The Bitter Suite IV & V: The Congregation/The Sermon in the Silt
They come in crowds to hear him speak
And he will greet them in a smile that sticks like Vaseline
So do your best to keep your distance in this instance
You’re a stranger in the weeds, some things are better left unseen
Commanding listeners to believe
Manipulations of narrations: “Anno Domini”
Not with a whimper, but a bang, he’ll take the stage
And leave their jaws upon the floor, begging for more
So Father, won’t you tend your flock and save us now?
Won’t you save us now?
Come and save us
I hear you’re looking for God
Well I can show you the way just as long as you can pay
But the price is going up
And like a prayer to the air we deliver you to glory (pay up)
I swear you’ll get what you need
And we can lead you to salvation with the right denomination
It all lies in your hands
Or in your pocketbook to be more demanding
Don’t you tread too close to the line this time
Don’t get lead too close to the light this time
You went far too close to the line this time, the line this time
(Hey! hey kid! hey kid, get a God!)
(Hey! hey, hey, hey! hey kid, get a God!)
So you committed a sin?
Well, we can rid that with a remedy
The bidding starts at $70—sold to one and all
Now get your hands ready to make a withdrawal
You’ve got no other way to find what you want
If it’s a saving that you’re craving and your confidence is fading
Be calm, the Doctor’s in
I got the cure, because I know where you’ve been
Don’t you tread too close to the line this time
Don’t get lead too close to the light this time
You went far too close to the line this time, the line this time
If you wanna get up, reserve a room on high
Put your coins in my hat and don’t ask why
If you wanna get up, reserve a room on high
Put your coins in my hat and don’t ask why
If you wanna get up, reserve a room on high
Put your coins in the hat and don’t ask why
Don’t you tread too close to the line this time
Don’t get lead too close to the light this time
You went far too close to the line this time
The line this time, the line this time…
🌲🌲🌲
What happens?
Hunter attends the Church service with the Fiance. He tries not to draw attention while cynically regarding the proceedings, figuring the Priest to be a manipulator who exploits his Congregation. Hunter is right to hold this view, as the Priest proceeds to con exorbitant funds from the Congregation by pressuring them to buy indulgences. The Priest then singles out Hunter, who did not buy any, to speak with him privately.
What’s in a name?
We’re back in the Bitter Suite! Man, it’s been a while. Nice to see it come back. We have a structural mirror to Bitter Suites I and II, too — IV and V are also in one song, with the first suite introducing a character to Hunter, and the second being TP&P conning the knickers (dollars, rather, and less literal this time) out of people.
The Bitter Suite IV is The Congregation — not complicated, as it’s introducing us to the character of the Congregation plus Hunter’s impression of them and all this Church business.
The Bitter Suite V is the Sermon in the Silt — trickier. The central idea of ‘silt’, though, is gold panning. The link there to TP&P sifting through the congregation for money there is pretty clear. Secondary idea is how Hunter and TP&P are both trying not to be noticed by each other, so it’s the incognito aspect of what TP&P is doing by talking up these massive indulgences while not wanting to be caught as a conman. You could probably find a third idea in the link between sifting around in the ‘dirt’ and ‘sinfulness/heedlessness’ (’give yourself to the dust and the dirt where you stand’) but eh it’s already hefty enough.
Whose viewpoint?
Hunter (IV), then TP&P (V).
🌲🌲🌲
>0:00 – 0:26 Instrumental
Man how scuzzy this already is. Some shades of TP&P leitmotifs already but can’t put a finger on which. Hunter does not like this place, viewing it as deeply corrupt and the congregation members essentially as cattle allowing themselves to be misled.
One big question with this part of the story is, does Hunter know that the Pimp is also the Priest yet? And I would say no — surprisingly, he actually doesn’t. He has only interacted with TP&P in his Pimp guise and has never once gone to the Church, and his relationship with Ms Leading broke down before she would’ve been able to tell him that the Priest and the Pimp were the same (it would require Ms Leading coming clean about being a prostitute, and things after Red Hands were too messy for them to possibly be casually talking about the Pimp and the Priest).
Which BY EXTENSION means that all the dismissive and spiteful sentiments Hunter has towards the Church right now? Entirely a product of him being a super cynical sod who doesn’t trust authority figures after Cauda, the goodness of the world worth being innocent in as of This Beautiful Life and the Horrors, and in the presence of a loving just God as of WIMTB and Mustard Gas. Maybe some influence from Ms Terri as well, if her struggles with Catholicism ever came up and Hunter recognised those as also hurting her (or at least not helping her) in retrospect.
Rather, Hunter can probably see his younger self’s idealism in people who are willing to accept what the Church tells them, and is deeply uncomfortable with it because he dislikes his younger self and knows that idealism/innocence wound up screwing him over. He is probably figuring these people, naturally, will also get maliciously exploited as they get attached to comfortable promises the Church preaches to them. Plus, like, Hunter doesn’t consider himself a great person right now, and being confronted with that on an existential level of ‘you could go to Hell, you know’ is uncomfortable even if it’s subconscious. I would figure Hunter is basically atheist now and from that lens every kind of appeal to scripture feels bunk.
Anyways, point being Hunter really doesn’t like the Church and it’s not even because the guy running this one is the Pimp that indentured his mother, lol.
>They come in crowds to hear him speak / And he will greet them in a smile that sticks like Vaseline
Man Hunter hates the Church. Hunter can already imagine the cloying, pious, and welcoming attitude the Priest will use to address the congregation (similar to how the Pimp greeted him in Smiling Swine, hmmm) and the thought of being the target of it makes him sick.
>So do your best to keep your distance in this instance / You’re a stranger in the weeds, some things are better left unseen
Hunter decides the best thing to do is keep his head down so as not to draw the Priest’s (or anyone else’s) attention. He wants to be so much of an irrelevant ‘background character’ in the pews that nobody even notices he attended this or could possibly bring it up to make a relevant thing of it — this is how deeply adverse to the Priest he is, already assuming him to be a dangerous figure. Rightly, too.
>Commanding listeners to believe / Manipulations of narrations: “Anno Domini” / Not with a whimper, but a bang, he’ll take the stage / And leave their jaws upon the floor, begging for more
The thing that bothers Hunter about the Church is the power the Priest has to manipulate people’s worldviews, sense of moral right and wrong, and sense of whether they are a good or bad person (then controlling them with promises they can become good — they just have to do what he says), without necessarily being a good person or even a devout believer himself so much as an extremely smooth or charismatic talker who knows how to bend scripture to suit his points. Hunter does not think the Word itself carries any legitimacy, either, so if the Priest is in any way competent he must be this breed of sociopath.
That’s the kind of person he anticipates the Priest to be: a manipulator and a showman, who doesn’t only not practice what he preaches, but uses his position to dominate people for his own motives or ego.
And the people love him for this!
>So Father, won’t you tend your flock and save us now? / Won’t you save us now? / Come and save us
The Congregation speaks — they are entirely reliant on the Priest to guide them and assure them of what’s right, what’s wrong, and to keep them above water morally. These are very desperate and anxious people, not secure in themselves without the ‘compassion’ of the Priest, begging him to take the pulpit.
>1:35 – 1:48 The Bitter Suite II Reprise
MAAAANNN!!! YES THAT’S IT CASEY THAT’S IT THAT’S WHAT I’M HERE FOR!!!!
Yeah we’re in Bitter Suite V now, and holy moly it is good. What can I say TP&P is just super super fun whenever he’s doing his thing. You go you horrible horrible slimly little conman.
So, TP&P is here now! Boom! Not with a whimper, but with a bang he takes the stage! The energy is extremely high as he comes out of the wings and to the pulpit, the entire Congregation invigorated by his presence and more than ready to lap up every word and accept every offer the Priest is giving them.
>I hear you’re looking for God / Well I can show you the way just as long as you can pay
Ahhh it’s so good. I don’t think the lyrics need much explaining but figure to note them where I can anyway.
Okay, so, first thing to note: the Dime has actually closed down. Wh—? Yeah, the laws around brothels tightened considerably in this period (you can see it also in how Ms Leading isn’t a prostitute anymore, though maybe she would’ve quit on her own initiative after meeting Hunter anyway), not to mention the war taking away all the punters, so TP&P has had to adjust and find other ways to make the big money. The poor man. It’s okay though, he’s found something sufficiently lucrative that he can still do as the Priest!
And that is, INDULGENCES!
That’s right, indulgences, plenty here, plenty for all! Step right up, get your indulgences! Those pesky sins getting you down? Wipe those nasty suckers away with just one easy course of INDULGENCES! Come now, don’t be stingy, heaven for your immortal soul is surely worth more than that? There we go, there we go…
>And we can lead you to salvation with the right denomination
Exquisite my lord. Denomination has the meaning of a religious denomination, especially a Christian one (Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran, etc), but also refers to the monetary weighting a single coin or bill is worth (ie, $10 bills are $10, $50 bills are $50, so on). Really well written line that also drives in how careless TP&P about the actual faith aspect so much as it being a means to make money.
>Don’t you tread too close to the line this time / Don’t get led too close to the light this time / You went far too close to the line this time, the line this time
TP&P doesn’t want people questioning this sacrament or why giving him money is enough to become a good person in the eyes of God. Though he’s doing a fine job of working the room, he does still have that fundamental… anxiety, I guess I’ll call it, of being unmasked as a conman.
Further, he is actively guiding people away from God and virtue so as to protect the little racket he has going here. If people manage to actually find God and virtue, they’ll stop being sinners, which leaves TP&P firstly with nothing to sell them and secondly at risk of being denounced as a corrupt priest, which he doesn’t want happening, though he is secure enough in his position to be this brazen about peddling indulgences. Still, he really, really, really does not want these people feeling confident about themselves or for them to even have an inkling of what virtue means — that is crossing ‘the line’.
So, TP&P is identifying which members of the Congregation are at risk of becoming self-assured, suspicious, or virtuous, so that he can put in proper countermeasures against them and single them out to be blackmailed. I imagine this is harder than it used to be when you don’t have a brothel at the ready to generate that blackmail, meaning TP&P might actually be feeling kind of pressured now that he’s lost one of his guises to support him, but I figure he’s canny to these things he’ll work it out.
>(Hey! hey kid! hey kid, get a God!)
Love it. The audaciousness of selling God like this too, wow.
>The bidding starts at $70—sold to one and all
Sold sung like ‘souls’ — you are quite literally selling your soul TP&P by taking part in these transactions.
>I got the cure, because I know where you’ve been
Great line. On the face, it’s him being empathetic to the suffering of his Congregation and assuring them they aren’t doomed. Simultaneously, it’s him threatening them with blackmail — he knows you’re not a good person, and knows what sins you’ve committed, because he does his research.
‘So is there anybody here / Who can tell me where I am / Or at least where I have been?’. Yes, and here he is, Hunter 😉
>Chorus Repetition
I think this one might be TP&P noticing Hunter — Hunter fails to adequately conceal his disgust with the proceedings here, though it isn’t like he’s making a scene about it. Maybe he pointedly doesn’t make a donation when the offertory bag comes around, or join the line for the indulgences, or something.
>If you wanna get up, reserve a room on high / Put your coins in my hat and don’t ask why
There is an offertory bag going around around the pews — Hunter doesn’t make a donation.
>Final Chorus Repetition
Having noticed and recognised Hunter, and seen his refusal to do as the rest of the Congregation does, TP&P is concerned. He knows who Hunter is and that he had relations with Ms Leading some years ago — though TP&P seems secure that Ms Leading did not in fact tell Hunter that the Pimp is also the Priest (’led too close to the light’), it’s not inconceivable that Hunter could put the dots together, and be dangerously outspoken about it, if he keeps showing up here. Or hell, if he gets together with Ms Leading again — that is also a concern.
Rather than let this potential problem fester, TP&P gets an idea to nip it in the bud and turn it to his advantage.
>4:50 – 5:10 Bitter Suite IV Reprise
As the service wraps up and people begin shuffling out, TP&P singles out Hunter (the big sting at 5:02 is Hunter’s fear/shock/alarm at being noticed), inviting him to speak in the confessional. I figure the invitation probably goes something like ‘I can sense GREAT TROUBLES from you, young man. Is there nothing you wish to get off your chest?’. Or, you know, more insistent and smooth than that but basically that vibe.
>5:10 – 5:30 The Pimp and The Priest Reprise
Unable to really turn down the invitation, Hunter begrudgingly joins the Priest and settles in the privacy of the confessional.
空劫罰 祟りネコ | JP -> ENG / TDH 