Ever since the late 70's and early 80's, "lyrics" were of a major attack by of all people, the ones that never listened to them in the first place. Groups were after Ozzy and his backward messages, but since then, people have written about bogus crap and it sells. I think Neil may like to stir up controversy, but since some of the lyrics come from "other" artists / writers, to me he is a story teller and perhaps is writting this from another angle. Usually you write music that you lived, or heresy (no pun). Lyrics are spoken words trying to reflect on a subject at hand. I remembered "Ghost Of A Chance" also and the lines about "I don't believe in miracles...." well it is an opinion stated by his lifestyle. With the religious factor playing a HUGE part on this album, perhaps he is speaking or telling a story from another writer, we just wont know.
Reading too deep into something can sometimes ruin ALL visions of something. I don't see too many entertaining bands writting good music out there anyways. Yes lyrics are important because they tell stories and that is exactly what this may be, non fictional stories about a certain condition. On Hero, do you believe that Neil was playing the story teller and meeting someone with AIDS that just died and the girl that was murdered, and he had the same reaction to both?
