There are songs that undoubtedly marked the first decade of the 2000s and if you are fans of alternative rock, and you had to put together a list with the best songs of that time, the most likely thing is that they include “Evil” de Interpol. And it is not for less, if this great song became a true instant classic.
It was on January 3, 2005 when Paul Banks, Sam Fogarino, Daniel Kessler and Carlos Dengler released this song as a single from their second record material, Antics. Since its launch, it has attracted attention, especially for Dengler’s iconic bass line and mysterious lyrics, which were accompanied by a melancholy melodya formula that would become the hallmark of the house of this bandota.
The meaning of Interpol’s “Evil” remains a mystery
During years, many have tried to decipher the meaning of Interpol’s “Evil”. Several journalists have even asked Paul Banks directly about the inspiration behind this great song. However, the leader of the New York group has never revealed it, but according to Songfacts, told a medium that it is about “the art of almost falling apart”.
And this is where we ask ourselves this question: who is this Rosemary that you mention in the lyrics? Well, although it is not 100% confirmed, due to the role (which for the majority, speaks of someone who is lost after a trauma), there are those who associate this part with Fred and Rosemary West, since their last days fit what Banks sings.
Who are Fred and Rosemary, the characters that could have inspired Interpol’s “Evil”?
If you don’t know who these are characters who could inspire Interpol’s “Evil”, don’t worry, we will tell you their terrifying story here. Rosemary and Fred West were a couple from the United Kingdom who murdered at least twelve women between 1967 and 1987. In fact, this couple appears on the lists of the most famous serial killers in history.
in appearance, both Fred and Rosemary looked like ordinary people appearing to lead a normal life. However, what no one suspected was that in terrible things happened in his own house, because there they abused, tortured, mutilated and killed all these victims (Imagine how cannonous the situation was that said place was known as ‘the house of horrors’).
Since before all these facts, Fred West was already a danger, since at the age of 20 he had already been in jail for robbery and abusing a child. In 1968, while he was still married to Rena Costella (with whom he had a daughter named Charmaine), Fred met Rosemary Letts, who was only 15 years old at the time.
By 1970, Rosemary and Fred had their first daughter, Heather, and committed their first murder: she killed little Charmaine and Fred his ex-wife. Two years later, they both got married and at that time the second daughter of the couple, Mae, was born.
Rosemary and Fred West murdered several women, including their own daughter.
During the years that Fred and Rosemary were together, they murdered, dismembered, and buried all these women in their home.. If this doesn’t sound sinister to you, hold on ’cause One of the couple’s victims was their own daughter, Heather West, who was murdered in June 1987 when she was 16.. But as you already know, the truth always comes out and they both faced the law.
In May 1992, Fred West repeatedly abused one of his daughters, who was 13 years old at the time. On August 6 of that year, the police decided to investigate the couple and after searching the house, the two were arrested and charges of 12 murders and rapes were filed against Fredwhile Rosemary was accused of being an accomplice to her husband, as well as cruelty to their children.
In February 1994, Police got a warrant to dig up the West’s front yard for Heather’s body., who was reported missing by her own parents. The police found human bones and later, Fred accepted the murder of her daughter directly accusing Rosemry. Basically, he blamed himself for everything.
However, in April of that same year, Rosemary was arrested, initially accused of sexual assault, but later charged with murder. As the months passed, more bodies appeared in the garden of his house and on March 4, 1994, Fred West confessed to nine more murders to police.
Fred took his own life, but Rosemary is still in jail
The couple went to trial on June 30, 1994, where they accused Fred of 11 murders and Rosemary of 10, and of course, found them guilty. But the father of the family would not last long behind bars, because On January 1, 1995, Fred West hanged himself in his cell at the age of 53. without serving time for his crimes.
Fred left a suicide note where he drew a tombstone and wrote the following: “With loving memory. Fred West. Rose West. Rest in peace where the shadow does not fall. In perfect peace he awaits Rose, his wife. For her part, Rosemary never confessed to any crime, but in October 1995 she was sentenced to life imprisonment for 10 murders and the judge who handed down the sentence recommended that he never get out of jaill.
Rosemary was sentenced to die in prison, although in November 2002, a judge declared that they could release her in 2019: but that never happened. Of course, knowing the context and the crimes of this couple, it makes more sense to think that the case inspired Interpol’s “Evil” (although as we mentioned before, the band has not confirmed or denied the rumor).
Above all, if we pay attention to the letter, it is said that Paul Banks composed it from the perspective of Fred, who would be talking about the afterlife to Rosemary through a dream in which they remember what they did and simply want to meet when she dies… But it is Paul himself who says that the matter is not going that way.
Paul Banks prefers people to have their own interpretation of Interpol’s “Evil”
In an interview we had with Paul Banks on the occasion of an Interpol visit to CDMX in 2023, the vocalist said that Interpol’s “Evil” Isn’t Actually Inspired by That Rosemary and Fred West Story.
Paul told us that quite curious theories have been found on the internet about his songs, and that one of the rarest is this one about the mentioned serial killers. “It has nothing to do with the song. It wasn’t an inspiration for that song at all.“he told us. Check here the video.
Well, that myth that haunted the internet and the confines of Interpol fan groups is now clearer. One way or the other, Interpol’s “Evil” will always be a classic that will fill us with nostalgia for that two-thousander indie-rock era that seems increasingly distant. And you, What do you think the song is really about?
