Blog

The Colony of Slippermen is the first track on side four of the album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and comes in three sections.
1 - The Arrival
2 - A Visit to the Doktor
3 - The Raven

This is part of a series where we examine the relationship between the lyrics and the story Peter Gabriel wrote in the inner gatefold of the album. Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats is an instrumental and has no text from the story associated with it.

TRACK - The Colony of Slippermen

The track The Colony of Slippermen is broken down into three interlaced tracks. The first part is called 'The Arrival' where Rale first meets the disturbing Slippermen. The second part is called 'A Visit to the Doktor' where Real discovers what he needs to do to escape. The third part of The Colony of Slippermen is called 'The Raven' where a Raven swoops down and grabs Reals sacred tube and drops it into a ravine.

Leaving by the same door from which he had come in, he finds some sort of freaks ghetto on the other side. When they catch sight of him, the entire street of distorted figures burst into laughter. One of the colony approaches him.

Rael:
I wandered lonely as a cloud,
Till I came upon this dirty street.
I've never seen a stranger crowd;
Slubberdegullions on squeaky feet,

Continually pacing,
With nonchalant embracing,
Each orifice disgracing
And one facing me moves to say "hellay".

He is grotesque in every feature, a mixture of ugly lumps and stumps. His lips slip across his chin as he smiles in welcome and offers his slippery handshake.

His skin's all covered in slimy lumps.
With lips that slide across each chin.
His twisted limbs like rubber stumps
Are waved in welcome say 'Please join in.'

My grip must be flipping,
Cos his handshake keeps slipping,
My hopes keep on dipping
And his lips keep on smiling all the time.

Rael is a little disillusioned, when the Slipperman reveals that the entire colony have one-by-one been through the same glorious romantic tragedy with the same three Lamia, who regenerate themselves every time, and that now Rael shares their physical appearance and shadowy fate.

Slipperman:
"We, like you, have tasted love.
Don't be alarmed at what you see,
You yourself are just the same
As what you see in me."

Rael:
Me, like you? like that!

Slipperman:
"You better watch it son, your sentence has only just begun
You better run and join your brother John."

Amongst the contorted faces of the Slippermen, Rael recognises what is left of his brother John. They hug each other.

A Visit to the Doktor

John bitterly explains that the entire life of the Slipperman is devoted to satisfying the never-ending hunger of the senses, which has been inherited from the Lamia. There is only one escape route; a dreaded visit to the notorious Doktor Dyper who will remove the source of the problems, or to put it less politely, castrate.

They discuss the deceptively-named escape for a long time and decide to go together to visit the Doktor.

Slipperman:
"You're in the colony of slippermen.
There's no who? why? what? or when?
You get out if you've got the gripe
To see, Doktor Dyper, reformed sniper - he'll whip off your windscreenwiper"

Rael:
John and I are able
To face the Doktor and his marble table.

The Doktor:
Understand Rael, that's the end of your tail.

Rael:
"Don't delay, dock the dick!"
I watch his countdown timer tick....

The Raven

They survive the ordeal and are presented with the offensive weapons in sterile yellow plastic tubes, with gold chains. "People usually wear them around their necks," said the Doktor handing them over. "The operation does not necessarily exclude use of the facility again, for short periods, but of course when you want it you must provide us with considerable advance warning."

He places the number into a tube,
It's a yellow plastic "shoobedoobe".
It says: "Though your fingers may tickle
You'll be safe in our pickle."

As the brothers talk themselves through their new predicament, a big black raven flies into the cave, swoops down, grabs Rael's tube right out of his hands and carries it up into the air in his beak.

Suddenly, black cloud come down from the sky.
It's a supersized black bird that sure can fly...

The raven brings on darkness and night
He flies right down, gives me one hell of a fright.
He take the tube right out of my hands
Man, I've got to find out where that black bird lands.

Rael calls for John to go with him.

And he replies "I will not chase a black raven. Down here you must read and obey the omens. There's disaster where the raven flies."

Rael:
"Look here John, I've got to run
I need you now, you going to come?"

He says to me:

John:
"Now can't you see
Where the raven flies there's jeopardy.

We've been cured on the couch
Now you're sick with your grouch.
I'll not risk my honey pouch
Which my slouch will wear slung very low."

So once more John deserts his brother.

The bird leads Rael down a narrow tunnel, he seems to be allowing him to keep at a closed distance. But as Rael thinks he might almost catch hold of the bird, the tunnel opens and finishes at an enormous subterranean ravine. Casually, the raven drops his precious load into the rushing waters at the bottom. It's enough to drive a poor boy ravin' mad.

Seeing the dangers of the steep cliff, our courageous hero stands impotent and glowers.

I'm in the agony of Slipperpain
I pray my undercarriage will sustain.
The chase is on, the pace is hot
But I'm running so very hard with everything that I've got.
He leads me down an underpass
Though it narrows, he still flies very fast,
When the tunnel stops
Catch sight of the tube, just as it drops.
I'm on top of a bank too steep to climb
I see it hit the water just in time
to watch it float away...