The lyrics shown here are just crap but I don't know how to edit this, so I'll just post the whole lyrics right.

you walked around
thought yourself beatufiul
just too bad they stared
just too bad they stared
broke up your crown
called you unusable
see how well you fared

stole underground
to kick your heart around
banished from above
vanished from above
forgot yourself
go home and shot your health
left it all for love

and on their lips
delirious quips
last seen with friends
wishing them well

delayed, seduced
you listened for the truth
just too bad they lied
just too bad they lied
o come around
in form of future youth
summoned from the sky

ono omode

refuse this cruel
unusual fools
leave them to rule in hollowpoint hell

you've much to do
now listen to the truth
cradled in a cry
cradled in a cry
your light'll shine
keep your head on high
keep your head on high

you walk around
know you are beautiful
aimless and alive
broken and divine
walk around know you are future youth
summoned to the sky




Very beautiful song though, one of the best on "Cookie Mountain". According to me the song is something like an "Ode to Youth" - as it once was - and how hard it is today to define yourself as a young man or woman. Because consumption culture stole everything to define yourself with and made fashion products out of it.

the outside world doesn't agree with you. you have the potential for self-love, and the potential to appreciate the world and all but the world doesn't want you...not sure of the specifics but there's friction here. it's sad but it's an acknowledgement of something beautiful lalala somethingorother

very bluesy, i love it.

I agree with BattleMage.
The first verse is about childhood. At the beginning you just walked around and you were happy. Then the world broke your confidence, and planted in your mind that you have to be looked after, cause you're lame.

"you listened for the truth
just too bad they lied
just too bad they lied"
This can mean many things. For example think about the truths of sciences! This generation is so materialist and lack of faith, that it's terribly unnatural and frustrating.

If you read this post and the post of battlemage, It's quite easy to define the rest of the lyric.

But I have a problem. English isn't my first language and I can't find out the meaning of this expression: "shot your health"

Man, I loved this song before, but I just saw in the liner notes that Kazu Makino sings on it too! That makes it even better, and once you know its her you can really tell its her singing with Tunde.

Terlis - "shot your health" most likely just means you've wrecked your own health, what with drugs alcohol, etc.

and for someone who's first language isn't english, i''ve gotta commend you for a great interpretation on these lyrics!

so inspiring, to me its in the perspective of being rejected from a girl. Makes me want to prove myself. Especially when its a girl that you have known forever and you and all your friends know you love her. So you get rejected and then you "stole underground
to kick your heart around" and then you "forgot yourself
go home and shot your health" but then the song changes "
you've much to do
now listen to the truth"
"your light'll shine
keep your head on high "
its the one girl that means everything
"o come around
in form of future youth
summoned from the sky "

What does "ono omode" mean?

1 Reply

I think this song is about a girl who thought she was quite beautiful, tried to get somewhere in the world with her looks and was shot down and torn apart for not being pretty enough.

she then exiles from the people "summoned from the sky" angel like beauty and goes into a dark world, her confidence broken.

the "too bad they lied" part is where she realizes that beauty isn't everything like she thought.

to me this song is about Indigos, Starseeds, Rainbows and even Crystals. They are all Children of Light, who have been sent down to Earth on a mission. (the truth is in form of future youth, summoned from the sky)
We are here to change the world and to help assist in the ascension. Indigos are misunderstood because we are different. We have a different vision for the future, but it is the right vision, and we are here to share that vision and influence the world to change. Alot of people just think we are crazy though. This song is talking about the struggle many Indigos go through because they feel alone because nobody around them may have the same views as them. But Indigos are everywhere, and if we group together, our power is immense. YOU might be an Indigo, and you've been sent here as a leader on a mission to change the world! You have the power!
Anyways, this song is a message to Indigos.

refuse this cruel
unusual fools
leave them to rule in hollowpoint hell (people who don't understand Indigo's tell them they are stupid and crazy for being different and standing up for different beliefs. But ignore them, they are the ones who are blind and ignorant and who do not know the truth. Don't waste your time with them!)

you've much to do (indigos have purpose.. changing the world isn't easy!)
now listen to the truth
cradled in a cry
cradled in a cry
your light'll shine (Indigos are a light to others, they lead the way into the New Age which is approaching!)
keep your head on high (JUST DON'T GIVE UP INDIGOS!)
keep your head on high

you walk around
know you are beautiful
aimless and alive
broken and divine
walk around know you are future youth
summoned to the sky
^ this is a message of encouragement towards Indigos, Crystals, Starseeds, etc. We need to believe in ourselves before we can believe in the future for the world. We can do this!

I thought you did a good job, Battlemage but I heard the song slightly differently. (I don't know if the differences really matter, but whatever.)

you walked around
thought yourself beautiful
just too bad they stared
just too bad they stared
broke up your crown
called you unusable
see how well you fared

stole underground
to kick your heart around
banished from above
banished from above
forgot yourself,
your home and shot your health
left it all for love

and on their lips
delirious quips
last seen with friends
wishing them well

you laid seduced
you listened for the truth
just too bad they lied
just too bad they lied
oh come around
in form of future youth
summoned from the sky

ono...

refuse these cruel,
unusual fools
leave them to rule in hollow-point hell

you've much to do
now listen to the truth
cradled in a cry
cradled in a cry
your light'll shine
fire indisputable
keep your head on high
keep your head on high

you walk around
know you are beautiful
aimless and alive
broken and divine
oh walk around
know you are future youth
summoned to the sky

I agree with a lot of people here that the main theme of the song is an individual's initial loss of innocence and her (or his) ultimate redemption.

As the song starts, the pro (protagonist) seems to recognize their own special qualities ("you walk around; thought yourself beautiful"). Unfortunately, others also noticed and began to corrupt our pro and left her crushed. ("just too bad they stared; broke up your crown; called you unusable; see how well you fared.")

Until now, the pro was above and noticeable to everyone("you walk around"), but now she retreats from everyone else. ("stole underground;...banished from above"). She became depressed and ignored all of her great qualities and where she really belonged (i.e. above) to wallow in her misery ("...to kick your heart around;...forgot yourself, your home and shot your health...") Her intentions, though, were always noble ("did it all for love").

These corruptors, however, acted as though they were her friends, fooling her with their sweet talking and nonsense. ("and on their lips; delirious quips; last seen with friends; wishing them well".) She is paralyzed with her depression ("you laid seduced"). Note that she is no longer walking as above, she is now laying passively, seduced by these negative influences. She sincerely wants the truth but they lie to her to keep her down ("you listened for the truth; just too bad they lied").

At this point, our narrator/singer wants her to recognize her potential and to know that it is possible to restore her greatness ("oh come around; know you are future youth"). She must recognize that her place is not "underground," but that "she is summoned from the sky" to be something special.

Our narrator/singer wants her to reject these negative influences ("refuse these cruel, unusual fools") and leave them underground in "hollow-point hell." A hollow point bullet explodes on the surface and has a more decreased penetration than a regular bullet. Thus, their hell is described as hollow-point because either the wounds they inflicted are not so deep and can be undone or they are just superficial in general.

Now, the nar/singer tells her how to pick herself up again. It won't be easy ("you've much to do; now listen to the truth"). She wanted truth earlier in the fourth stanza, but got seduced in the lying, sweet talk of friends, described in stanzas 3 and 4. Now, if she wants to hear the truth, she should know that isn't some delirious, quip but rather it's tough, "cradled in a cry." Now we are told that she will surely be something special and to keep positive ("your light will shine; fire indisputable; keep your head on high).

The song ends with phrases from earlier in the song with subtle differences. Before she thought she was beautiful, now she "knows" she is beautiful. She was pure, fell, but arose to even higher heights ("broken and divine"). Also, she's walking around on top again, no longer subterranean ("you walk around"). She now recognizes that she regained her lost perfection ("know you are future youth"). She has become the previously alluded 'future youth.' The last line shows that she isn't just summoned "from" the sky to be something great, but even "to the sky." Rather, than remain below, or even somewhat in the middle on the ground where she was before, this experience has given her wings to soar to the sky.

'Future youth' means that you can regain your innocence again in the future. Even though the phrase sounds contradictory (if you aren't a youth right now, how can you be in the future?), that's actually the point of the entire song (don't think that once you've fallen it's too late, you can always come back). It's possible to be first broken and then divine.

It's probably pretty easy to read religious implications into the song, but from the little I know of TVOTR, that's probably not what they had in mind. As for the corruptors, I don't know who they represent. Maybe consumerism, maybe society, or maybe it's more personal than that.

Anyway, this has been cathartic, if not a little self-indulgent. It is simply an amazing song on so many levels from an amazing band.

Peace

'ono omode' translates to 'way of a child' in Yoruba.