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.
The lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh, I beg, I beg and plead
Singin' come out of things un said
Shoot an apple off my head
And a trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed, singin'
You are
You are
Confusion that never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know
Singin' come out upon my seas
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease? Singin'
You are
You are
You are
You are
You are
You are
And nothing else compares
Oh, no, nothing else compares
And nothing else compares
You are
You are
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh, I beg, I beg and plead
Singin' come out of things un said
Shoot an apple off my head
And a trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed, singin'
You are
You are
Confusion that never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know
Singin' come out upon my seas
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease? Singin'
You are
You are
You are
You are
You are
You are
And nothing else compares
Oh, no, nothing else compares
And nothing else compares
You are
You are
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Lyrics submitted by BuckWilder
Clocks Lyrics as written by Jonathan Mark Buckland Guy Rupert Berryman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I've read various interpretations of this song & for me I believe it deals with anxiety on a few levels. Anxiety is condition I myself suffer from and to me this song does speak to one own anxiety struggles. It also for me speaks to the anxiety our nation often feels as a whole, with so much collusion, political unrest & overall distrust in who is leading the country at any given time.