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.
Lookin' in the bathroom mirror puttin' my makeup on
Maybelline can't hide the lines of time that's gone
I weighed 105 soakin' wet, I'd knock 'em dead in that sun dress
Had it all just too young to know,
That was twenty years and, two husbands ago
I remember when he took my hand and said "I do"
And the kitchen I was standing in, when he said "I'm through"
And I swore I'd never fall back in, put my heart through that again
Never let somebody get that close
But that was twenty years and, two husbands ago
Water under the bridge
I guess that's all life really is, that's just the way it is
Driving the kids to school today, it occurred to me
With all the wrong turns I've made,
I'm where I should be
But I go back there from time to time
Lookin' for that peace of mind,
And find it's always just a dead-end road
Yeah that was twenty years and, two husbands ago
Water under the bridge
I guess that's all life really is, that's just the way it is
Lookin' in the bathroom mirror puttin' my makeup on
Maybelline can't hide the lines of time that's gone
I weighed 105 soakin' wet, I'd knock 'em dead in that sun dress
Had it all just too young to know,
That was twenty years and, two husbands ago
I remember when he took my hand and said "I do"
And the kitchen I was standing in, when he said "I'm through"
And I swore I'd never fall back in, put my heart through that again
Never let somebody get that close
But that was twenty years and, two husbands ago
Water under the bridge
I guess that's all life really is, that's just the way it is
Driving the kids to school today, it occurred to me
With all the wrong turns I've made,
I'm where I should be
But I go back there from time to time
Lookin' for that peace of mind,
And find it's always just a dead-end road
Yeah that was twenty years and, two husbands ago
Water under the bridge
I guess that's all life really is, that's just the way it is
Lookin' in the bathroom mirror puttin' my makeup on
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago Lyrics as written by Dean Dillon Dale Dodson
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Hipgnosis Songs Group
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When you are older, you understand what it is to look back across the vast gulf of the past - your past - and have to accept that what's gone, is gone. I've rarely heard a song nails this feeling quite like this one.
Lee Ann sings with a sad recognition that somehow, 20 years have gone by and with it her youth, innocence, and beauty (putting her makeup on). She's made mistakes, but doesn't make excuses for them: "That's just the way it is..."
Indeed...