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.
Hot winds and hunger cries, Ethiopia
Flies in your babies' eyes, Ethiopia
Walking sticks on burning plains
Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on, the human need
On and on, the human greed profanes
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Your top soil flies away, Ethiopia
We pump ours full of poison spray, Ethiopia
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
Hacking rain forests down
Oh, on and on, insanities
On and on, short sighted greed abounds
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Little garden planet, oasis in space
Some hearts hurt, they can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gates
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Every Sunday on TV, Ethiopia
You suffer with such dignity, Ethiopia
A TV star with a PR smile
Calls your baby "it" while strolling
Through your tragic trials
Oh, on and on, stupidity
On and on, the basic needs are defiled
Good air, good water, good earth
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Little garden planet, oasis in space
Some hearts hurt, they can hardly stand the waste
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Flies in your babies' eyes, Ethiopia
Walking sticks on burning plains
Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on, the human need
On and on, the human greed profanes
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Your top soil flies away, Ethiopia
We pump ours full of poison spray, Ethiopia
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
Hacking rain forests down
Oh, on and on, insanities
On and on, short sighted greed abounds
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Little garden planet, oasis in space
Some hearts hurt, they can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gates
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Every Sunday on TV, Ethiopia
You suffer with such dignity, Ethiopia
A TV star with a PR smile
Calls your baby "it" while strolling
Through your tragic trials
Oh, on and on, stupidity
On and on, the basic needs are defiled
Good air, good water, good earth
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Little garden planet, oasis in space
Some hearts hurt, they can hardly stand the waste
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia
Lyrics submitted by threearmedman
Ethiopia Lyrics as written by Joni Mitchell
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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What it means to me...I'll wait until I feel more lucid to answer that, and I have some discretion issues as well. I'll just say I can relate to people "strolling through my tragic trials" and exploitation.
Here are her comments from jonimitchell.com...
"This was my reaction to all those "We Can Save You" songs which raised so much money for corrupt Ethiopian leadership. I was begged to take this off the record. A friend of mine said, "I hate it. All those parallel 2nds, they're wrong!" Even Wayne Shorter said, "What are these chords? They're not piano chords, they're not guitar chords. What are they?" I said, "Well look, these women are bone thin, their babies are dying in their arms. They're walking along with nothing but the rags on their backs. They're coming to a crossroads; one road leads to slavery; the other leads to death by the side of the trail...It's not like they have any good place to go. You think they're gonna be walking along to an Everly Brothers triad?"