Martin has left the band.

It's official – singer and lyrical genius Martin Walkyier is no longer with Skyclad. What does this mean for the future? Skyclad will continue with newest member Kevin Ridley taking Martin's place and Martin will now be working solely with Return to the Sabbat, a reunion of his former band. As for this site, it will no longer be Skyclad Puns, since the focus is on Martin's writing. It will continue to grow for as long as Martin writes, whether for RttS or anything else. I guess it'll need a new name, though! E-mail contributions to svipdag@geocities.com.
Created: 11/14/97
Updated: 4/16/01
Latest News: Updated "Any Old Irony?" (1/14/01: Updated "The Great Brain Robbery", "The Antibody Politic". 11/15/00: Added 'Old Rope'. Updated "The Sinful Ensemble", "The Present Imperfect", 'Wayward Sons of Mother Earth', and links.)

Folkémon (2000)

The title of the new album is a pun Pokémon, and featured on the cover is Freakachu (a pun on Pikachu). Check out the Official Website to see some pictures of this little creature. 'Rhymes Against Humanity' was the working title for the album, and is a pun on crimes against humanity.
The Great Brain Robbery (The Great Train Robbery)

• "Leaders of you nighted nations," (United Nations)

Think Back and Lie of England

• "Cruel Britannia ruled the waves," (Rule, Britannia)
• "Think back and lie of England." (Lie back and think of England)
  Agnes "Skycladfully" gave me early warning of this one.

Polkageist

• "you'd need the virtue of a saint to not succumb - and overcome this / Polkageist." (poltergeist)
• "she took my hand and led me to that place where cunning lingers." (cunnilingus)

The Disenchanted Forest (enchanted forest)
The Antibody Politic (the body politic)

• "Frog-marched towards it at fool-speed." (full speed)
• "with and overwhelming minority." (More than just a play on overwhelming majority. In the latter case, it is the number of people which is overwhelming; here it is something else (sheer determination?).)

When God Logs-Off

• "Rapt in the arms of a galaxy spiral." (wrapped)

Any Old Irony?

• "Weary, hoarse-riders;" (horse-riders)
• "Stark-raving-madrigals by the cartload." (stark raving mad)
• "Unplugged he's no Dr. Jekyll….so Hyde!" (hide)
• "Keeping it reeling with her fugue electric." (Keeping it real)

Loco-Commotion (locomotion) A bonus instrumental track.

Vintage Whine (1999)

Kiss My Sweet Brass (kiss my you-know-what)
Vintage Whine

• "Should my manna seem displeasing," (manner)
• "such bitter whines" (wines)
• "The bubbles burst - this aint sham-pain" (champaign)
• "The fruits of labours toiled in vain" (fruits = profits or actual grapes)
• "a classic year for Vintage Whine." (vintage wine)
• "pure hate distilled / then bottled up much longer" (bottled up = feelings kept inside, or packaged in a bottle, as a beverage)
• "Revenge - a draught I'll serve you chilled," (you could be either the indirect object or the direct object, i.e. murder)
  Contributed by Tony Kerklaan.
• "Laments ferment the patience schnapps" (the patient snaps)
  Contributed by Tony Kerklaan.

On With Their Heads!

• "I'm the clown prince of fools" (crown prince)
• "'Cause greed's coinage is not worth a toss." (worthless or, literally, not worth tossing)
• "instruct us to pray - and then prey on our kids" (pray/prey)

The Silver Cloud's Dark Lining

• "the silver cloud's dark lining": There is a positive English phrase, "every dark cloud has a silver lining," meaning in each bad thing that can happen you can find a good part. Martin puts a pessimistic twist on it with "every silver cloud has a dark lining," meaning whatever you try, you're building a ruin.
  Contributed by Stephane Vasiljevic of Bombjour! and someone else, I believe.
• "all that is rank promoted" (rank = smelly or a position)

No Strings Attached

• "Dreams now dusty, old and rotten - empty shells (no strings attached)." (this song is all about playing music, so the empty shell of a guitar would have 'no strings attached')

Bury Me

• "the effects of your affections" (effects/affections)
• "it seems your lies were like those thighs - spread easier than butter"
• "You laid me to death - now lay me to rest" (considering the sexual content of the song, when he says "laid me to death" he probably means "f... me to death"; also, Jan points out that "the small death" is a French phrase which means orgasm)
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.

Cancer of the Heart

• "A naked-ape in the human-zoo" (appears to be a play on the books "The Naked Ape" and "The Human Zoo" by Desmond Morris")
  Submitted by Ronald Ferrucci.
• "A grave threat to the rational health" (national health)
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.

Little Miss Take

• "thereby hangs my tale" (tail)
  Contributed by Mike from Greece.
• "The Queen of Hearts - you dealt me a pack of lies"
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.
• "I'm already broken - so don't kick me better" (kiss me better)
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.
• "you'd crossed my heart and I hoped to die. ("crossed my heart" as in a betrayal or the expression 'cross my heart and hope to die')
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.
• "Cast off like a tampon - you stamp on my dream" (tampon, stamp on)
• "that Venus once held me with (ch)arms so fake" (the famous statue of Venus has no arms)
• "now I couldn't give a damn for my little Miss Take." (a little mistake or a young woman who takes)

By George

• The song title is a common exclamation, but in this case it's a short instrumental piano piece written and performed 'by George' (i.e. Georgina Biddle)

Outrageous Fourtunes (1997)

The album title, because this EP contains "four tunes." (fortunes)

The Answer Machine? (1997)

A Clown of Thorns

• Just the title. (crown of thorns)

Building a Ruin

• "Life’s just a process of delamination," (process of elimination)
• "The spirits are sunken" (could mean low spirits or the strong drinks)
  Contributed by Paavo.

Worn Out Sole to Heel

• "Your worn up soul to heal."

Single Phial

• The song title (single file)
• "Sing 'ring a ring o' rosies' for your final lullabye," (lullaby, goodbye)
• "Once more I stride the lightning road" (lightning rod)
• "- final daze of the decayed" (final 'days' of the 'decade')
  Thanks to Paavo and Matthias Heinrich for pointing out the second pun in that line.
• "And a reign of tears is falling -" (rain of tears)

Helium

• "They were bringing me down" (to make depressed and to shoot down)
  Contributed by Paavo.
• "should I leap from this unfairy story" (You see, this guy wants to jump from a really high ‘story’ in a building because his life ‘story’ is ‘unfair’ and thus nothing like a ‘fairy story.’)
• "The last thing to go through my mind was the pavement!"
  Contributed by Paavo and Matthias Heinrich.
• "Falling out of love with life." (falling could be taken literally)
  Contributed by Paavo.

Eirenarch

• "Successes have fathers but failure's a bastard" (can mean either that failure has no legal father or that failure sucks.)
  Contributed by Sage.
• "the powers that maybe" (powers that be)
• "Making nineteen nineties Heaven feel like Orwell's 1984" (1997)
  Contributed by Gianni, a Skyclad fan from Italy.

Troublesometimes

• "Cleanse the bloodline - start the cull / Nazi roulette - six chambers full" (the chambers of a gun or gas chambers)
  Contributed by Sage.
• "Find yourself in Troublesometimes" (Are you in ‘trouble sometimes,’ or 'troublesome times?’)

Isle of Jura

• The title. (There has been a lot of speculation about this song. Jura is a mountainous place in France and Switzerland, but it is also an island off the west coast of Scotland. However, it is fairly certain that the title is a pun on "I love Jura".)
• "...flying so-low" (solo)
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.

Fainting by Numbers

• The song title (Painting by numbers)
• "’cause the fax of life you know them." (facts of life)
• "Fifty two - how it suits you to fool me with your magic tricks," (‘suits,’ as in the four suits in a deck of cards)

My Naked I

• "If you had thought this tongue in cheek was just reserved for speaking" (tongue in cheek could be taken literally or figuratively)
• "Could make of me an agapet." (agape pet, also the name of a medieval pope)
• "then come and stare into my naked I." (naked eye)
• "I've just one vice in life - but how its jaws long to be sinking," (vice as a bad habit or one with jaws; also the jaws of a person)
  Contributed by Paavo.
• "Should I wait 'til it's too late - or come too early?" (do I need to explain this one?)
  Contributed by Paavo.

Catherine at the Wheel

• "See the empty rear view mirror showing Catherine at the wheel" (Catherine wheel)

Dead Angels on Ice

• "Once upon a Tyne" (time)
• "Just chillin' in the morgue." (literally chilling, or just hanging out)

Oui Avant-Garde à Chance (1996)

The album title (We haven’t got a chance)
Great Blow for a Day Job

• The song title. (do I really need to explain this one?)
• "Evil I did dwell - Lewd did I live" (this is really a palindrome, not a pun, but enough people have mentioned it that I decided to add it to the list)

Constance Eternal

• "Constance eternal" (Constance represents stability and a woman's name)
  Contributed by Paavo.

Jumping My Shadow

• "....the cold grey sky, it was blue that day, but not as blue as I" (feeling blue)
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.

Bombjour!

• "Hello, bombjour!" (bon jour)
• "Good morning, (good mourning)"
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.
• "Frère Jacques Chirac dormez-vous?" (A different version of the well-known French song ‘Frere Jacques’; i.e. "Brother Jacques Chirac, are you asleep?")
  Contributed by Effie Gemis-Iordanou.

History Lessens (The Final Examination)

• The title (First the obvious pun: history lessons. Also, examination could refer to a history test or the fact that this is a different interpretation of the song.)

A Badtime Story

• "Just another chapter in my Badtime Story." (bedtime story.)
• "...now we're happy never after." (happy ever after)
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.

Bombed Out (Instru-Mental)

• The song title (as opposed to an instrumental...didn’t they do that before?)

Irrational Anthems (1996)

Inequality Street

• The title, comparing life to chocolates. (Quality Street)
  Both Simon and Paavo contributed this pun.
• "To the 'other-half' dying to eat" (Two puns: half-dying and dying to eat, as in wanting to eat so much you'd die for it.)
  Contributed by Paavo.

The Wrong Song

• "I've been sweating blood for ‘product’ - I thought it was my art" (heart)
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.

Snake Charming

• "Charming, the snake"
• "to kiss Cleopatra - a pain in the asp." (Aside from the obvious pun, a historical fact also comes up. Cleopatra committed suicide by allowing herself to be bitten by an asp.)
  Thanks Effie, for that little history ‘lessen.’ ; )

Penny Dreadful

• "Painted faces in a circus - images that spring to mind," (Martin is referring to the magazines Faces and Circus, which are two huge worldwide rock magazines that are more often then not charged with printing all the sell-out bands.)
  Thanks to Justin Harvey from Justin's Heavy Metal Website.
• "the flavour of the weak" (week)

The Sinful Ensemble

• "Stalin's out the back trying to sell a dodgy motor car." (Dodge cars are notorious for stalling.)
  Contributed by Michael Francisco.
• "Now don't get cross - don't bite your nails," (cross and nails)
  Contributed by Paavo.

My Mother in Darkness

• "Dance with the lilies in the shadows of the valley - / My lily of the valley of the shadow of death." (valley of the shadow of death, lily of the valley)
  Contributed by Paavo.

The Spiral Starecase (instr.)

• The title. (spiral staircase)

Sabre Dance: No puns in the lyrics, but in the sleeve notes it says "Composed by A. Khachaturian. Deranged by G. English."
I Dubious

• The title. (the book "I Claudius")
  Thanks to Mike, a Skyclad fan from Greece.
• "heir transparent to a dynasty" (heir apparent)

Science Never Sleeps

• "Let me show you something hideous - the worst laid plans of men with mice" ("The best laid plans of mice and men")
  Contributed by Alan Woodworth
• "We are the human amoebae that helplessly float in a final solution - suspended in hope."
• "A case of heads and tails - / it's their coin so they can choose / breed creatures born with two of either / so they cannot lose" (heads and tails as the sides of a coin or parts of an animal)
  Contributed by Paavo.

History Lessens

• The title. (history lessons)
• "The Law of Relativity – (life's relative misery). / The Law of Probability – (it's probably contrived). / Newton's Law of Gravity – (we face a grave reality)." (References to three scientific laws, and alternative ways to read their meanings.)
  Contributed by David Stillberg.

Quantity Time

• "This wayward son’s irrational anthems." Also includes a reference to their first album.
• "Never ending quantity time," (alludes to the phrase "quality time", or possibly even "tea time")
  "Tea time" pun contributed by Inanna.

Old Rope (1996)

The title of this compilation album is a pun on "ol' drope", which is medieval slang for a beggar or prostitute.
Contributed by Michael Francisco.

The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea (1995)

Still Spinning Shrapnel

• "All I hear are peace talks and battle cries" (both 'talks' and 'cries' could be read as nouns or verbs)
  Contributed by Matthias Heinrich.

Art-Nazi

• "More tongue in cheek than a French kiss from Judas Iscariot." (tongue in cheek = fraudulent. Judas pointed Jesus out to the Romans by kissing him -not a french kiss, though)
  Contributed by Paavo.

Jeopardy

• "We go left right left right left - / They're left in the right again. / We go right left right left right - / We 've no rights left anymore."
  Contributed by Matthias Heinrich.

Another Fine Mess

• "When Mr. Jack Daniels has read my last rights - / His friend 'Billy Whizz' comes to turn on the lights." (Jack Daniels is, of course, a reference to the whiskey, and 'Billy Whizz' is slang for amphetamines.)
  Contributed by Paavo and Alex Butcher.
• "First we were plastered in Paris, / Then we were frying in Greece." (plaster of Paris...frying in grease.)
• "’A band on ship’ the captain cried" (Abandon ship)
• "’The silent whales of lunar sea.’" (The silent wails of lunacy.)

Halo of Flies

• "bibo ergo sum." = I drink therefore I am (cogito ergo sum = I think therefore I am)
  Contributed by Paavo.

Desperanto (A Song for Europe?)

• The title. (Esperanto is a language made of English, Spanish, German, French and other European languages. It was an attempt at making a unified European language.)
  Thanks to Stéphane Vasiljevic for pointing out this one.
• "Guerre sans Frontiers" = "War without boundaries" (A play on 'Jeux sans Frontiers', a novelty international gameshow known in the UK as 'It's a Knockout', referred to later in the song.)
  Contributed by Alex Butcher.
• "It's called Euromisery," (Euroministry)
  Contributed by Paavo.
• "I want an E.C. lay," (easy lay)
• "Passing laws on moral issues - / Sticky fingers holding tissues" (Sticky fingers usually tend to attach themselves to money. Presumably, Martin is alleging that fraudulent Euro-ministers masturbate frequently.)
  Contributed by Alex Butcher.
• "The well cultured vulture feathers his nest, / It's a chalet near Aix-en-Provence," ('Aix' is pronounced like 'eggs', which ties in with the vulture metaphor.)
  Contributed by Alex Butcher.

The Present Imperfect: The grammatical expression, or simply not perfect. Incidentally, the Latin verse in this song is written in the present imperfect tense.

In the Name of Satan (1994 - Venom tribute album)

Prime Evil: Even though the lyrics were not written by Martin, I decided to include this song anyway.

• The title (primeval)

Prince of the Poverty Line (1994)

The album title is a pun on royal lines of ancestry. Literally, the poverty line is a specified level of income below which people are considered to be in poverty. The phrase is also used in some of the lyrics to mean a subway line, or an actual line (see below).
Civil War Dance

• "Exchange inhuman wrongs for human rights"
• "civil war dance"
• "anti-social insecurity" (social security)
• "Pay your 'Soul Tax' when you reach the gates." (even more absurd than Maggie's Poll Tax)
  Contributed by Matthias Heinrich.

Cardboard City

• "His children down below who live on air and love" ("To live on air and love" is a phrase meaning life where food and luxuries are not important, but spirit and love are. In the song this doesn't have such a positive meaning.)
  Contributed by Paavo.

Sins of Emission

• The title. (sins of omission)

Land of the Rising Slum

• The title. (Land of the Rising Sun)
• "The whether man says that the outlook’s not great" (the weather man)

A Bellyful of Emptiness

• "walking tightrope on the poverty line"
• "You're not the belle of the ball - Get back in your cinders and crawl." (a reference to 'Cinder'-ella)
• "Be sure that you read between their lines, there are claws in the contracts we sign." (clause)
  Thanks to Nate from Fiberglass Diaper.

A Dog in the Manger

• "a ticket to ride on the poverty line"

Jonah’s Ark (1993)

Thinking Allowed?

• "I’m just thinking aloud, isn’t thinking allowed?"
• "Set off on a new train of thought on life’s track."

The Wickedest Man in the World

• "All the world is a stage / So I aim to upstage you"

Earth Mother, the Sun and the Furious Host

• "Earth Mother, the Sun and the Furious Host." (The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost)

The Ilk of Human Blindness:

• The title. (the milk of human kindness)
• "Microwave their last goodbyes."
• "No prophet cast the money lenders" (profit)
• "No one heard the penny drop / All interest shown was incidental." (interest could mean concern or interest from a bank account)
  Contributed by thraxhead.

Tunnel Visionaries

• Just the title. (tunnel vision + visionaries)

Bewilderbeast:

• The title. (bewilder + wilderbeast)

It Wasn’t Meant to End This Way

• "Powder keg pow(d)er plant ripe to explode." (nice plant that is ripening there...)
  Contributed by Matthias Heinrich.
• "Jonah's Ark" (Joan of Arc)

Tracks from the Wilderness (1992)

The album title. (animal 'tracks' or the tracks on an album?) There are some puns in the songs, but these are all included on other albums.

A Burnt Offering for the Bone Idol (1992)

A Broken Promised Land

• "Men by swords and words divided in our broken promised land."
• "Our Devil has two wings (both left wing and right)"

Spinning Jenny

• The title. (a woman's name, or the spinning machine)
• "She will exorcise your demons/then exercise your thighs."
  Thanks to Nate from Fiberglass Diaper.
• "Await your 'second-coming' with a hunger in her eyes."

Karmageddon (The Suffering Silence)

• "Remembered times together when the minutes seemed like 'ours." (minutes seemed like hours)
• "But Kismet is the combination to my Karmageddon." (karma + armageddon)

Ring Stone Round

• "An apple in the eye of the storm that's coming"

The Declaration of Indifference

• The title. (The Declaration of Independence)
• "Does it feel so cool when you act / The fool with 'Charlie', 'H' and 'E'?" (In England, these are slang names for cocaine, heroin and ecstasy, respectively.)
  Contributed by Alex Butcher and Matthias Heinrich.

Alone in Death’s Shadow

• The title. (the first letter of each word spells A.I.D.S.)
  Contributed by Stephane Vasiljevic of Bombjour!.
• "That we allow a human life to become a death in vein." (in vain)

The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth (1991)

Wayward means "following one's own capricious, wanton, or depraved inclinations" (Merriam-Webster). However, it may also be interpreted as a pun on the book "The Way of Wyrd" by Dr. Brain Bates, which was the basis for the concept of Sabbat's 'Dreamweaver' album. In addition, the working title of the album was "Well Met by Moonlight", which is a pun on the title of an old B&W movie "Ill Met by Moonlight". Interpretations of the album title adapted from Arnaut's Skyclad Homepage.
A Minute’s Piece

• The title. (a minute's peace)

Our Dying Island

• "silver lined mushroom clouds"

Skyclad

• "Between the values we believe in and the egos (eagles) we are feeding"
  Contributed by Nick from www.blackwind.freeserve.co.uk.
• "White-collared knights...mounted on their ‘credit charges’."

Moongleam and Meadowsweet

• "they shall see my mettle gleam," (metal)

Terminus

• "current tides are making waves," A triple pun!
• "These implements of science-friction-" (science-fiction)
• "they’ll kill us all the ‘new-clear’ way." (nuclear)
• "I. I hear sirens screaming-- / C. See lightning rip the sky, / B. Be afraid my darling-- / M. Embrace me as we die." (ICBM = Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile)

Miscellaneous

A Fissure of Men: Martin's opening message from the Official Website.

• "we're all caught in a 'net' that's a fissure of men!" (the theme of the poem is the Internet)

The Wondering Minstrel (wandering minstrel) This short story written by Martin is hidden on the Official Website.

Dreamweaver (1989)

Do Dark Horses Dream of Nightmares?

• The title. (dark horses = night mares)
• In the story, the hero, Wat Brand, has a spirit-dream about a horse's head and Martin plays with that by naming Wat Brand himself a "dark horse".)
  

Contributed by Effie Gemis-Iordanou.

History of a Time to Come (1987)

I For An Eye

• Just the title. (eye for an eye)

The Church Bizarre

• "you no longer care,/that profit is the prophet of corruption and despair."

Skyclad Sites:

• Official Skyclad Website
• Martinwalkyier.com: Coming soon!
• Arnaut's Skyclad Homepage
• Bombjour!: A website for French Skyclad fans courtesy of Stéphane Vasiljevic.
• www.blackwind.freeserve.co.uk: Nick’s page.
• Sabbat: A history of a time gone forever...
  

Other ‘Punny’ Bands:

• Barenakedladies
• Dark Tranquillity
• Helloween
• In Flames
• They Might Be Giants
• Weird Al Yankovic

Pun-Related Sites:

• Dobe’s Punny Name Archive

This Webring Stone Round - The Skyclad ring site owned by Keir Howell.
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