Edge Of The World is a very weird song.
This last track on Faith No More's 1989 album The Real Thing is not a rock song. Not even remotely. It's smooth, sultry lounge jazz, evoking images of a crooner sitting behind his piano in the basement of some seedy old hotel and wooing (or bemoaning) his love.
The piano accompaniment is everything you could ask for in a song of this style. Mike Patton's nasal voice only adds to the raunchy overtones, in a comical way that a real lounge singer like Tom Jones could never manage.
But listen to the lyrics: Patton isn't crooning to a lady of wealth and distinction, or even a lady of the night. The object of this crooner's affections would be totally out of place in that seedy hotel lounge. Would you like some candy, little girl? Yep, the lounge singer in question is a pedophile. And by the time you figure that out after hearing the song for the first or second time, you've got a major case of cognitive dissonance.
Patton performs this bizarre piece with admirable panache. His sense of irony is magnificent; a worthy tribute to the legacy of Cole Porter. Faith No More already proved their Black Sabbath chops on the previous track, a cover of War Pigs. How many bands can claim both as influences?
For the record, neither Patton nor any other member of Faith No More is, or ever has been, a pedophile.
Partial Lyrics:
Don't worry, baby
There's nothing to fear
Hey, little girl
Would you like some candy?
Look into my eyes
I've seen it all
Hand in hand
Together we fall
We'll sing and dance
And we'll find romance
And we'll stroll to the edge of the world
(...etc...)
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