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.
She was a girl from Birmingham
She just had an abortion
She was a case of insanity
Her name was Pauline, she lived in a tree
She was a no-one who killed her baby
She sent her letters from the country
She was an animal
She was a bloody disgrace
Body, I'm not an animal
Body, I'm not an animal
Dragged on a table in a factory
Illegitimate place to be
In a packet in a lavatory
Die little baby, screaming
Body, screaming fucking bloody mess
Not an animal, it's an abortion
Body, I'm not an animal
Mummy, I'm not an abortion
Throbbing squirm
Gurgling bloody mess
I'm not a discharge
I'm not a loss in protein
I'm not a throbbing squirm
Ah
Fuck this and fuck that
Fuck it all and fuck the fucking brat
She don't want a baby who looks like that
I don't want a baby that looks like that
Body, I'm not an animal
Body, an abortion
Body, I'm not an animal
Body, I'm not an animal
An animal
I'm not an animal
I'm not an animal, an animal, an
I'm not a body
I'm not an animal, an animal
I'm not an animal
Mummy
Ugh
She just had an abortion
She was a case of insanity
Her name was Pauline, she lived in a tree
She was a no-one who killed her baby
She sent her letters from the country
She was an animal
She was a bloody disgrace
Body, I'm not an animal
Body, I'm not an animal
Dragged on a table in a factory
Illegitimate place to be
In a packet in a lavatory
Die little baby, screaming
Body, screaming fucking bloody mess
Not an animal, it's an abortion
Body, I'm not an animal
Mummy, I'm not an abortion
Throbbing squirm
Gurgling bloody mess
I'm not a discharge
I'm not a loss in protein
I'm not a throbbing squirm
Ah
Fuck this and fuck that
Fuck it all and fuck the fucking brat
She don't want a baby who looks like that
I don't want a baby that looks like that
Body, I'm not an animal
Body, an abortion
Body, I'm not an animal
Body, I'm not an animal
An animal
I'm not an animal
I'm not an animal, an animal, an
I'm not a body
I'm not an animal, an animal
I'm not an animal
Mummy
Ugh
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Bodies Lyrics as written by John Lydon John Simon Beverly
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Sorry to everyone who thinks this song is anti-abortion: You're wrong. Johnny had this to say in an interview when asked if Bodies was anti-abortion:
"No. Quite the opposite. No, no. Early on I had an acceptance of what life really is. We lived in two rooms and we had an outdoor toilet. My mum had a miscarriage. And this isn't against my mum, but - this could have been a brother or a sister for me to play with and I had to flush it down the toilet. I mean, that strikes you. And that's like an abortion. I'm not anti- or pro-abortion. Every woman should have the choice when they face it. But that was a grim Steptoe & Son world. My mum was heartbroken. And if you construe that as being anti-abortion, then you're a silly cu... sausage."
So, he's pro-choice and has a special message to those who construe.
@CVReynolds <br /> <br /> "So, he's pro-choice and has a special message to those who construe." Are you fucking kidding me? He just said in that quote he's not pro choice or pro life, you just determined for him what he is.
@Nesman1995 hopefully the poster hasn’t edited his post retroactively but, provided he didn’t: you need to read closer, nesman1995, you dik.
@CVReynolds Good christ is this bullshit.This is revisionist history by Lydon. Look at the lyrics, they don't match this fantasy at all.