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.
Sodium pentathol talking
Sit in the chair with the lights on
The tide of the talk and the evening
Tickles the ear like a cat's tongue
See in from the outside the window
Frames them in yellow and they go
In and out of a grey zone
They lean on the law and it bites back
No sway
This way
No sway
This way
Plessey business is no messy business
Just takes 'em over and sub-divides
Clean as a q-tip as quiet as nylon
One more hand then you got eyes on
Sway
Their way
Hold sway
This way
Boldly embracing the TV
Talking a mile to the minute
Charge 'em with trading the car keys
Just watch 'em try and deny it
We're at the centre of all this
Enjoying the sight and the salt taste
Pulling the party to pieces
Culling the last of the species
Sway this way and it makes sense
Not super-analytical and hyper-tense
You never get to celebrate undergoing therapy
Try and make the chemistry somethin' that it ain't
Go sway
This way
Sway
This way
Sway
This way
Sway
This Way
(repeats)
Sit in the chair with the lights on
The tide of the talk and the evening
Tickles the ear like a cat's tongue
See in from the outside the window
Frames them in yellow and they go
In and out of a grey zone
They lean on the law and it bites back
No sway
This way
No sway
This way
Plessey business is no messy business
Just takes 'em over and sub-divides
Clean as a q-tip as quiet as nylon
One more hand then you got eyes on
Sway
Their way
Hold sway
This way
Boldly embracing the TV
Talking a mile to the minute
Charge 'em with trading the car keys
Just watch 'em try and deny it
We're at the centre of all this
Enjoying the sight and the salt taste
Pulling the party to pieces
Culling the last of the species
Sway this way and it makes sense
Not super-analytical and hyper-tense
You never get to celebrate undergoing therapy
Try and make the chemistry somethin' that it ain't
Go sway
This way
Sway
This way
Sway
This way
Sway
This Way
(repeats)
Lyrics submitted by Major Valor
Sway Lyrics as written by John Oates Daryl Hall
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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