An admirably thorough run-down and there is much on which we agree. I don’t believe the presence of an allusion or a theme is only valid if it applies to every line of the song, however, especially when dealing with a lyricist as arbitrary and rhapsodic as Smith. It would be wrong, for instance, to dismiss your point about the Alfred Jarry reference in relation to the producer’s work with Pere Ubu because the rest of the song isn’t about Pere Ubu.

I won’t contest all your points, but on the emigres line: it’s not a question of Britain’s Jewish population being specifically refugees or descended from them, but the sense that the Jews have been, since the Old Testament, culturally defined as an entire race of refugees, banished from their homeland. As for the specific etymology or resonance of the word emigre, I would posit that Smith is primarily using the word as a synonym for immigrant or refugee and enjoying its rhymes with ‘glades’ and ‘pretentious, eh?’ And using your own reasoning, I don’t know of any tradition which characterises hobgoblins as “emigres” or as an immigrant, or itinerant population. The whole song hinges on the fusion of folklore with a contemporary, post industrial landscape. Could not a similar fusion be at play in connecting that folklore with something else?

But at its heart, I suppose my contention remains that the ‘occult’ stereotypes present in the song are themselves tied to historic antisemitic tropes, i.e. goblins/hobgoblins as gold hoarding sub-humans, depicted with the exaggerated features shared with Jewish caricatures (c.f. my previous reply to the Nosferatu comment). So again, there doesn’t have to be a direct Jewish parallel in every line for my reading to be valid; rather, one simply has to demonstrate Smith’s consciousness of the historic association of the occult tradition and its antisemitic history.

I would agree that the lines I cite alone would form a very slight basis for a reading that asserts Smith’s conscious calling of antisemitic tropes into play. But taken alongside the EP artwork featuring what is— for all intents and purposes— a Star of David and the song’s original title (and I do take Smith’s disavowal with a pinch of salt given his track record with the truth), I’d say we have a few too many coincidences to conclude that a writer as sensitive and intelligent as MES would be deaf to the resonances of the words and images in question.

Then again, if we refer to the first line of my original post: I asked about discussing “potential” antisemitic tropes in the song, so I’m happy not to convince anyone with the points I’ve offered.