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.
silently leaving the room
gathering your thoughts from the floor
hopefully no one will hear you
silently closing the door
down the long stairs to the hall
out to the streets where you'll find
rumored accounts and hearsay
was it me who acted that way
is it you who should stay
I don't recall ever acting that way
was it you who should've stayed
the truth was deceiving
when the hosts of the evening
found the ghost that was bleeding
drops of blood from the ceiling
someone was laughing, we all prayed for a favor
that the ghost would entertain us with some songs and some notes
but by the ? blood covered all the wood floors
opened all of the windows and all of the doors
broke all of the bottles on streets down below
some blood was frozen
blessed by wounded love
when the ice skates came on the girls finally sang songs
to the tunes of the laughter
while silently leaving the room
gathering your thoughts from the floor
hopefully no one will hear you
silently closing the door
down the long stairs to the hall
out to the streets where you'll find
rumored accounts and hearsay
was it me who acted that way
is it you who should stay
I don't recall ever acting that way
was it you who should've stayed
the truth was deceiving
when the hosts of the evening
found the ghost that was bleeding
drops of blood from the ceiling
someone was laughing, we all prayed for a favor
that the ghost would entertain us with some songs and some notes
but by the ? blood covered all the wood floors
opened all of the windows and all of the doors
broke all of the bottles on streets down below
some blood was frozen
blessed by wounded love
when the ice skates came on the girls finally sang songs
to the tunes of the laughter
while silently leaving the room
Lyrics submitted by mikestpierre, edited by BushmanBeats
Silently Leaving The Room Lyrics as written by Mathew Etter Brooke Jennifer Hays
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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!
More Featured Meanings
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
Siberian Kiss
Glassjaw
Glassjaw
its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
when rules change
Life in Your Way
Life in Your Way
High life
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
The song, to me, seems to have two different meanings.
For me, the first part of the song is about leaving an apartment you shared with an apartment due to a split, hence the "was it you who should have stayed", etc, similar to the theme of Owen's 'The Ghost Of What Should've Been', but the second part seems to be more about actually leaving as in dying, hence all the ghost lyrics. It's definitely a haunting track though.