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.
Liza Radley, see the girl with long hair
See her creeping 'cross summer lawns at midnight
And all the people in the town where we live say she's not quite right
She don't fit in with a small town
They just can't understand why she's doesn't stay in hospital
In a darkened room it's for their lives only she cries
Liza Radley, see her jump through loneliness
Liza Radley, take me when you go
And as the people pass by, their heads in the air
On to with their life's, she records a lonely sigh,
But no matter what they say, in her mind she knows,
Their dream of life they won't never find
And all the people in the town where we live say she's not quite right
She don't fit in with a small town
They just can't understand she's doesn't stay in hospital
In a darkened room it's for their lives only she cries.
Liza Radley, I pledge myself to you alone.
But she kissed my face and said Love means nothing at all
She kissed my face and said Life means nothing at all
See her creeping 'cross summer lawns at midnight
And all the people in the town where we live say she's not quite right
She don't fit in with a small town
They just can't understand why she's doesn't stay in hospital
In a darkened room it's for their lives only she cries
Liza Radley, see her jump through loneliness
Liza Radley, take me when you go
And as the people pass by, their heads in the air
On to with their life's, she records a lonely sigh,
But no matter what they say, in her mind she knows,
Their dream of life they won't never find
And all the people in the town where we live say she's not quite right
She don't fit in with a small town
They just can't understand she's doesn't stay in hospital
In a darkened room it's for their lives only she cries.
Liza Radley, I pledge myself to you alone.
But she kissed my face and said Love means nothing at all
She kissed my face and said Life means nothing at all
Lyrics submitted by hihoricherino, edited by epiwoosh
Liza Radley Lyrics as written by Paul John Weller
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I see this one as a woman who wants to live life differently than those around her, but they refuse to let her do so. She's been put into a mental asylum because of this. I'm guessing that the singer is also a patient here, but he has fallen in love with her. The last line seems to hint that despite his attempt to save her, she has opted to go with suicide.