On the Surface:
According to internet sources, the song “30 Century Man” from Scott Walker’s 1969 record Scott 3 concerns “indecision” and “getting stuck in the moment.”
Is that all there is to “30 Century Man”?
Uh, has the internet actually listened to the song?
What else is going on:
It’s as if Scott Walker is so leary of the song being misunderstood, he spells out the major theme as emphatically as possible within the song’s minute-and-a-half play time and just short of 100 words.
Here’s the answer, here’s the key
You can freeze like a 30th Century man
I may not be the best at getting at the meaning of songs, but this sounds like the theme is cryonics — the process of freezing one’s self upon death with the intent of getting revived through in the future through medical advancements. Suspended animation in a deep freeze.
Additional lines support this reading:
I’ll save my bread and take it with me
‘Til a hundred years or so
Play it cool and Saran Wrap all you can
Be a 30th Century Man
Admittedly, the line about French President Charles De Gaulle is mysteriously placed since De Gaulle has nothing to do with cryonics that I am aware of. Walker’s lyrics are often nebulous and disconnected, even as this song itself is tightly themed. And as much as I wish the opening line (“See the dwarves and see the giants”) made a reference to rumors of a frozen Walt Disney in a canister placed under Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride, that’s a stretch.
