So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Good times, they come and they go
Never going to know
What fate is going to blow
Your way, just hope that it feels right
Sometimes it comes and it goes
You take it ever so slow
And then you lose it
And then it flows right to you
So we rely on the past
And special moments that last
Were they as tender
As we dare to remember?
Such a fine time as this
What could equal the bliss
The thrill of the first kiss
It'll blow right to you
It's never as good as the first time
Never as good as the first time
(Never as good as the first time)
Good times, they come and they go
Never going to know
It's like the weather
One day chicken, next day feathers
The rose we remember
The thorns we forget
We'd love and leave
We never spend a minute on regret
It is a possibility
The more we know, the less we see
Second time is not quite what it seemed
Natural as the way we came to be
The second time won't live up to the dream
It's never as good as the first time
(Never as good as the first time)
Never as good as the first time
(Never as good as the first time)
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
Natural as the way we came to be
Second time won't live up to the dream
As natural as the way we came to be
The second time is not quite what it seemed
It's never as good as the first time
As the first time
Never as good as the first time (the first time)
Natural as the way we came to be
Second time won't live up to the dream
As natural as the way we came to be
Second time is not quite what it seemed
It's never, ooh
As good as the first time (as good)
As the first time
As good as the first time (first time)
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
Never going to know
What fate is going to blow
Your way, just hope that it feels right
Sometimes it comes and it goes
You take it ever so slow
And then you lose it
And then it flows right to you
So we rely on the past
And special moments that last
Were they as tender
As we dare to remember?
Such a fine time as this
What could equal the bliss
The thrill of the first kiss
It'll blow right to you
It's never as good as the first time
Never as good as the first time
(Never as good as the first time)
Good times, they come and they go
Never going to know
It's like the weather
One day chicken, next day feathers
The rose we remember
The thorns we forget
We'd love and leave
We never spend a minute on regret
It is a possibility
The more we know, the less we see
Second time is not quite what it seemed
Natural as the way we came to be
The second time won't live up to the dream
It's never as good as the first time
(Never as good as the first time)
Never as good as the first time
(Never as good as the first time)
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
Natural as the way we came to be
Second time won't live up to the dream
As natural as the way we came to be
The second time is not quite what it seemed
It's never as good as the first time
As the first time
Never as good as the first time (the first time)
Natural as the way we came to be
Second time won't live up to the dream
As natural as the way we came to be
Second time is not quite what it seemed
It's never, ooh
As good as the first time (as good)
As the first time
As good as the first time (first time)
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
Ba-da-da-da, bum-bum-bum
Ba-ba-da-da-da, bum-bum
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I believe it has to do with Sade's heroin addiction and how "it's never as good as the first time" you try it. "The rose we remember, the thorns we forget" means you love the beautiful high, but forget the pain of the needle. "One day chicken next day feathers" is about how sometimes you have dough for dope, sometimes you've got to scrounge.