phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Killing floor

Posted by ESC on December 02, 2003

In Reply to: Killing floor posted by Anders on December 02, 2003

: Killing floor - origin? I'm listening to Bruce Dickinson's The Chemical Wedding, the track "Killing Floor," of which the refrain is - brace yourselves: "Satan! / Has left his killing floor! / Satan! / His fires burn no more!" The expression is also featured in the Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin (a cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," an Internet source tells me, cf. link). The Chemical Wedding is a fantastic CD, being a free interpretation of William Blake's poetic universe. Interestingly, Google gives zero hits for "satan's killing floor" and "devil's killing floor" (using quotes to query these exact expressions).
: Anders

I have heard the Howlin' Wolf version of "Killing Floor." Here's what I think: the killing floor is where animals are slaughtered at a meat-packing facility. The singer has messed around around with a bad woman and has wound up killing someone. Purely a guess.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.