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 survived the dinner
Then the air went thinner
I retired to the briars by the pool, it gets so loud
If I die this instant
Taken from a distance
They would probably list it down
Among other things 'round town
Got my rings around me
I got baby to pound me
I see stars and go weak
My baby cries and lays me down
In the skies over black Venice
I see eyes of a white menace
The surprise of the week
Is that I never heard the sound
All the L.A. women
Fall asleep while swimming
I got paid to fish 'em out
And then one day I lost the job
And I cried a little
I got fried a little
Then she laid her eyes on mine
And she said, "Babe, you're better off"
I got my rings around me
I got baby to pound me
I see stars and go weak
My baby cries and lays me down
In the skies over black Venice
I see eyes of a white menace
The surprise of the week
Is that I never heard the sound
Tunnel vision lights my way
Leave my little life today
As the free-fall advances
I'm the moron who dances
Ah
I was teething on roses
I was in guns and noses
Ah
Under the withering white skies of humiliation
Under the withering white skies of humiliation
Tunnel vision lights my way
Leave my little life today
Tunnel vision lights my way
Leave my little life today
She wore blue velvet
Said she can't help it
She wore blue velvet
Said she can't help it
She wore blue velvet
Said she can't help it
Then the air went thinner
I retired to the briars by the pool, it gets so loud
If I die this instant
Taken from a distance
They would probably list it down
Among other things 'round town
Got my rings around me
I got baby to pound me
I see stars and go weak
My baby cries and lays me down
In the skies over black Venice
I see eyes of a white menace
The surprise of the week
Is that I never heard the sound
All the L.A. women
Fall asleep while swimming
I got paid to fish 'em out
And then one day I lost the job
And I cried a little
I got fried a little
Then she laid her eyes on mine
And she said, "Babe, you're better off"
I got my rings around me
I got baby to pound me
I see stars and go weak
My baby cries and lays me down
In the skies over black Venice
I see eyes of a white menace
The surprise of the week
Is that I never heard the sound
Tunnel vision lights my way
Leave my little life today
As the free-fall advances
I'm the moron who dances
Ah
I was teething on roses
I was in guns and noses
Ah
Under the withering white skies of humiliation
Under the withering white skies of humiliation
Tunnel vision lights my way
Leave my little life today
Tunnel vision lights my way
Leave my little life today
She wore blue velvet
Said she can't help it
She wore blue velvet
Said she can't help it
She wore blue velvet
Said she can't help it
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by jahjahjeh, morganmcf, prayingmantis84, flamebroiledchicken
Humiliation Lyrics as written by Bryce David Dessner Aaron Brooking Dessner
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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Someone who's led a very interesting life of everything, but has gotten older, given up, and passed into the gates of maturity. I love the "I was in guns and noses". "roses" in the previous line means this is obviously a play on "I was in Guns n' Roses." I take this as a reference to those random people occasionally popping up who talk about being an unknown and brief member of a famous band, just as a routine part of their sort of past life. This is also in the stanza 5, with the mention of losing the previous, interesting job, but not providing any details on why the job was lost. It's as if the narrator is relaying a piecemeal story and considers those details inconsequential. But then there are the obvious references to the child in stanzas 3 & 6. "baby to pound me" could be a reference to how babies will often just randomly hit you for no reason before they learn that they shouldn't. At the shows, Berninger actually makes a fist and brings it down in singing this line. The child would be where the narrator has gone into maturity and settled down.
I always thought "I've got baby to pound me" was in reference to a girl having sex with him.