John the Revelator - Depeche Mode

Thanks to John Lyons for a fantastic heads-up on the Depeche Mode version of the classic song John the Revelator:



John the Revelator
Put him in an elevator
Take him up to the highest high
Take him up to the top where the mountains stop
Let him tell his book of lies

John the Revelator
He's a smooth operator
It's time we cut him down to size
Take him by the hand
And put him on the stand
Let us hear his alibis

By claiming God - As his holy right
He's stealing a God from the Israelites
Stealing a God from a Muslim, too
There is only one God through and through
Seven lies, multiplied by seven, multiplied by seven again
Seven angels with seven trumpets
Send them home on the morning train
Well who's that shouting?
John the Revelator!
All he ever gives us is pain
Well who's that shouting?
John the Revelator!
He should bow his head in shame

By and by
By and by
By and by
By and by

Seven lies, multiplied by seven, multiplied by seven again
Seven angels with seven trumpets
Send them home on the morning train
Well who's that shouting?
John the Revelator!
All he ever gives us is pain
Well who's that shouting?
John the Revelator!
He should bow his head in shame

By and by
By and by
John the Revelator
By and by
John the Revelator
By and by
John the Revelator

Or alternatively, for a fascinating re-working of the same song, in which John the Revelator is put firmly back into the anti-imperial political arena, take a look at the following.
If Carly Simon identifies New York with New Jerusalem, here the alternative identification of Washington with Babylon could not be more clear. Is it possible that the book of Revelation ultimately emerges intact from Depeche Mode's lake of fire?