The WASP
(Texas Radio And The Big Beat)
Lot’s of people have heard the ninth song on the 1971 Doors album L.A. Woman, “The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)”
Morrison’s lyrics were based on a poem from 1968 he had written entitled ‘’Texas Radio’‘ that he often recited at concerts before turning it into this song. Typical of his music, the song is full of allegory and imagery leading people to speculate what the lyric’s are about.
A common belief is that it is about music from Mexican radio stations that were broadcasting into Texas illegally with overpowered radio towers. This is supported by the fact that Morrison talked about hearing famed radio DJ Wolfman Jack on Mexican radio. Some speculate that WASP are the call letters of an imaginary radio station.
Here is a different analysis. Song lyric interpretation is very subjective, and my thoughts are going to be decidedly too ‘out there’ for some.
For this to make sense, we need to look at it through the lens of Morrison’s upbringing. Most people are aware that his father was a high ranking Navy officer, and in fact was a key figure in the Gulf of Tonkin incident that was later revealed to be a false flag.
His father was also a devout Christian, and Jim grew up in a Christian household, attending church in Virginia regularly. I think most people can see the Christian influence in some of Morrison’s other lyrics.
Simply stated, this song is about the FBI, the CIA, and the Freemasons, which are all significantly intertwined. And that’s no-cap, as the kids say.
Here we go:
I want to tell you ‘bout Texas radio and the big beat
The other lyrics help inform the meaning of this verse. Please continue.
Comes out of the Virginia swamps
Directly north from Williamsburg, VA across the interstate is Camp Peary, a CIA facility nestled on the south bank of the York river. The area is full of swampland, and, fun fact, is known as the body farm, where they put dead bodies to be able to analyze how they decay.
Cool and slow with plenty of precision
I think this verse pretty accurately describes how law enforcement and intelligence agencies operate. And the Freemasons.
With a back beat narrow and hard to master
We’ll come back to this one.
Some call it heavenly in its brilliance
Perhaps a reference to Lucifer, the morning star? (Significant to Masons)
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream
What is the Western dream? I think ‘Freedom’ is probably a good descriptor for most people.
I love the friends I have gathered together in this thin raft
Most lyrics on the internet say ‘on’ or ‘at’ this thin raft, but if you listen to the lyrics he clearly says ‘in’ this thin raft. This is likely a reference to the binding in the Freemason’s initiation ceremony where the initiate is draped with a thin ribbon which signifies being ‘tied’ to the other brothers. When you tie things together, that is sometimes referred to as ‘rafting’ things together.
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping
The pyramid is all over Mason symbology, you can research it I won’t go into details here.
This is the land where the Pharaoh died
I believe this verse was Morrison substituting Pharaoh for Christ. Christian theology states that Christ died for our sins. There might be some sinning going on here. As well as Masonry is full of references to ancient Egypt.
The Negroes in the forest brightly feathered
This verse has raised a few eyebrows over the years, but I think in this context Morrison simply meant ‘black’, a common term within the intelligence community. Simply stated, under cover. As a bible reference, ‘forest’ could be a reference to the wilderness, where Christ was tested by the devil, or the garden of Eden. Brightly feathered means they are in a ‘courting ritual’, attracting a mate.
They are saying, “forget the night
Live with us in forests of azure
Ok, so here is the pitch, ‘come to the dark side’, as it were. ‘Forests of azure’ means nothing but blue skies in our forest, baby. It’s all good here.
Out here in the perimeter there are no stars
There is clearly a perimeter around freemasonry, with it’s secret rites and rituals most people don’t know anything about it.
There are tons of law enforcement officers, military, and intelligence people in masonry, but within masonry there are ‘no stars’. What do typical law enforcement officers and military ranks have? Stars. Stars on the badge, stars on the rank, etc. In other words, the law within masonry is ‘do as though wilt’. No one is going to bust you.
Out here we is stoned, immaculate
Most people want to think that he is referring to getting high, but think about it in terms of freemasonry — the pyramids, the obelisks. Mason’s will sometimes describe themselves as living stone.
Listen to this, and I’ll tell you ‘bout the heartache
I’ll tell you ‘bout the heartache and the loss of God
I’ll tell you ‘bout the hopeless night
The meager food for souls forgot
I’ll tell you ‘bout the maiden with wrought iron soul
We’ll come back to this stanza in a minute.
I’ll tell you this
No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn
This might be the most popular verse in the song. As allegory, what is another name for ‘the dawn’? The sunrise, often a symbol of Christ’s resurrection. In Christianity, belief in Christ’s resurrection is exactly how you get eternal life:
John 3:16 — “Whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Morrison is simply echoing what he heard growing up, “Christ died for your sins” so accept it but don’t waste it. Many understand this to mean, ‘your sins are forgiven’ so go for it. Sin away brother!
I’ll tell you ‘bout Texas radio and the Big Beat
Soft, driven, slow and mad, like some new language
Now, listen to this, and I’ll tell you ‘bout the Texas
I’ll tell you ‘bout the Texas radio
I’ll tell you ‘bout the hopeless nightWandering the Western dream
What do Freemasons have? Lodges. They sometimes refer to themselves as ‘Traveling Men’, or ‘Sojourners’. For Masons this is literal and figurative. Wandering, true freedom.
Tell you ‘bout the maiden with wrought iron soul
OK, so what is this song ‘The WASP’ really about? As preface, I am not an engineer, and have no in depth knowledge of radio communications, I am merely speculating.
In the 1960’s electronic eavesdropping was relatively new. The government had developed technology called ‘narrow-band’ radio that allowed for an electronic bug to be planted just about anywhere. In radios, light bulbs, etc. They could (can) bug just about anything with a power source. Narrow band radio also uses a ‘master’ channel that controls the communication and makes it harder to pick up the transmission with normal radios.
With a back beat narrow and hard to master
One can imagine that the government hemmed and hawed over the 4th Amendment violations that were possible (not really). I mean, this is real power when you can bug anyone’s home, car, whatever, and spy on them 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
So what to do? Well, the government, in theory, needs to follow the rule of the law. But the Freemasons don’t. If they have access to this technology (and they would, given all the connections to law enforcement and the military) they can bug anyone they want.
Listen to this, and I’ll tell you ‘bout the heartache
I’ll tell you ‘bout the heartache and the loss of God
I’ll tell you ‘bout the hopeless night
The meager food for souls forgot
I’ll tell you ‘bout the maiden with wrought iron soul
Imagine you could listen into the lives, most specifically the prayers of others. This is what you might hear — heartache, hopelessness, and the loss of God. A lens into the suffering of others. Now collecting and analyzing all of this data would be a chore, but Signals Intelligence, possibly at Camp Peary, exists for a reason.
But what about the maiden with the wrought iron soul? The ‘Iron Maiden’ was a med-evil torture device. A box. With a bunch of spikes inside, like wasp stingers perhaps?
So, what is this song ‘The WASP’ about?
Sting operations. Law enforcement’s hands are, theoretically, tied in many ways by the Constitution, but the Freemason’s aren’t. In order to ‘get their man’ sometimes CAP gotta play dirty deeds. People who are under investigation are often referred to as ‘boxed in’, perhaps in a figurative ‘Iron Maiden’.
And who are the ‘negroes brightly feathered?’ These are undercover law enforcement. Young ‘maidens’ who are recruited to get close to the targets. The CIA, and spy agencies in general, are known for their use of women in covert operations. A sort of ‘fem fatale’ vibe, since a successful end result means you are going to really screw someone over. Undercover operators could of course include men as well. The idea is to form a relationship, gain the confidence of the target. Cold as stone, with no consequences for lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating, slandering, gossiping — Immaculate. In legal terms, guaranteed immunity.
Out here we is stoned, immaculate
The person under investigation is slowly but surely led down a path of secret evidence collection, manipulation, heartache and hopelessness. They create stressors in their life because that makes the target, if they are committing crimes, more likely to ‘crack’ and make mistakes. We’ve all heard stories about the psycho girlfriend (or boyfriend) that seemed to come out of nowhere only to wreak havoc and then suddenly disappear.
Now during this path of discovery, if the Mason’s decide, in spite of your flaws (we all have them), you are a ‘good’ guy, they might include you in their club, and go easy on you. If not, you might find yourself in a courtroom (courting rituals) with the possibility of a long sentence.
Illegally spying on someone so that you can build a case, and perhaps entrap them. That seems pretty mean and rueful of the western dream.
So what is Texas Radio? What is the big beat? Well, a big beat in gambling is winning big against the house. Generally, it’s just a big win. Imagine it’s 1963 and you are engaged in illegal activities. The typical mobster/gangster type (or perhaps third-world foreign adversary) would have NO IDEA that this type of monitoring was even possible. If law enforcement could record/collect conversations between crime kingpins and their minions, they would clearly be at an advantage. A guaranteed win. A big beat. You’re basically an omniscient God. Some might call it heavenly in its brilliance.
I can imagine a young teen age Jim sitting down with his dad one day, soaking up the world like a sponge, and his father saying, “I want to tell you ‘bout… “. Now, I don’t really think his father would do that, but Jim might have overheard conversations. As a high-ranking officer, his father would of course have known all about this technology and how it was being used.
There’s no evidence his father was a Freemason, but there are tons of Freemasons in the military, and at the Pentagon, and around where Jim grew up. The national headquarters of the US Scottish Rite of Freemasons is barely a mile directly south of the Pentagon.
So what does Texas have to do with this? Well, one could perhaps speculate endlessly. However, all of these electronic radio listening devices come from companies under confidential agreements, and one giant radio technology corporation comes to mind.
Texas Instruments.
I want to tell you ‘bout Texas radio and the big beat
The WASP. CAP? Or no-cap?
