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.
Soon
Soon
Listen, I've been drinking
As our house lies in ruin
I don't know what I'm doing
Alone in the dark
At the park or at the pier
Watching ships disappear in the rain
The world's just bones
The world is black stones dressed up in the rain
With no place to go but home
Just like Nance
On a night like this, why, she's pro-stars, pro-sky
All lit up and sick of fighting
Beneath the diseased lighting of the discotheque at night
It don't mean a thing
It never means a thing
It don't mean a thing
It never means a thing
It's got that swing
I've seen it all
I've seen it all
Magnolia's a girl
Her heart's made of wood
As apocalypses go, that's pretty good
Sha-la-la, wouldn't you say?
Please remove your spurs
Come to think of it, remove your antlers
Haven't seen you for ages
I still fly into rages at the mention of your name
Christine White
I think about you often, off in the desert
Laughing your head off in the forest of the night
Say a prayer for the light
So now I live well, I live in the mine
I'm still slinging mud at the towers all the time
I took a walk
And threw up in an English garden
Ah, da, da, ah, da, da
Ah, da, ah, da, da, da
Ah, da, ah, da, da, da
Ah, da, da, da, da, da
Ah, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, ah, da, da, da
Da, da, ah, da, da, da
Ah, da, da, da, da, da
I was born in the North, but my father's from the South
Love is a political beast with jaws for a mouth, I don't care
You're upset and have every right to be
Regretfully, you decline
Every night was a waste of time
Every night, every night, every night
You were on the side of good
I was inside of the sea's guts
A crumbling beauty trapped in a river of ice
A crumbling beauty trapped in Paradise
Oh yes, it was Paradise
The tide comes in and the tide goes out again
I suppose this is the kind of thing we see every day
The tide comes in, the tide goes away
Oh, the tide comes in, yeah, the tide, yes, the tide
A ransom note written on the night sky above
Reminds me what in particular about this wine I love
Like a punctured beast, better off dead
Compliments going to my head
La, da, da, la, da, da
And speaking of my mind, the sunflower
And speaking of a world turning sour on you
I was twenty years old in 1992
I was bathed in golden sunlight, alright
I was ripped on dope, you were a ray of sunshine
I was a hopeless romantic, you were swine
You've got to spend money to make money
You've got to stop calling me "honey"
Oh world, you fucking explosion that turns us around
The searchlight slumps over, so sick of the night
And the kids on the boats, busted in the shipyard
Going down, down, down, down, down, down, down
You traveled light, all night, every night
To arrive at the conclusion
Of the world's inutterable secret
And you shut your mouth
I've seen it all
I've seen it all
I've seen it all
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
Soon
Listen, I've been drinking
As our house lies in ruin
I don't know what I'm doing
Alone in the dark
At the park or at the pier
Watching ships disappear in the rain
The world's just bones
The world is black stones dressed up in the rain
With no place to go but home
Just like Nance
On a night like this, why, she's pro-stars, pro-sky
All lit up and sick of fighting
Beneath the diseased lighting of the discotheque at night
It don't mean a thing
It never means a thing
It don't mean a thing
It never means a thing
It's got that swing
I've seen it all
I've seen it all
Magnolia's a girl
Her heart's made of wood
As apocalypses go, that's pretty good
Sha-la-la, wouldn't you say?
Please remove your spurs
Come to think of it, remove your antlers
Haven't seen you for ages
I still fly into rages at the mention of your name
Christine White
I think about you often, off in the desert
Laughing your head off in the forest of the night
Say a prayer for the light
So now I live well, I live in the mine
I'm still slinging mud at the towers all the time
I took a walk
And threw up in an English garden
Ah, da, da, ah, da, da
Ah, da, ah, da, da, da
Ah, da, ah, da, da, da
Ah, da, da, da, da, da
Ah, da, da, da, da, da
Da, da, ah, da, da, da
Da, da, ah, da, da, da
Ah, da, da, da, da, da
I was born in the North, but my father's from the South
Love is a political beast with jaws for a mouth, I don't care
You're upset and have every right to be
Regretfully, you decline
Every night was a waste of time
Every night, every night, every night
You were on the side of good
I was inside of the sea's guts
A crumbling beauty trapped in a river of ice
A crumbling beauty trapped in Paradise
Oh yes, it was Paradise
The tide comes in and the tide goes out again
I suppose this is the kind of thing we see every day
The tide comes in, the tide goes away
Oh, the tide comes in, yeah, the tide, yes, the tide
A ransom note written on the night sky above
Reminds me what in particular about this wine I love
Like a punctured beast, better off dead
Compliments going to my head
La, da, da, la, da, da
And speaking of my mind, the sunflower
And speaking of a world turning sour on you
I was twenty years old in 1992
I was bathed in golden sunlight, alright
I was ripped on dope, you were a ray of sunshine
I was a hopeless romantic, you were swine
You've got to spend money to make money
You've got to stop calling me "honey"
Oh world, you fucking explosion that turns us around
The searchlight slumps over, so sick of the night
And the kids on the boats, busted in the shipyard
Going down, down, down, down, down, down, down
You traveled light, all night, every night
To arrive at the conclusion
Of the world's inutterable secret
And you shut your mouth
I've seen it all
I've seen it all
I've seen it all
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
Free and easy, gentle, gentle
The wind through the trees makes you mental for me
Nancy, in a state of crisis, on a cloud
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I don't know if you can get a direct meaning out of this song...the lyrics are so disconnected (but in a beautiful way).