Warsaw

"Can anyone tell me what the significance of the numbers is?"

350125 was Rudolf Hess's Prisoner of War serial number after he made his bizarre parachuting adventure into Scotland in the early 1940s. I'm not exactly sure what Rudolf Hess has to do with Warsaw (since as far as I know, he never even set foot in the place), but based on the presence of the numbers, I would say that the song itself refers to Rudolf Hess's admiration/emulation of Adolf Hitler -- his boss and onetime cellmate in the prison they were sent to after the aborted Beer Hall Putsch in the 20s -- and how his increasing dissatisfaction with Hitler's statesmanship and his prosecution of World War II eventually led him to flee the country and attempt to end the war on his own terms without even consulting his superior officer(s). Needless to say, that didn't work out so well for him.

"Warsaw begins with 350125 Go! and 31G appears in the chorus. These numbers appear to refer to Rudolf Hess's prisoner of war number 31G 350125. Around the time this song was written there was quite a lot of interest in the newspapers the prisoner who had been kept more or less in solitary confinement in Spandau prison for several decades. Some people thought he'd been punihed enough and should be released, others thought he should be left to rot."

Can anyone tell me what the significance of the numbers is? [That sounded really pretentious. I honestly didn't mean for it to]

Wow. Thank you for the information! I am endlessly amased by Ian's knowledge of Nazi Germany. He was an intelligent chap.

What about the "3-1-G!"?

I heard the song title came from David Bowie's song warszawa off low.As for ''3-1-G''

3 5 0 1 2 5 go

?

I have a feeling that 31-G actually means 31 grand which was the average cost of a one bedroom flat in manchester, england in the 80s.

Well, I'm assuming the song is about Rudolph Hess. I don't know very much about him, but the few things I've heard seem to fit with this song. The lines, "I was there in the backstage when first light came around" and "Hung around in your soundtrack to mirror all that you've done" could be directed at Hitler from Hess's point of view because Hess was probably in the in crowd from the beginning of the whole Nazi thing and maybe he wanted to be like Hitler. "All this talk made no contact no matter how hard I tried" could mean that he couldn't get close to Hitler or something. I heard that Hitler wasn't really into personal relationships even with his top people. The last stanza seems like it could be Hess's thoughts on being locked up in prison ("I can see only walls," "I slid into your man-traps"). I just see contradiction/Had to give up the fight/Just to live in the past tense/To make believe you were right" sounds like Hess is sitting around in prison maybe having doubts about Nazi philosophy and at some level realizing that it is contradictory but being in denial about it and telling himself that Hitler was right. I think a lot of people retreat to the past tense, to their memories, when they're in prison, because there isn't much going on in the present or the present is too unpleasant for them to deal with.

Its definantly about Rudolf Hess, and for the most part i believe thebodiesobtained has it right. However Hess schooled Hitler in etiquette, he introduced him into the culture, and the middle/upper-class circles they would need to win over if they were to achieve power. Ian was impressed with the all the power and influence Hitler had over the Germans. This makes the first two stanzas have a different interpretation, but i still think the you were right about the last stanza. Also, Hess killed himself at age 93 while still imprisoned.

idk how the brittish mind works but i think its about religion. "i concede all the faith tests" is in first person like the whole song is. he might be talking from Gods point of view. i dont feel like analizing this song line-by-line but think about what i write and plug it in. it makes sense to me at least.