The Minutemen - 9:30 May 2

MP3 at: http://www.derekerdman.com/ilovemilkshakes/february2005/s/mmm.mp3

Response #1:

America's insane
Oh in the heart of Italy
The people there are probably
The least religious in the world
Oh I'm Sophia*
When the rent's paid**
Oh I don't know about all that
What's America mean to you?
America means everything to me.

*Sophia here refers to a central character from Christian
mythology (hence the reference to Italy, commonly understood
to be the bastion of Catholic faith) who falls from grace,
makes several moral errors, and eventually becomes a
prostitute. She later repents and is saved. For students of
Paganism and early Christian mythology, Sophia is the figure
that represents the double-sided nature of every human soul
—open to both incarnation and redemption. In this case, the
parallelism of Sophia and the rent payer (as temporarily
redeemed prostitute), like the earlier parallelism of Italy
and America, is used to illustrate the irony of our own
(American) faith (in cash).

** Rent payment as the motivating event for the composition of
this song is given further credence by the title’s reference
to the second of the month, an obvious day to pay rent.

Thanks a heap.