King Crimson - Cadence and Cascade Meaning

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Album cover for Cadence and Cascade album cover

Cadence and Cascade Lyrics

Cadence and Cascade
Kept a man named Jade
Cool in the shade
While his audience played.
Purred, whispered, "Spend us too:
We only serve for you".

Sliding mystified
On the wine of the tide
Stared pale-eyed
As his veil fell aside.
Sad...

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anonymous
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Mar 7th 2018 !⃝
Not the above one
astorian
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Mar 22nd 2012 !⃝
As I see it, Cadence and Cascade are a pair of sexy groupies who are enamored of a flashy rock musician named Jade, and go with him back to his hotel room.

Or at least, they THINK they're enamored of Jade. They don't really know the man himself at all. The lyrics say Cadence "licked his velvet glove hand" while Cascade "kissed his name." But Jade himself is hidden behind a "sequined veil."

I think that means the two girls aren't in love with a real person. They're in love with a celebrity. They love him for his image and his fame.

But when the "sequined veil fell," and the girls saw the real person behind the famous name and image, they were disappointed, because they found out he was "just a man."

Cadence and Cascade, like many groupies and fans, learn that the celebrity they worshipped can't live up to his image.

And Jade learns, as many celebrities before have, that the fans who claim to love him don't really love HIM- they just love his public image.

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