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.
We lay on the bed there
Kissing just for practice
Could we please be objective?
'Cause the other boys are queuing up behind us
A hand over my mouth
A hand over the window
Well, if I remain passive and you just want to cuddle
Then we should be ok, and we won't get in a muddle
Cause we're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
So how are you feeling?
I don't think you can be dealing
With the situation very well
You take a lover for a dirty weekend, that's ok
But when it's over
You are looking at the working week through the eyes of a gigolo
You're kissing your elbow
You're kissing your reflection
And you can't understand why all the other boys are going for the
New, tall, elegant rich kids
You can bet it is a bitch, kid
But if they don't see the quality then it is apparent that
You're going to have to change
Or you're going to have to go with girls
You might be better off
At least they know where to put it
We lay on the bed there
Kissing just for practice
Could we please be objective?
'Cause the other boys are queuing up behind us
A hand over my mouth
A hand over the window
Well, if I remain passive and you just want to cuddle
Then we should be ok, and we won't get in a muddle
Cause we're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
We're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
We're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
Kissing just for practice
Could we please be objective?
'Cause the other boys are queuing up behind us
A hand over my mouth
A hand over the window
Well, if I remain passive and you just want to cuddle
Then we should be ok, and we won't get in a muddle
Cause we're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
So how are you feeling?
I don't think you can be dealing
With the situation very well
You take a lover for a dirty weekend, that's ok
But when it's over
You are looking at the working week through the eyes of a gigolo
You're kissing your elbow
You're kissing your reflection
And you can't understand why all the other boys are going for the
New, tall, elegant rich kids
You can bet it is a bitch, kid
But if they don't see the quality then it is apparent that
You're going to have to change
Or you're going to have to go with girls
You might be better off
At least they know where to put it
We lay on the bed there
Kissing just for practice
Could we please be objective?
'Cause the other boys are queuing up behind us
A hand over my mouth
A hand over the window
Well, if I remain passive and you just want to cuddle
Then we should be ok, and we won't get in a muddle
Cause we're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
We're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
We're seeing other people
At least that's what we say we are doing
Lyrics submitted by ReActor, edited by parulidae, anthonyyyg, mdznr
Seeing Other People Lyrics as written by Christopher Geddes Campbe
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The majority of people believe this song to be about two boys. The majority are wrong. The song is very non-specific, so I'm not going to say you can't apply that interpretation if it so suits you, but I'm pretty sure Stuart said himself on the band's website it is about a boy and a girl. But I'm going to get about the serious work of debunking this widespread myth that this song is specifically about two boys experimenting...
In the first verse they are kissing just for practice, but things suddenly start to get serious again. The boy notices things are getting hot and the boy states, "could we please be objective 'cause the other boys are queuing up behind--" and he is cut off by a hand over his mouth. The hand over the window hides from the boys in the queue that the two appear to be back on again as a couple. The hand over his mouth is not to stop him from kissing, but to shut him up.
The gigolo line, to me, simply means that when she goes out on the weekend she starts her working week with the memory of empty sex instead of having had the consistency of being with the same person every weekend.
To kiss your elbow most certainly is possible. She is kissing the INSIDE of her elbow with her arm wrapped around her face, daydreaming about the dream boy she wants...but perhaps doesn't realize she already has this boy; it's just not her dream boy. She kisses her reflection, admiring her own beauty and imagining herself loved as she wants to be loved...and she can't understand why the boys she wants to love her that way are going for other girls. The narrator is frustrated and suggests that she would be better off with girls because other girls will understand how a girl wants loved, while the boys she is being with only understand how to get her in bed.
The line "at least they know where to put it" is the main reason that, to me, this song CANNOT be about two boys, because this song is focused on the pleasure of the person the song is being sung to. This means that the person being sung to has a vagina and, if she does not want the narrator should go with girls because they fully understand how a vagina works.
To me, this song seems more to be about a boy who is frustrated that this girl keeps coming back to him because he understands her, but she is looking for a better boy who can understand her the same way. The girl is striving too hard to find a "perfect" relationship and refuses to settle for the best thing she's got. The boy won't allow himself to become sexually involved with her again until she is willing to give herself to him completely because he loves her completely and needs the same love in return. Therefore, the song ends with the same frustrated verse it began with.
You are the one that's actually wrong and I'll prove it succinctly, with the line: "Because the other boys are queuing up behind us..."<br /> <br /> Read the word "other," which implies that the two individuals kissing are also boys. "Other" is the key word, my friend.