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.
All the trees stood like skeletons
Silhouettes of spilled ink
And the snows fell in sheets and got wrapped around our feet
We built the fire evermore with winter beating at the door
Brother's eyes were getting heavier
His bony hands cold and white
And I could hear his ragged breathing like the wind along a knife
There beside him through the night, in the hum of candlelight
I no longer felt the time
Brother woke just after midnight
And he didn't make a sound
And as he climbed from out of bed with severed rings around his head
His feet didn't touch the ground
I could feel it then
A tiny miracle
So I followed him
Into the woods
Crossed beneath the trees
But only I left my prints in tow
He was afloat
Found a lonely tree
And tied himself within its limbs
And he said to me these words
Don't you fear for me
I am where I'm supposed to be
And when I woke he was gone
And I was wrapped in blankets on the lawn
The sky was blue and my skin matched the hue
And I could hear mother crying in your room
From here on out I wear this face for both of us
Silhouettes of spilled ink
And the snows fell in sheets and got wrapped around our feet
We built the fire evermore with winter beating at the door
Brother's eyes were getting heavier
His bony hands cold and white
And I could hear his ragged breathing like the wind along a knife
There beside him through the night, in the hum of candlelight
I no longer felt the time
Brother woke just after midnight
And he didn't make a sound
And as he climbed from out of bed with severed rings around his head
His feet didn't touch the ground
I could feel it then
A tiny miracle
So I followed him
Into the woods
Crossed beneath the trees
But only I left my prints in tow
He was afloat
Found a lonely tree
And tied himself within its limbs
And he said to me these words
Don't you fear for me
I am where I'm supposed to be
And when I woke he was gone
And I was wrapped in blankets on the lawn
The sky was blue and my skin matched the hue
And I could hear mother crying in your room
From here on out I wear this face for both of us
Lyrics submitted by Cyberghost
Severus and Stone Lyrics as written by Benjamin Cooper
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Ave Grave
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Love in a Vacuum
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'Til Tuesday
Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in
"There was a time
you opened up every doorway
you didn't mind if everything
wasn't your way"
then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else,
"Don't pull away
that goes against what you told me
I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum"
so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it,
"I think you've changed
but you insist that
that's not true"
quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum",
"You look so strange, so distant
that you're hardly you
Now I can see
how you have been acting different
You say it's me
but I know
that it isn't
it's love in a vacuum"
but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines
"You will be lonely
if you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have,
"Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
love in a vacuum
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
You will be lonely
if you leave me alone
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough"
you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment,
"You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough
and just wait
you will be lonely
Love in a vacuum
Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
Love in a vacuum".
'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the coke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song.
Quintessential Aimee Mann.
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
Step
Ministry
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
It's a straightforward story about a pair of twins
The first verse sets the scene, it's a house in a forest of leafless trees in the depths of winter. They're (the family) is watching the narrator's twin coughing and rattling on his deathbed. The narrator loses track of time and falls asleep.
When the brother wakes up and walks above the ground he's a ghost or spirit. The halo (although why it is broken I don't know). The ghost of the brother leads the narrator out into the forest in a snowstorm before rising up into a tree's branches.
The key lines of the song are the "Don't you fear for me, I am where I'm supposed to be", which is a reassurance from the ghost of the brother that everything will be ok. I tear up when I hear this part.
The last verse is the narrator waking up out in the snow in the morning. His mother is crying over the brother's corpse, and the narrator says that he will 'wear this face' (as a twin) for both of them from now on.
I believe the halo is severed because he's half of them and dying without his twin leaves him incomplete.