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.
It's the wood man and his splintering self.
It's the wooden woman and her hollowing out
Sickly Micky Mouse.
Skinny Minnie Mouse.
Elvis, what happened ?
Pop Sickle note: The lable stapled a speaker
to the back of a sheep's throat.
Tongue depressor with the width
With the width of a spatula
suppresses all syllables;
"blah blah blah", end quote.
Cotton candy, Cotton candy... spun any way you like it.
Elvis, what happened?
High school picture day in L.A.,
someone in the sky with diamonds.
And you go back to bed
with a dead dog in your head.
How can I be your lover
when you sport a head of rubber?
Sucker...
You can't take applause to bed with you.
I've got my own blood and a decent depression line.
And then we say "fuck" in our pop song.
It's the wooden woman and her hollowing out
Sickly Micky Mouse.
Skinny Minnie Mouse.
Elvis, what happened ?
Pop Sickle note: The lable stapled a speaker
to the back of a sheep's throat.
Tongue depressor with the width
With the width of a spatula
suppresses all syllables;
"blah blah blah", end quote.
Cotton candy, Cotton candy... spun any way you like it.
Elvis, what happened?
High school picture day in L.A.,
someone in the sky with diamonds.
And you go back to bed
with a dead dog in your head.
How can I be your lover
when you sport a head of rubber?
Sucker...
You can't take applause to bed with you.
I've got my own blood and a decent depression line.
And then we say "fuck" in our pop song.
Lyrics submitted by tiredgorilla, edited by Malhavic
Pop Song Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © TERRORBIRD PUBLISHING LLC
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I would have never guessed what this song was about if I hadn't just thought of the title. It's about the sad state of commercialized pop music. "The wooden woman and her hollowing out" is the hollow, materialistic, sexualized image of women. "The wood man and his splintering self" is probably the self-aggrandizing, violent rapper full of braggadocio, if you take "splintering self" to mean that he gives others splinters, not that he is splintering himself. Both fake and contrived to pander to young people and pop culture's warped ideals for what they should look up to or aspire to be.
"Elvis, what happened?" is pretty obvious. Then the cotton candy spun anyway you like is the way labels will pander to whatever is trendy at the time. Think of how quickly 98 degrees went all latin after Ricky Martin performed at the Grammy's and got popular. Don't ask me why I remember that. The use of the spatula image is interesting because of what it's used for, to scoop up mundane things out of a pile and flip them.
"The label stapled a speaker to the back of a sheep's throat" I think is saying it doesn't matter which sheep (crappy pop artist) gets to hold the microphone because they're all the same.
I'm really not sure about the second verse, but I love the fuck part. You can't curse on radio or mtv. I'm just starting to listen to cLOUDDEAD closely for the first time, and other than Dead Dogs Two I had thought a lot of their stuff might have been somewhat meaningless and they were having a laugh about it. So it's good to know that probably isn't the case, since all of Why's stuff at least is definitely deep.