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 can't let you be, cause your beauty won't allow me
Wrapped in white sheets,
Like an angel from a bedtime story
And shut out what they say,
'Cause your friends are fucked up anyway
And when they come around,
Somehow they feel up and you feel down.
When we were kids, we hated things our parents did
We listened low to Casey Kasem's radio show
That's when friends were nice,
To think of them just makes you feel nice
The smell of grass in spring
And October leaves cover everything.
[Repeat: x2]
Have you forgotten how to love yourself?
I can't believe all the good things that you do for me
Sat back in a chair like a princess from a faraway place
Nobody's nice, when you're older your heart turns to ice
And shut out what they say;
They're too dumb to mean it anyway
When we were kids, we hated things our sisters did
Backyard summer pools and Christmases were beautiful
And the sentiment of coloured mirrored ornaments
And the open drapes
Look out on frozen farmhouse landscapes
[Repeat: x6]
Have you forgotten how to love yourself?
Wrapped in white sheets,
Like an angel from a bedtime story
And shut out what they say,
'Cause your friends are fucked up anyway
And when they come around,
Somehow they feel up and you feel down.
When we were kids, we hated things our parents did
We listened low to Casey Kasem's radio show
That's when friends were nice,
To think of them just makes you feel nice
The smell of grass in spring
And October leaves cover everything.
[Repeat: x2]
Have you forgotten how to love yourself?
I can't believe all the good things that you do for me
Sat back in a chair like a princess from a faraway place
Nobody's nice, when you're older your heart turns to ice
And shut out what they say;
They're too dumb to mean it anyway
When we were kids, we hated things our sisters did
Backyard summer pools and Christmases were beautiful
And the sentiment of coloured mirrored ornaments
And the open drapes
Look out on frozen farmhouse landscapes
[Repeat: x6]
Have you forgotten how to love yourself?
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i particularly question the line "hated things our parents did" i think it can be interpreted as they hated the same things as their parents. like influecned. rather than the parents actions. like listening casey kasem for instance.
Yes, I love the ambiguity in this line. Whether intentionally or not, Kozelek has written a line that can simultaneously be interpreted two ways that mean completely the opposite of each other. As we grow from teenagers into adults, isn't it true that we move from hating our parents' actions to hating the same things they hate?