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.
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Hey, farmer, farmer
Put away the DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees, please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
I said, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Hey, farmer, farmer
Put away the DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees, please
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
I said, don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
Shoo, bop, bop, bop, bop
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
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've always interpreted this song like this:
She's complaining, all getting riled up about how they "paved paradise and put up a parking lot." She sings all this about how she's outraged, how its just awful.
But that's not really true. In fact, she is just pouring all her negative emotions into this facade of environmental awareness, when, in fact, she is devastated by the loss of her lover. She goes to great lengths to try and disguise her sadness with anger at the people who destroyed paradise, but her real pain shows through at the chorus, and, eventually, during the bridge, when the real reason for her despair and anger and everything reveals itself--if only for two lines; her walls are up pretty high, and this is just a momentary lapse of willpower.
So, yeah. This song is about denial. And it is done perfectly.
lightningrod14, This is a very deep, and beautiful interpretation of the song. I am sure many of us have the feeling that this song is not merely about environmental concern. Everything we people do, and create is a reaction to what we experience...so I think the true meaning lies behind whatever the writer was going through in her life at the time it was written.