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.
Got off a plane to the countryside
I drove to the mountain and holding the ground
There was crack on the corner and someone dead
And fire coming out of the monkey's head
Don't get lost in heaven, eh
They got locks on the gate, hey
Don't go over the edge, eh
You'll make a big mistake, hey
Put me in a cab to suburbia
I just took a line but I wasn't with you
There was more of it there, when I got back home
But you had left me, you don't know my soul
You're a whole bad mistake, yeah, you're a whole one
Don't get lost in heaven, eh
They got locks on the gate, hey
Don't go over the edge, eh
You'll make a big mistake, hey (big mistake)
Aah
You'll make a big mistake
Aah
You'll make a big mistake
Aah
You'll make a big mistake
Aah
I drove to the mountain and holding the ground
There was crack on the corner and someone dead
And fire coming out of the monkey's head
Don't get lost in heaven, eh
They got locks on the gate, hey
Don't go over the edge, eh
You'll make a big mistake, hey
Put me in a cab to suburbia
I just took a line but I wasn't with you
There was more of it there, when I got back home
But you had left me, you don't know my soul
You're a whole bad mistake, yeah, you're a whole one
Don't get lost in heaven, eh
They got locks on the gate, hey
Don't go over the edge, eh
You'll make a big mistake, hey (big mistake)
Aah
You'll make a big mistake
Aah
You'll make a big mistake
Aah
You'll make a big mistake
Aah
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Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
I was surprised by the number of interpretations assuming he meant Heaven literally, or which interpreted the song as being just about drugs. The Heaven he's referring to represents short-term pleasure, recreational drugs being AN example. It could also refer to any number of things; sex, games, television, anything that allows you to escape reality. Basically, don't lose yourself in pleasure or life will pass you by, e.g. the partner leaving.
Demon Days does refer specifically to our own impact on Earth, as stated by Jamie in an interview posted on the album's wikipedia page. It was inspired by his trip across China, where he saw acres of scablands, and saw it as the direction all Earth would end up going. The fire coming out of a monkey's head "came from a very naive idea, which is: what is going to happen when they've taken all of the oil out of the earth? Aren't there going to be these vast holes?"
A really interesting album about neglect leading to catastrophe, and this is definitely my favourite song and the easiest to relate to.