Quoth Jesse Thomas <thomaj51@vaxa.cis.uwosh.edu>:

I haven't thought about it for a long time, but this song seems to draw parallels between arachnids and Godzilla. See Godzilla is truly a benevolent character, but he is mis-perceived by most as a villain. For cryin', I mean, it's not his fault that Tokyo is so fragile! Similarly, spiders are basically an ally of man, eating up the garden pests and whatnot. But with their webs and biting, they become these little demons which no one understands. See how that works? It's a song about xenophobia, the fear of what you don't know.

Quoth Higbee <ahigbee@vt.edu>:

While I like the whole Godzilla theory, I have a few more insights to the song. The song has many different voices in it, they represent different characters. These characters can be found in "Spider-Man" comic books. Some of them praise the Spider, while others talk of its demise. The praise comes from the public who thank Spider-Man for saving them once again. The evil voices are the villians, which ones I'm not sure of, who want to get rid of Spider-Man. That's my theory of the whole thing. But of course, I could be completely wrong.

Quoth Scott <aragorn@pacbell.net>:

we've been reading Julius Caesar in english, and i was busy thinking Their songs in my head. then i realized that Spider is like Julius Caesar. Spider is Julius (who promises not to kill anyone), the bad guys are the conspiricy who kill "Spider". and there's the general people that think "Spider" is a hero... like the plebians thought Caesar was. i told a friend the analogy, and he seems to think it fits.

Quoth Jason <nadbeel@execpc.com>:

A friend of mine thinks that "Spider" is meant to have some connection to the word "spy" (not the song). It's supposed to be, according to my friend, a montage of villain's dialogue in spy movies. "Must stop him!" "Get rid of him!" That sort of thing. Me, I think it's just an exaggeration of arachnaphobia.

Quoth J. D. Crutchfield <JDCrutch@vabch.com>:

"Spider" sounds to me like a bunch of samples from the dubbed soundtrack of a '60s Japanese adventure movie, strung together in a rhythmic arrangement and mixed with music in an amusing and entertaining way. I don't see (or really want) any deeper significance. It's like found art: evocative, but not meaningful in any definable way. It would be interesting to find out what movie or movies the samples are from.

Quoth Ken Helms <bjart@mindless.com>:

I like the Godzilla and Ceasar theories, but I must say the song is really about Peter "Spider" Stacy, from the debanded folk band, The Pogues (at the time of this story, they were Pogue Mahone). Spider's origional job in the ensemble was to jump around and act drunk. He was very good at this, but wound up falling down most of the time. At which point other members, like Shane MacGowan, now with The Popes, would step on him accidently. "Step on Spider!" Unfortunately, most of the audience felt that Spider was not needed in the group, because all the members were drunk, and jumped around. There was no need for them to pay another guy to do it. Hence the "Get rid of Spider" and "Must stop Spider". Spider decided to save his arse, and bought a tine whistle, and actually learned to play something besides the underused percussion instrument called the beer tray. "He is our hero."