working models. (“everyone’s a sales representative”…) The boxes all have numbers at the outside top, and prices marked in red, and the dolls themselves have slogans on their shirts describing their occupations.
Rael is suddenly shocked to see his brother in a set depicting his gang spray painting a Subway Car (his brother is #9). Surprised by the sight of his brother, and still cautiously confused, Rael slowly backs up, but loses his footing and falls on his back. While there he notices something odd about the ceiling. There is a giant mural of a Lamb on it with a variable message calendar inset showing the dates of distribution for the dolls. (For instance: “Number 9; 29 September 1974”) He quickly gets up looking confused and horrified, and decides to leave the place. He makes his way quickly to the exit looking back to be sure he isn’t followed. The camera follows him in to the darkness of the exit. (The music ends and is cross faded with the sounds of the subway).
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2 comments:
My impression of the LP-Hall is completely different. It´s a strange factory hall, everything is white, septic, exept the humans. The hall is strait but long, nearly a corridor. At the right side is nothing but a wall of bright tiles, at the left along the far wall hanging stiff humans on a factory facility, a guide rail. It is made of matt-finished steel. The humans are held by a big vacceum-cup upon their heads about 3 or 4 meters above ground, so you can´t catch their eyes. They just looking straight to the white titels on the opposite wall. From time to time they move along the wall and just vanish in the white at the far end of the row/wall. The Lady sits at the far end of the room behind a white desk. The desk desolves with the white background, so you think you just can see her upper half of her body. She´s about 55 years old, wear a darkblue costume with a lightblue blouse with quillings and old-fashioned tapered glases (60s). Old-fashioned accurate permed hairstyle.
Yeah. I like your vision. I bet there are about as many visions of the Lamb "scenes" as there are fans. I didn't study the lyrics or the Gabriel story too awfully close but in some cases tried to use my imagination to guide me, or my impressions from the many years of listening to the album and living with it in my head. Thanks for sharing your interpretation. I wish somebody would make a movie of it...i really wish somebody would make mine...that'd blow my mind.
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