Big Fig Wasp by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Lyrics Meaning – Unwrapping the Intricacies of Symbiosis and Existence

Lyrics

Any wasp I see
It’s a fig wasp
Pearly guillotine
It’s a fig wasp
When the harvest’s clean
It’s a fig wasp
It’s a winged machine
It’s a fig wasp
Any wasp I see
It’s a fig wasp
Pearly guillotine
It’s a fig wasp
When the harvest’s clean
It’s a fig wasp
It’s a winged machine
It’s a fig wasp

Does your god know
Insects grow
In my pome?

Big fig wasp
Big fig wasp

Any wasp I see
It’s a fig wasp
Pearly guillotine
It’s a fig wasp
When the harvest’s clean
It’s a fig wasp
It’s a winged machine
It’s a fig wasp

Does your god know
Insects grow
In my pome?

Big fig wasp

Any wasp I see
It’s a fig wasp
Pearly guillotine
It’s a fig wasp

Big fig wasp
Big fig wasp

Ficain eating corpses
There’s a hornet
In my throat

Big fig wasp
Big fig wasp

My body’s overworked
It’s just the same I know
When can my body work
Cold static overload?
My body works, I know
It’s just the same I know
My only difference
Is robot influence

I’m up here for the weirdo swarm
I’m the door when you come for more
One, two, three

Nonagon infinity opens the door
Nonagon infinity opens the door
Wait for the answer to open the door
Nonagon infinity opens the door

Within the labyrinthine discography of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard lies ‘Big Fig Wasp’, a song that on its surface buzzes with the frenetic energy synonymous with the band’s strut through psychedelic rock. However, a deeper dive into the track reveals a cryptic narrative – one that intertwines nature, symbolism, and a questioning of the divine within the life cycle of an insect.

The ceaseless repetition and hypnotic beats crafting the anatomy of ‘Big Fig Wasp’ suggest an ecological dance of death and rebirth, manifesting in the persistence of the fig wasp – a poignant metaphor for the enigmas of existence. It’s in concert with their 2016 album ‘Nonagon Infinity’s’ theme of infinite looping where the track finds a comfortable nest, coaxing listeners into a state of reflective, rhythmic euphoria.

An Ecosystem of Sound: The Wasp as a Reflection of Nature’s Symbiosis

The music of ‘Big Fig Wasp’ mirrors the machinations of the natural world it portrays. The repetitive use of the phrase ‘It’s a fig wasp’ acts as an anchor, mimicking the cyclical nature of life where the fig wasp plays a critical role. The song itself becomes an aural ecosystem, each layer of sound a different organism contributing to the greater whole.

The guitar riffs buzz with the vigor of the wasp’s flight, relentless and deliberate. The pounding drums mimic the beat of the insect’s wings – the tock-tock rhythm a heartbeat driving forward the continuity of species and cycles the song seems so fixated upon.

Questioning Divinity: A Skeptical Stance on the Cosmic Order

Through lyrics like ‘Does your god know insects grow in my pome?’, King Gizzard touches upon the perplexity of creation and the role of a divine architect. Pome, an archaic term for fruit, represents the body or perhaps the planet; the breeding ground for life, teeming with insects, or metaphorically, the gritty truths one cannot escape.

The song juxtaposes natural occurrence with divine knowledge, suggesting a God that might be oblivious or indifferent to the granular aspects of life. Within this cryptic interrogation lies a broader critique of whether omnipotence truly comprehends the complexity and oddity in the details of everyday existence.

Decoding ‘Robot Influence’: Man vs. Machine and Overwhelming Automation

As the song progresses, the concept of ‘robot influence’ surfaces as a metaphor for the dehumanization of modern society. The lyrics ‘My only difference / Is robot influence’ speak to a struggle to retain human distinctiveness amidst the numbing grind of societal and technological demands.

With these words, the song taps into a contemporary vein of thought – the fear that as we mechanize, we lose our essence to cold efficiency. It’s a lyrical embrace of the resistance to becoming part of the aerospace of drudgery and conformity.

The Incessant Drone: Reveling in the Repetition of ‘Big Fig Wasp’

The persistent recitation of ‘Big Fig Wasp’ throughout the song at once celebrates and satirizes the ubiquitous nature of the fig wasp in its symbiotic relationship with fig trees. The repetition creates a hypnotic effect, reflective of life’s routines, but also hints at the potential for monotony to be a transformative, trance-inducing force.

In this manner, the song becomes both a mantra and a mockery, coiling around itself in a way that is signature to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s musical ethos – finding the profound in the repetitive, the endless in the finite.

Unlocking the Door to ‘Nonagon Infinity’: A Lyric of Boundless Potential

Near the conclusion of ‘Big Fig Wasp’, the line ‘Nonagon infinity opens the door’ is chanted like a spell or incantation. Reflecting the album’s theme, it serves as an invitation to explore realms of thought and sound, suggesting a passage into something that defies closure, a loop without end.

This mantra not only ties ‘Big Fig Wasp’ to the larger context of its parent album but also offers an existential query: what door does this chant open within ourselves? A repetition that isn’t mere redundancy but rather an inexhaustible fountain of introspection and revelation.