Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)

"Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)"
Song by Marilyn Manson
Album	Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Released	November 13, 2000
Recorded	1999–2000 at the Mansion in Death Valley, California
Genre	Alternative metal, industrial metal
Length	4:18
Label	Nothing, Interscope
Writer	Marilyn Manson
Composer	Twiggy Ramirez, John 5
Producer	Marilyn Manson, Dave Sardy
External links	Search ISRC Search at Musicstax

"Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)" is the fifth track on the 2000 release Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). The song is for the majority, a pun utilized to mock the media's sole interest in ratings. Narcissus as Narcosis is the title of the chapter four of Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan. The chapter opening paragraph reads:

“	The Greek myth of Narcissus is directly concerned with a fact of human experience, as the word Narcissus indicates. It is from the Greek word narcosis, or numbness. The youth Narcissus mistook his own reflection in the water for another person. This extension of himself by mirror numbed his perceptions until he became the servomechanism of his own extended or repeated image. The nymph Echo tried to win his love with fragments of his own speech, but in vain. He was numb. He had adapted to his extension of himself and had become a closed system.	”

Appearances

Albums

• Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)

Versions

• Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis) — Appears on Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death).

Lyrics

    Am I sorry your sky went black,
    put your knives in babies backs?
    Am I sorry you killed the Kennedy's, and Huxley too?
    
    But I'm sorry Shakespeare
    was your scapegoat
    and your apple's sticking into my throat
    Sorry your Sunday smiles are rusty nails
    and your crucifixion commercials failed
    but I'm just a pitiful anonymous
    
    And I see all the young believers
    Your target audience
    I see all the old deceivers
    and we all just sing their song
    
    Am I sorry just to be alive
    putting my face in the beehive?
    Am I sorry for Booth and Oswald, pinks and cocaine too?
    I'm sorry you never check
    the bag in my head for a bomb
    and my halo was a needle hole
    Sorry I saw a priest being beaten
    and I made a wish
    but I'm just a pitiful anonymous
    
    And I see all the young believers
    Your target audience
    I see all the old deceivers
    we all just sing their song
    we all just sing their song
    
    "the valley of death we are free
    your father's your prison you see"
    
    And I see all the young believers
    Your target audience
    I see all the old deceivers
    we all just sing their song
    
    you're just a copy of an imitation

Trivia

• At MTV's Total Request Live, Marilyn Manson went on to say it was his favorite song off Holy Wood.
• The band expressed great interest in performing this song during the Rape of the World Tour upon the return of Twiggy, however the song was not performed for unknown reasons.
• The song ends with the famous snippet uttered by WABC Radio broadcaster Don Gardiner after the confirmation of President John F. Kennedy's expiration, "The President is dead. Let us pray". It would then lead to the next song "President Dead", itself taken from a newspaper headline announcing the president's passing.
• The intro sample beat echoes the exact same beat that appears in an experimental track "Mung Effusion" written circa 2000 by Madonna Wayne Gacy. The sample can be heard at 6:00.