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.
Jenny
Jenny you don't know the nights I hide
below a second story room
to whistle you down
the man who's let to divvy up
time is a miser
he's got a silver coin
only lets it shine for hours
while you sleep it away
there's one rare and odd style of living
part only known to the everybody Jenny
a comical where's the end parade
of the sort people here would think unusual
Jenny
tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea
far off we sail on to Back O' The Moon
Jenny
Jenny you don't know the days I've tried
telling backyard tales
so to maybe amuse
o your mood is never giddy
if you smile I'm delighted
but you'd rather pout
such a lazy child
you dare fold your arms
tisk and say that I lie
there's one rare and odd style of thinking
part only known to the everybody Jenny
the small step and giant leap takers
got the head start in the race toward it
Jenny
tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea
far off we sail on to the Back O' The Moon
that was a sigh
but not meant to envy you
when your age was mine
some things were sworn true
morning would come
and calendar pages had
new printed seasons on
their opposite sides
Jenny
Jenny you don't know the nights I hide
below a second story room
to whistle you down
o the man who's let to divvy up
time is a miser
he's got a silver coin
lets it shine for hours
while you sleep it away
there's one rare and odd style of living
part only known to the everybody Jenny
out of tin ships jump the bubble head boys
to push their flags into powdered soils and cry
no second placers
no smart looking geese in bonnets
dance with pigs in high button trousers
no milk pail for the farmer's daughter
no merry towns of sweet walled houses
here I've found
Back O' the Moon
not here
I've found
Back O' the Moon
Jenny you don't know the nights I hide
below a second story room
to whistle you down
the man who's let to divvy up
time is a miser
he's got a silver coin
only lets it shine for hours
while you sleep it away
there's one rare and odd style of living
part only known to the everybody Jenny
a comical where's the end parade
of the sort people here would think unusual
Jenny
tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea
far off we sail on to Back O' The Moon
Jenny
Jenny you don't know the days I've tried
telling backyard tales
so to maybe amuse
o your mood is never giddy
if you smile I'm delighted
but you'd rather pout
such a lazy child
you dare fold your arms
tisk and say that I lie
there's one rare and odd style of thinking
part only known to the everybody Jenny
the small step and giant leap takers
got the head start in the race toward it
Jenny
tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea
far off we sail on to the Back O' The Moon
that was a sigh
but not meant to envy you
when your age was mine
some things were sworn true
morning would come
and calendar pages had
new printed seasons on
their opposite sides
Jenny
Jenny you don't know the nights I hide
below a second story room
to whistle you down
o the man who's let to divvy up
time is a miser
he's got a silver coin
lets it shine for hours
while you sleep it away
there's one rare and odd style of living
part only known to the everybody Jenny
out of tin ships jump the bubble head boys
to push their flags into powdered soils and cry
no second placers
no smart looking geese in bonnets
dance with pigs in high button trousers
no milk pail for the farmer's daughter
no merry towns of sweet walled houses
here I've found
Back O' the Moon
not here
I've found
Back O' the Moon
Lyrics submitted by kornchick
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I don't think I've ever heard such an evocative rendering of childhood. The mixture of fairytale, memory and over-vivid, almost feverish imagery.
And
no smart looking geese in bonnets dance with pigs in high button trousers no milk pail for the farmer's daughter no merry towns of sweet walled houses
means, to me at least, that none of it exists.