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.
No perception of passing time
The words struggle to escape her mind
New perspectives to redefine
Birdsong awakens her from the storm
Shuffle the sequence of old paradigms
The rhyme and metre still misaligned
Another page lay burning in the fire
The ink and the feather hold their secrets well
Nightingale
I dream in daylight
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravelled
I'm ever of the chosen
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by my inner totem
Poetic justice arriving after all
When characters and places start to form
A sullen emperor endures his requiem
Can he live with this lament?
A mechanical animal
A dangerous game
That clockwork song it sings
Will send you to your grave
Now heed the nightingale's cautionary tale
Away, away, for I will fly to thee
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravelled
I'm ever of the chosen
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by my inner totem
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravelled
I'm ever of the chosen
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by the totem inside
Dig in with your claws
I push my talons into your skin
Heal me with your song
You are forgiven for all your sins
Dig in with your claws
Sleep now in blissful anaesthesia
Heal me with your song
Still no perception of passing
Nightingale
I dream in daylight
Nightingale mine
See me take flight
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravel me
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by the totem
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravel me
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by the totem
The words struggle to escape her mind
New perspectives to redefine
Birdsong awakens her from the storm
Shuffle the sequence of old paradigms
The rhyme and metre still misaligned
Another page lay burning in the fire
The ink and the feather hold their secrets well
Nightingale
I dream in daylight
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravelled
I'm ever of the chosen
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by my inner totem
Poetic justice arriving after all
When characters and places start to form
A sullen emperor endures his requiem
Can he live with this lament?
A mechanical animal
A dangerous game
That clockwork song it sings
Will send you to your grave
Now heed the nightingale's cautionary tale
Away, away, for I will fly to thee
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravelled
I'm ever of the chosen
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by my inner totem
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravelled
I'm ever of the chosen
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by the totem inside
Dig in with your claws
I push my talons into your skin
Heal me with your song
You are forgiven for all your sins
Dig in with your claws
Sleep now in blissful anaesthesia
Heal me with your song
Still no perception of passing
Nightingale
I dream in daylight
Nightingale mine
See me take flight
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravel me
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by the totem
One fateful night
Unspoken binds unravel me
My signal fire still burning
I feel like I'm guided by the totem
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
I believe this song to be inspired by "The Nightingale" (Danish: "Nattergalen") which is a literary fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen about an emperor who prefers the tinkling of a bejeweled mechanical bird to the song of a real nightingale. When the Emperor is near death, the nightingale's song restores his health. Well received upon its publication in Copenhagen in 1843 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection, the tale is believed to have been inspired by the author's unrequited love for opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish nightingale". The story has been adapted to opera, ballet, musical play, television drama and animated film.