What song doesn't end in 4/4?
Manson singled out "Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)" as his favorite song on the album and said that it describes every person's desire for self-actualization. The song features an optigan and is propelled by flanged arpeggiated chords, building into heavy guitar chugs and string bending during the chorus. Drowned In Sound described the song as "a shining moment" on the record. "President Dead" is a guitar-driven song showcasing John 5's technical skills and writing credits from John 5, Twiggy Ramirez, and Madonna Wayne Gacy. Manson also plays a mellotron. It opens with a sample of Don Gardiner's ABC News Radio broadcast announcing the death of John F. Kennedy. The song is 3:13 long, which is a deliberate numerological reference to frame 313 of the Zapruder film—the frame displaying the moment of impact of the fatal head shot which killed Kennedy. "In the Shadow of the Valley of Death" is an introspective song with Adam at his most emotionally vulnerable. The song is divided into two parts. The first portion consists of samples and a 'death loop' over a simple strum from John 5's 1952 Gibson acoustic guitar that make way in the second portion for a bass guitar and drums over plucked chords. "Cruci-Fiction in Space" further explores American gun culture, postulating that Americans took an alternate evolutionary path; from monkeys to men to firearms. It's composition is slow but heavy—bereft of "speed or intricacy." Its has a mixed meter drum beat middle 8 in 4/4 time with two additional eighth notes at the end; "it doesn't start in 4/4, it doesn't end in 4/4, so it's confusing." "A Place in the Dirt" is another personal song, characterized by Adam's self-analysis of his place in Holy Wood.
Cruci-Fiction in Space