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.
When it happened he walked through all the estates, from
Manchester right to, er, Newcastle. In Darlington, helped an old
Man on his own chase some kids who fucking threw bricks through
His flat window. He had a way with people like that. [Because of
This] we moved on.
'Junior Choice' played one morning. The song was 'English
Scheme.' Mine. They'd changed it with a grand piano and turned
It into a love song. How they did it I don't know. DJs have
Worsened since the rising. Collaborating on nothing in praise of
The track with words they can hardly pronounce in telephone
Voices.
I was mad, and laughed at the same time. The West German
Government have brought over huge yellow trains on Teeside docks.
In Edinburgh. I stayed on my own for a few days, wandering about
In the, er, pissing rain, before the Queen Mother hit town.
I'm Joe Totale
The yet unborn son
The North will rise again
The North will rise again
Not in 10,000 years
Too many people cower to criminals
And government crap
The North will rise again X4
Look where you are
Look where you are
The future of my father
Shift!
Tony was a business friend
Of RT, 17
And was an opportunist man
Come, come hear my story
How we set out to corrupt and destroy
This future Rising
The business friend came round today
With teeth clenched, he grabbed my neck
I threw him to the ground
His blue shirt stained red
The north will rise again.
I said you are mistaken, friend
I kicked him out of the home
Too many people cower to criminals
And that government pap
When all it takes is hard slap
Got out the window, a burglar wrote
There were men with beads on sticks
The fall had made them sick
A man with butterflies on his face
His brother threw acid in his face
His tatoos were screwed
The streets of Soho did reverberate
With drunken Highland men
Revenge for Culloden dead
The North had rose again
But it would turn out wrong
The North will rise again
So R. Totale dwells underground
Will wait from cyclic grind
With ostrich head-dress
A face a mess, covered in feathers
Orange-red with blue-black lines
That draped down to his chest
They are a tentacle mess
And light blue pant-heads
TV showed sham Chip and Dale
No concept of what they mean
The Arndale had been razed
Shop staff knocked off their ladders
Security guards up from the escalators
And now darkness descends
Tony seize the control
He built his base in Edinburgh
He had on his hotel wall
A hooded friar on a tractor
He took a bluey and called Totale
Who said, "the North has rose again"
But it will turn out wrong
When I was in cavalry
I vowed to defend
All our English clergy
Though they have gone wrong
And the fall has begun
This has gotten out of hand
I will go for a foreign base
But he told me off life down at home
Said Totale, go back to bed
The North has rose again today
And you can't stop your age
And you can't stop your age
Manchester right to, er, Newcastle. In Darlington, helped an old
Man on his own chase some kids who fucking threw bricks through
His flat window. He had a way with people like that. [Because of
This] we moved on.
'Junior Choice' played one morning. The song was 'English
Scheme.' Mine. They'd changed it with a grand piano and turned
It into a love song. How they did it I don't know. DJs have
Worsened since the rising. Collaborating on nothing in praise of
The track with words they can hardly pronounce in telephone
Voices.
I was mad, and laughed at the same time. The West German
Government have brought over huge yellow trains on Teeside docks.
In Edinburgh. I stayed on my own for a few days, wandering about
In the, er, pissing rain, before the Queen Mother hit town.
I'm Joe Totale
The yet unborn son
The North will rise again
The North will rise again
Not in 10,000 years
Too many people cower to criminals
And government crap
The North will rise again X4
Look where you are
Look where you are
The future of my father
Shift!
Tony was a business friend
Of RT, 17
And was an opportunist man
Come, come hear my story
How we set out to corrupt and destroy
This future Rising
The business friend came round today
With teeth clenched, he grabbed my neck
I threw him to the ground
His blue shirt stained red
The north will rise again.
I said you are mistaken, friend
I kicked him out of the home
Too many people cower to criminals
And that government pap
When all it takes is hard slap
Got out the window, a burglar wrote
There were men with beads on sticks
The fall had made them sick
A man with butterflies on his face
His brother threw acid in his face
His tatoos were screwed
The streets of Soho did reverberate
With drunken Highland men
Revenge for Culloden dead
The North had rose again
But it would turn out wrong
The North will rise again
So R. Totale dwells underground
Will wait from cyclic grind
With ostrich head-dress
A face a mess, covered in feathers
Orange-red with blue-black lines
That draped down to his chest
They are a tentacle mess
And light blue pant-heads
TV showed sham Chip and Dale
No concept of what they mean
The Arndale had been razed
Shop staff knocked off their ladders
Security guards up from the escalators
And now darkness descends
Tony seize the control
He built his base in Edinburgh
He had on his hotel wall
A hooded friar on a tractor
He took a bluey and called Totale
Who said, "the North has rose again"
But it will turn out wrong
When I was in cavalry
I vowed to defend
All our English clergy
Though they have gone wrong
And the fall has begun
This has gotten out of hand
I will go for a foreign base
But he told me off life down at home
Said Totale, go back to bed
The North has rose again today
And you can't stop your age
And you can't stop your age
Lyrics submitted by 2006200720082009
The NWRA Lyrics as written by Mark Smith Craig Scanlon
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I feel like I'd be more savvy to this if I were a Brit. Is this about the downfall of England?