When all this revolution is over, he sits down on a highly polished floor while his dizziness fades away. It is an empty modern hallway and the dreamdoll saleslady sits at the reception desk.
"The last great adventure left to mankind" --
Screams a drooping lady offering her dreamdolls at less than extortionate prices,
and as the notes and coins are taken out
[This seems to be a case of Genesis (or Peter) tripping over the British language heritage they were trying to submerse into the background on The Lamb. Rael, the street punk in New York City (even a reconstruction) would not refer to money as "notes and coins" -- since "notes" is a British term ("pound note"). Rael would use words like dollars, bills, or more likely pesos. "Coin" is formal for American English usage, he'd more likely say "change" if he was not referring to specific denominations of money. Cf. in Ballad Of Big the usage of "waistcoat" instead of "vest" and later in the Lamb "progressive" for "liberal". Both are out of character for the mood they are trying to convey.]
I'm taken in, to the factory floor.
For the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging --
All ready to use the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging -- just need a fuse.
[On p.18 of Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Massage", there appears the following quote: "...educational establishment where information is scarce but ordered and structured by fragmented, classified patterns, subjects, and schedules. It is naturally an environment much like any factory set-up with its inventories and assemblies." The parallels with "The Grand Parade" are, if essentially coincidental, still worthy of notice.]
Without prompting she goes into her rap: "This is the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging, those you are about to see are all in for servicing, except for a small quantity of our new product, in the second gallery. It is all the stock required to cover the existing arrangements of the enterprise. Different batches are distributed to area operators, and there are plenty of opportunities for the large investor. They stretch from the costly care-conditioned to the most reasonable mal-nutritioned. We find here that everyone's looks become them. Except for the low market mal-nutritioned, each is provided with a guarantee for a successful birth and trouble free infancy. There is however only a small amount of variable choice potential -- not too far from the mean differential. You see, the roof has predetermined the limits of action of any group of packages, but individuals may move off the path if their diversions are counter-balanced by others."
Got people stocked in every shade, 
Must be doing well with trade.
Stamped, addressed, in odd fatality.
That evens out their personality. With profit potential marked by a sign,
I can recognise some of the production line,
No bite at all in labour bondage,
Just wrinkled wrappers or human bandage.
The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging --
All ready to use It's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging -- just need a fuse.
As he wanders along the line of packages, Rael notices a familiarity in some of their faces. He finally comes upon some of the members of his old gang and worries about his own safety. Running out through the factory floor, he catches sight of his brother John with a number 9 stamped on his forehead.
The hall runs like clockwork Their hands mark out the time,
Empty in their fullness Like a frozen pantomime.
Everyone's a sales representative Wearing slogans in their shrine.
Dishing out failsafe superlative, Brother John is No. 9.
[This line probably is a playful offhand reference to John Lennon. John in The Lamb is not supposed to *be* Lennon, by any means; Peter just probably thought he'd have some fun here. The reference isn't just to "Revolution 9". Lennon had a well-publicized obsession with the number.]
For the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging -- All ready to use It's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging -- just need a fuse. The decor on the ceiling has planned out their future day I see no sign of free will, so I guess I'll have to pay, pay my way, for the Grand Parade. for the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging -- All ready to use the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging -- just need a fuse.
