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.
Let's put our heads together
And start a new country up
Our father's father's father tried
Erased the parts he didn't like
Let's try to fill it in
Bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me
We knee-skinned that river red
This is where we walked
This is where we swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
This land is the land of ours
This river runs red over it
We knee-skinned it you and me
We knee-skinned that river red
And we gathered up our friends
Bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me
Up underneath the river bed
This is where we walked
This is where we swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Let's put our heads together
And start a new country up
Up underneath the river bed
We'll burn the river down
This is where they walked, swam
Hunted, danced and sang
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Rewrite the book and rule the pages
Saving face, secured in faith
Bury, burn the waste behind you
This land is the land of ours
This river runs red over it
We are not your allies
We cannot defend
This is where they walked
This is where they swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
And start a new country up
Our father's father's father tried
Erased the parts he didn't like
Let's try to fill it in
Bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me
We knee-skinned that river red
This is where we walked
This is where we swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
This land is the land of ours
This river runs red over it
We knee-skinned it you and me
We knee-skinned that river red
And we gathered up our friends
Bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me
Up underneath the river bed
This is where we walked
This is where we swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Let's put our heads together
And start a new country up
Up underneath the river bed
We'll burn the river down
This is where they walked, swam
Hunted, danced and sang
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Rewrite the book and rule the pages
Saving face, secured in faith
Bury, burn the waste behind you
This land is the land of ours
This river runs red over it
We are not your allies
We cannot defend
This is where they walked
This is where they swam
Take a picture here
Take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Lyrics submitted by xpankfrisst
Cuyahoga Lyrics as written by Peter Buck Bill Berry
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I love this brilliant environmental anthem.
The lyrics do refer to the infamously polluted Cuyahoga River in OH. "Burn the river down" has to do with the river catching fire because of all the oil and other pollutants. This happened a number of times, including an episode in 1969 (when the members of R.E.M. would have been ~9-13 years old) that made national headlines and helped start a discussion that led to the passage of the Clean Water Act.
There are also references to the area around the river once being home to indigenous people who had a much more environmentally friendly lifestyle, as a contrast with its condition today. References to the river running red could thus be references to the blood of the native people as well as to the fires on the river.