Asylum Ark

Asylum Ark

Verse 1
Through all of time they cast out the strange,
Burned them alive, branded insane.
Madmen are dangerous, they block the way,
Hard to explain — it’s easier to slay.
And now the “normal” world has its new law:
Ratched makes sure you don’t look back at all.
Into a world where a banana’s art,
Where fanatics’ feelings are sacred at heart.
Where Tourette’s fits pass for laughter and cheer,
Where parades of apes march through the sphere.
No lions in savannah — it’s humans instead,
And the crowd applauds: “This is love,” they said.
________________________________________
Chorus
Big Chief Bromden, lock the bars again, 
Before the “normals” crawl into our den! 
Let Baudelaire say flowers bloom from evil,
Here there’s no place for such deceitful.
With McMurphy I heed Zarathustra’s voice, 
He damns all the sheep for their cowardly choice.
And Jim, old man, depressed in the end,
Starts again: “This is the end, my friend.”
But if at least ten can be found
Who choose to leave Sodom’s ground,
The world still has a chance to mend,
And maybe, just maybe, it won’t end.
________________________________________
Verse 2
They gave us for breakfast out of Kafka’s box,
And I saw someone staring out of my oats..
I knew you, Samsa, don’t hide in fear,
No one will hurt you, you’re welcome here.
Among us you can live, unmasked,
To play the “normal” role is no task.
The orderlies fled, carefree and free,
The head doc bought a house by the sea.
He stole the door from our dirty stall,
Our scribbles admired by the world and all.
Now it hangs in the hall of MoMA so bright,
And Warhol, they say, can’t sleep from delight.
________________________________________
Chorus
Big Chief Bromden, lock the bars again, 
Before the “normals” crawl into our den! 
Let Baudelaire say flowers bloom from evil,
Here there’s no place for such deceitful.
With McMurphy I heed Zarathustra’s voice, 
He damns all the sheep for their cowardly choice.
And Jim, old man, depressed in the end,
Starts again: “This is the end, my friend.”
But if at least ten can be found
Who choose to leave Sodom’s ground,
The world still has a chance to mend,
And maybe, just maybe, it won’t end.
________________________________________
Verse 3 (the chaos)
Who’s banging the door? — (Timothy.)
What, the fool? — (No, Leary). — Then let him in, you see.
He’ll tune and turn us on,
Fix what’s glitching before it’s gone.
McKenna’s on kitchen duty today,
So food of the gods is on its way.
Lilly, bring all the tables to the center,
We’ll show Aldous what heavens enter.
Carlito, remind Genaro, old clown,
To shit more softly, the mountains shake down.
This ain’t the hills, here people stay,
No door, no lock, just madness at play.
________________________________________
Chorus
Big Chief Bromden, lock the bars again, 
Before the “normals” crawl into our den! 
Let Baudelaire say flowers bloom from evil,
Here there’s no place for such deceitful.
With McMurphy I heed Zarathustra’s voice, 
He damns all the sheep for their cowardly choice.
And Jim, old man, depressed in the end,
Starts again: “This is the end, my friend.”
But if at least ten can be found
Who choose to leave Sodom’s ground,
The world still has a chance to mend,
And maybe, just maybe, it won’t end.


; Glossary for "Asylum Ark"
"...Ratched keeps watch so you march with no border..."
Ratched is the head nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Nurse Ratched). In the book and film, she symbolizes the bureaucratic, soulless system that suppresses individuality. In the song, this image is transferred to modernity: the "new Ratched" ensures everyone marches in formation and accepts the "norm" without question, even if the norm appears absurd.
"...Where Tourette's is called laughter, a carnival cheer..."
Tourette's syndrome is a neurological disorder with involuntary movements and outbursts. In the song, it's used as a metaphor: modern humor and mass entertainment shows are built on screaming, grimacing, and profanity, so from the outside it resembles illness. What once looked like symptoms of disorder has now become the "new normal" and is presented as "fun" and "humor."
"Big Chief Bromden, lock the bars again, / Before the 'normals' crawl into our den!"

Chief Bromden is a character from Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) and the film of the same name (1975). Full name: Chief Bromden, son of an Indian chief and a white woman. In the psychiatric clinic, he pretends to be deaf and mute to hide from the system's pressure.
In the book, Chief becomes a witness to McMurphy's rebellion and at the end performs a symbolic act of freedom: he tears the heavy hydrotherapy console from the floor and breaks the window to escape. This action concludes the novel as hope for liberation.
In the song, this episode becomes an ironic inversion: here Chief is asked not to break the bars, but on the contrary—to put them back. Not to keep the madmen locked up, but to protect them from the "normal world" with its bananas on walls and fanatics.
This creates a paradox: in the original, Chief breaks barriers to escape to freedom; in the song, the bars become a symbol of protecting freedom from "normality."

"Let Baudelaire say flowers bloom from evil / Here there's no place for such deceitful."
Charles Baudelaire, author of The Flowers of Evil (1857). In his poetry, beauty grows from darkness and vice. The collection was tried for "indecency," part of the poems were banned. The song contrasts: Baudelaire had flowers from darkness, but here "there's no place for such flowers" because the madness of the modern world doesn't birth beauty.
"With McMurphy I heed Zarathustra's voice, / He damns all the sheep for their cowardly choice."
These lines connect two symbols—literary and cinematic.

McMurphy is the main character of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), filmed by Milo; Forman in 1975. His full name is Randle Patrick McMurphy. He's a rogue, gambler, and rebel sent to a psychiatric clinic. There he confronts Nurse Ratched, a symbol of impersonal and cruel power. McMurphy resists the system and becomes an example for other patients: he teaches them to laugh, argue, go beyond the "norm." In the finale, he's suppressed—undergoing electroshock and lobotomy, but remains a symbol of rebellion against "the machine."
Zarathustra is an image from Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical treatise Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885). Nietzsche, through this prophet, criticizes "herd morality"—a value system based on submission, obedience, and equality. The song says: "he damns all the sheep"—this is a free interpretation of Nietzsche's ideas denouncing the "sheep-like" masses.
Nietzsche and madness. The philosopher lost his mind at the end of his life: in 1889 he suffered a mental breakdown in Turin and spent the rest of his life incapacitated. This fact strengthens the contrast in the song: the voice of the "madman" sounds wiser and more honest than the "normal" slogans of the world.

Thus, the song presents a scene: McMurphy (rebel against authority) and the lyrical hero listen to Zarathustra (Nietzsche's voice), who rails against the herd of sheep (the "normals"). Two madmen—one from literature, one from philosophy—become allies against "normality."
"And Jim, old man, depressed in the end, / Starts again: 'This is the end, my friend.'"
This refers to Jim Morrison, frontman of The Doors. In the song, he appears as an "old man in the corner," though he died young: this is an artistic device showing him as an eternal prophet of the timeless "rock carnival."
The main reference is to the song "The End" (1967), which became one of The Doors' signature pieces. In it, Morrison sings: "This is the end, my only friend, the end..." This song sounds like an apocalyptic prophecy about the destruction of the old world.
"But if at least ten can be found / Who choose to leave Sodom's ground..."
This is a scene from the Book of Genesis (18:22-33). Abraham asks the Lord to spare Sodom if even a few righteous people can be found in it. The minimum they agreed upon was ten. The song carries the same thought: if even ten decide to leave the "attraction of normality," the world still has a chance.
"To a world where bananas on the wall pass for art..."
Reference to Maurizio Cattelan and his work Comedian (2019)—a banana taped to a wall. Exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach, sold for $120-150 thousand, later one copy was resold for $6.2 million. The real value lies not in the fruit itself, but in the certificate confirming the "idea." In the song—a symbol of the "normal world" where bananas on walls become icons.
"They gave us for breakfast out of Kafka's box, / And I saw someone staring out of my oats.. / I knew you, Samsa..."
Gregor Samsa from Kafka's novella "The Metamorphosis" wakes up as a bug. His family is ashamed and afraid of him, his father throws apples, one gets stuck and leads to his death. His relatives feel relief after his death. In the song, Samsa finds himself in the asylum among "his own" and here he's accepted: he can be himself, not pretend to be "normal."
"He stole the door from our dirty stall... / Now it hangs in the hall of MoMA so bright, / And Warhol, they say, can't sleep from delight"
A grotesque about turning any object into a "masterpiece" if it's recognized by the art market. MoMA (Museum of Modern Art in New York) is a symbol of this system. Warhol is an icon of pop art, famous for series like "Campbell's Soup Cans" and "Marilyn Diptych." His works are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This also echoes My Bed (1998) by Tracey Emin—an unmade bed with cigarette butts, bottles, and menstrual stains, sold in 2014 for ;2.54 million. In the song, the toilet door is put in the same category as such masterpieces.
"McKenna's on kitchen duty today / So food of the gods is on its way."
Terence McKenna—philosopher and psychonaut, author of the book Food of the Gods, where he examined the role of psychedelics in evolution and culture. In the song, "kitchen duty" ironically becomes "preparing food of the gods."
"Lilly, bring all the tables to the center, / We'll show Aldous what heavens enter"
John Lilly—neurobiologist and consciousness researcher, author of The Center of the Cyclone, where he described psychedelic experiences and sensory deprivation. "Putting tables in the center" is wordplay with the title. Aldous is Aldous Huxley, author of The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell. He wrote that psychedelics open access to heavenly or hellish states of consciousness.
"Who's banging the door? — Timothy... / ...No, Leary. — Then let him in, you see."
Timothy Leary—American psychologist and LSD advocate, author of the slogan Turn on, tune in, drop out ("Turn on, tune in, drop out of the system"). In the song, he appears as "one of us" and brings psychedelic freedom energy to the asylum.
"— (No, Leary). — Then let him in, you see. / He'll tune and turn us on."
This refers to Timothy Leary (1920-1996)—American psychologist and LSD advocate, one of the most famous psychonauts of the 20th century. He became famous for the slogan "Turn on, tune in, drop out," which he first uttered in 1966 at the Human Be-In in San Francisco.
The phrase meant:

Turn on—"turn on," activate your consciousness through psychedelic experience.
Tune in—"tune in," connect with the world, culture, nature, internal processes.
Drop out—"drop out of the system," reject imposed roles, institutions, and norms.

In the song, his appearance is ironic: "He'll tune and turn us on." This is wordplay with the slogan: the psychedelic prophet literally enters the "asylum" and turns on the lights and sound so everything works again.
"Carlito, remind Genaro..."
Carlito is the diminutive of Carlos Castaneda, anthropologist and author of books about the shaman Don Juan. Don Genaro is a character from his books, a sorcerer and trickster, friend of Don Juan. In folk retellings, there's an expression: "when Genaro shits—mountains shake." In the song, this hyperbole is used as an absurd touch of "disruption."
"Where 'prides' are no longer with lions out there..."
Satire: "pride" as a natural term about lions transforms into "prides" of modern parades. The irony is that society enthusiastically accepts these shows while simultaneously applauding more dangerous manifestations.
"The orderlies fled, carefree and free, / The head doc bought a house by the sea"
The image ironizes that the true "normals" (orderlies and head doctor) turn out to be more insane: they leave, abandon their charges, while monetizing their creativity and getting rich. This contrasts with the image of the "psychos" who remain honest in their madness.

Key Ideas
1. The asylum as an ark.
The psychiatric hospital in the text becomes a refuge where one can hide from the "normal world." Behind bars lies a space of freedom, where McMurphy, Chief, Samsa, and other "madmen" turn out to be more honest and humane than the "normals."
2. The "normal world" as illness.
Modern culture consists of bananas on walls for millions, exhibited beds with garbage, applause for savagery, and new parades of emptiness. All this is presented as "colorful" and "bright," though in reality there's only black paint inside.
3. Madness as truth.
Philosophers and psychonauts (Nietzsche, Huxley, Leary, McKenna, Lilly, Castaneda) appear here as voices opening other levels of perception. Their madness is insight, and their books and slogans become songs within the song.
4. Classics and absurd.
Baudelaire's flowers of evil, Sodom from the Bible, Samsa from Kafka, Morrison with "This is the end"—all these figures diagnose the world. They merge with psychedelic absurd (Cattelan's banana, Genaro, noisy toilet), creating a picture of timeless carnival.
5. Hope remains.
The meaning of the refrain: if at least "ten" can be found who decide to leave Sodom and refuse the "attraction of normality," the world still has a chance for salvation.