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.
I tell you how I feel but you don't care
I say tell me the truth but you don't dare
You say love is a hell you cannot bear
And I say give me mine back and then go there for all I care
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds, you're not at all what you seem
This mind, this body, and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
I have never been so insulted in all my life
I could swallow the seas to wash down all this pride
First you run like a fool just to be at my side
And now you run like a fool but you just run to hide
I can't abide
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
Don't make it a big deal, don't be so sensitive
We're not playing a game anymore
You don't have to be so defensive
Don't you plead me your case, don't bother to explain
Don't even show me your face 'cause it's a crying shame
Just go back to the rock from under which you came
Take the sorrows you gave and all the stakes you claim
And don't forget to blame
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
I say tell me the truth but you don't dare
You say love is a hell you cannot bear
And I say give me mine back and then go there for all I care
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds, you're not at all what you seem
This mind, this body, and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
I have never been so insulted in all my life
I could swallow the seas to wash down all this pride
First you run like a fool just to be at my side
And now you run like a fool but you just run to hide
I can't abide
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
Don't make it a big deal, don't be so sensitive
We're not playing a game anymore
You don't have to be so defensive
Don't you plead me your case, don't bother to explain
Don't even show me your face 'cause it's a crying shame
Just go back to the rock from under which you came
Take the sorrows you gave and all the stakes you claim
And don't forget to blame
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise
Lyrics submitted by SNYder, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Sleep To Dream Lyrics as written by Fiona Apple Maggart
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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he's a fake, 'not at all what you seem', and he's led her on only to let her down...she's letting him go, because she isn't a dreamer, she knows the reality is she needs to tell him where to go.