Gothic Council Praises Lyrics, Bowie's Penis

​Really there are two kinds of music fans. Those who are there for the music as a whole and those who are there to hear the words. Make no mistake, we're not saying that one side is better than the other, but we are definitely in the latter category. Being a melodramatic lot, most goths are.

So we thought we'd pose to the Council the question of what lyrics had most moved them over the years. Joining us this week is fashion designer Batty, blogger at Night's Plutonian Shore Sarah Fanning, co-founder of the Age of Decay festival Alethea Carr, stylist Carol Simmons, Larry Rainwater of Ex-Voto and the Stage Frights, spooky dessertier Lynda Rouner, Regen Robinson of Space Radio, and Jvstin Whitney from Church of Melkarth.

Batty: "Sing While you may ( it may not be for long)" from the song "A Message to our Sponsor" off the Legendary Pink Dot's Asylum album has always been one of my favorite lyrics. It delivers the message to live your life to the best and the fullest, because life is short which has always been a driving force behind the things I do. I first heard it in around 1996 or so, when I discovered the Dots, and that lyrics has grabbed me ever since.

Sarah Fanning: "The virginal brides file past his tomb / Strewn with time's dead flowers / Bereft in deathly bloom / Alone in a darkened room / The Count..."

Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead."

I love the poetry of this lyric. It is beautiful and tragic. I love the images it brings to mind. I feel it embodies what I like most about being Goth - the beauty, decadence, elegance and theatrical elements.

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Alethea Carr: "And just as I'm breaking free / she hangs herself in front of me / slips her dress like a flag to the floor / and hands in the sky / surrenders it all..."

The Cure, "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea"

This is one of the best similes ever written, goth or not. But it takes on particularly gothitragic overtones in its romanticisation of unrequited, tumultuous love; emotional helplessness; and, in surrender, pleasure within pain. I have also always thought the dress/flag comparison had a ghostly feel, probably because the dress, as a symbol of giving over power, is the flag of surrender. A white dress, coupled with the double interpretation of "hangs herself," evokes a haunting image then.

What is more gothic than being the heartbroken slave to a ghost? Of this fixation on a dead and unfulfillable object of desire, to such an all-consuming point that it prevents love of the living? Of course, I'm sure Robert Smith would shake his head at such silly over-analysis! Still, it's a powerful and indulgently melancholy piece of songwriting.