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.
Nick just waits to fly
Easy to take
You could take me in for us
Make me a deal
A day apiece
Take it off, just stay a week
I'll take you in pieces
We can take it all apart
I've softened shipwrecks right from the start
I've been underwater
Breathin' out and in
I think I'm losin' where you end and I begin
Basic space
Openin'
Don't look away
When there's nothin'
There
I'm setting us in stone
Piece by piece before I'm alone
Air tight before we break
Keep it in
Keep us safe
This pool of boiling wax
I'm giving in that is sick
Got to fill this in
Gotta just?
Why don't we learn how to keep what I have
Preserved
Basic space
Openin'
Don't look away
When there's nothin'
There
Hot wax
Has left me with a sign
Wouldn't know if I've been left behind
Second skin
Second skin
I can let it out
I still let you in
I can let it out
I still let you in
Easy to take
You could take me in for us
Make me a deal
A day apiece
Take it off, just stay a week
I'll take you in pieces
We can take it all apart
I've softened shipwrecks right from the start
I've been underwater
Breathin' out and in
I think I'm losin' where you end and I begin
Basic space
Openin'
Don't look away
When there's nothin'
There
I'm setting us in stone
Piece by piece before I'm alone
Air tight before we break
Keep it in
Keep us safe
This pool of boiling wax
I'm giving in that is sick
Got to fill this in
Gotta just?
Why don't we learn how to keep what I have
Preserved
Basic space
Openin'
Don't look away
When there's nothin'
There
Hot wax
Has left me with a sign
Wouldn't know if I've been left behind
Second skin
Second skin
I can let it out
I still let you in
I can let it out
I still let you in
Lyrics submitted by dumbledore222, edited by TrvsJ, mmmhh, midorka
Basic Space Lyrics as written by James Thomas Smith Baria Qureshi
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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backy , I like your thoughts on this song. To be able to write about such weird sexual encounters with such minimalist imagery and put it to music takes a very poetic and certain person. To add to some interpretation: I think the refrain, "Basic space, open air / Don't look away, when there's nothing there" is very explicative of the nature of this primarily physical/sexual relationship. Sex is something basic, something that is part of life. It's at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, with food and shelter, anyway. It's skin-deep, supposed to be nothing more. But, at the same time, it is highly expressive for feelings or desires that cannot be expressed otherwise. It's simple and complicated at the same time. In this relationship in the song, there is "nothing" there, no substance, no love, so why look away/not make eye contact? The slight frustration expressed in this song is baffling.