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 had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings
I get no satisfaction from your very recent sightings
Like when I hear the sound of feet slapping on the runway
Like a small bird pretty while it's crapping on the new day
So disappointed I was that I had made small talk with you
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
I'm not feeling your buzz I only smell your crock of stew
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
She had some beauty and manners but you look like a bug
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Migrations of their type are such good planners and not smug
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
You are proselytizing alone
Listening to the voice with your ears
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
You have regurgitated the tone
Now sat in your tract for many years
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Picked up from dead things that you licked
It's a feedback loop you can't evict
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
I get no satisfaction from your very recent sightings
Like when I hear the sound of feet slapping on the runway
Like a small bird pretty while it's crapping on the new day
So disappointed I was that I had made small talk with you
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
I'm not feeling your buzz I only smell your crock of stew
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
She had some beauty and manners but you look like a bug
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Migrations of their type are such good planners and not smug
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
You are proselytizing alone
Listening to the voice with your ears
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
You have regurgitated the tone
Now sat in your tract for many years
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Picked up from dead things that you licked
It's a feedback loop you can't evict
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Cover your breath
Cover your teeth
Bagboy, bagboy, bagboy
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It's about a guy who normally feels alternately capable and inferior, and he's been with a girl for a while that makes him feel increasingly inferior even though he is on the cusp of falling in love with her and his reaction is extreme to the point of barely restained violence, but he gets a hold of himself and merely becomes a vessel for her whims and wants while he suppresses his true personality and responses.
I loved the latest release from the Pixies. The album asked first what goes boom? This song goes boom, big pixie boom. I think it broke my brain. The guitars and drums are never more Pixie-ish, so who cares whether it's Kim or not on the backing vocals, sounds like something she'd do, so that's what I'll believe and it'll be just as good as ever. Santiago and Loveridge are ripping it up!
@Ralph26 * David Lovering