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.
I am that dickhead in the kitchen
Giving wine to your best girl's glass
I am the amateur pornographer
Unpleasant publisher by hand
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Oh I see the stumbling pinstripe trouser
The flecks of sick on an office shoe
Part of the fatty British average
That lives in the houses around you
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Let's all crowd round the cowering body
Throw stocky fingers, sticks and stones
Let's promise every girl we marry
We'll always love them, though we probably won't
While a knight in shitty armour
Rips the drunk out of her dress
One man tears into another
Hides a coward's heart in a lion's chest
Man, he breeds although he shouldn't
Breeding just because he comes
Acts the father for a minute
Until the worst instincts return
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
I have never wanted more to be your man
And build a house around you
But I am just like all the rest of them
Sorry, selfish, trying to improve
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
Giving wine to your best girl's glass
I am the amateur pornographer
Unpleasant publisher by hand
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Oh I see the stumbling pinstripe trouser
The flecks of sick on an office shoe
Part of the fatty British average
That lives in the houses around you
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Let's all crowd round the cowering body
Throw stocky fingers, sticks and stones
Let's promise every girl we marry
We'll always love them, though we probably won't
While a knight in shitty armour
Rips the drunk out of her dress
One man tears into another
Hides a coward's heart in a lion's chest
Man, he breeds although he shouldn't
Breeding just because he comes
Acts the father for a minute
Until the worst instincts return
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
Not here, not here, heroic acts of man
I have never wanted more to be your man
And build a house around you
But I am just like all the rest of them
Sorry, selfish, trying to improve
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
I'm here, I'm here, not heroic but I try
Lyrics submitted by mariri, edited by rockaction, johninky, starvingartist79
Acts of Man Lyrics as written by David William Lawrence Kennedy Andy Monaghan
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song picks out the base and vulgar "acts of man"......contrasting them against the heroic and chivalrous ideas of men.......it's a very interesting song and sounds rather personal as well......I don't think he speaker/singer is referring to all men......but rather uses a generalization to say that most men can be like this.