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.
[John Mann talking about the song before playing it]
Thank you.
We're gonna do a song right now that...[whistle toot] uh, that I feel pretty good about.
[idle strumming/plucking/tuning of bass or guitar in the background]
This is kind of fun because my dad had written some poetry and he gave me a poem that I guess kind of expressed what had been happening in his life. And he gave me the poem and said "could you write some music for it?" And so I took it and wrote so basic music for it and brought it to the guys and they kinda helped...
[an odd discordant note is disapprovingly played on the bass in the background]
...yeah they helped a lot. We came up with this song and dad didn't give it to me with a name and we were fooling around with it one day and Geoff starting playing this jig "Ships in Full Sail" over top of the chords and it really worked out beautifully.
[John away from the mike] Thanks Geoff.
[Geoff into his mike] Your Welcome.
[They start playing the song]
Well I was sittin' by the shore
watchin' merchant seaman leave
the safety of their harbour
for the open reach of sea
and I reckoned that their life
was a ruthless one and lonely
and I contemplated only
it was here I'd rather be
so I rose and turned my back upon the sea
And then the metaphor took shape
in my mind a few days later
that the harbour was my history
and the sea a chance for change
That horizon beckoned me
[and when I stroked in that direction]?
I began to realize that it might be within my range
now I'm out here swimmin' in the waves of change
Now that horizon didn't seem
to be getting any closer
and it made me start to wonder
if it all might be in vain
then I began to understand
horizons don't get closer
rather you extend them further
every time you make some gains
so I keep on swimmin' in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimming in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimmin' in the waves of...
change
Thank you.
We're gonna do a song right now that...[whistle toot] uh, that I feel pretty good about.
[idle strumming/plucking/tuning of bass or guitar in the background]
This is kind of fun because my dad had written some poetry and he gave me a poem that I guess kind of expressed what had been happening in his life. And he gave me the poem and said "could you write some music for it?" And so I took it and wrote so basic music for it and brought it to the guys and they kinda helped...
[an odd discordant note is disapprovingly played on the bass in the background]
...yeah they helped a lot. We came up with this song and dad didn't give it to me with a name and we were fooling around with it one day and Geoff starting playing this jig "Ships in Full Sail" over top of the chords and it really worked out beautifully.
[John away from the mike] Thanks Geoff.
[Geoff into his mike] Your Welcome.
[They start playing the song]
Well I was sittin' by the shore
watchin' merchant seaman leave
the safety of their harbour
for the open reach of sea
and I reckoned that their life
was a ruthless one and lonely
and I contemplated only
it was here I'd rather be
so I rose and turned my back upon the sea
And then the metaphor took shape
in my mind a few days later
that the harbour was my history
and the sea a chance for change
That horizon beckoned me
[and when I stroked in that direction]?
I began to realize that it might be within my range
now I'm out here swimmin' in the waves of change
Now that horizon didn't seem
to be getting any closer
and it made me start to wonder
if it all might be in vain
then I began to understand
horizons don't get closer
rather you extend them further
every time you make some gains
so I keep on swimmin' in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimming in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimmin' in the waves of...
change
Lyrics submitted by dreamorph
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Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in
"There was a time
you opened up every doorway
you didn't mind if everything
wasn't your way"
then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else,
"Don't pull away
that goes against what you told me
I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum"
so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it,
"I think you've changed
but you insist that
that's not true"
quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum",
"You look so strange, so distant
that you're hardly you
Now I can see
how you have been acting different
You say it's me
but I know
that it isn't
it's love in a vacuum"
but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines
"You will be lonely
if you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have,
"Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
love in a vacuum
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
You will be lonely
if you leave me alone
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough"
you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment,
"You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough
and just wait
you will be lonely
Love in a vacuum
Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
Love in a vacuum".
'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the coke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song.
Quintessential Aimee Mann.
when rules change
Life in Your Way
Life in Your Way
High life
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
This has been a favourite of mine ever since I first played the dubbed cassette copy of the "Old Material" live album of Spirit of the West made for me by a friend. I have a outline symbolic personal philosophy that covers some of my thoughts about our past, present and future and how to integrate them, and this song plays an important role in the mobius strip, "siempre" description of the future. I talk about journey over destination, process over product and "being" instead of "having" as ways to look at your future, goals and plans.
The signature of this kind of future philosophy is the last verse, and in particular the lines "I began to understand horizons don't get closer, rather you extend them further every time you make some gains."
This is one of those songs I keep close in my memory and can sing from beginning to end, either to myself or to another, whenever the mood strikes me.
The song/poem itself starts with the singer rejecting the idea of risking hardship or pain in search of some goal, enrichment or adventure. He contemplated only that his life was more confortable without the ruthless, lonely risk of setting out to strive for more. Then later thoughts arose of trying to bring change instead of resting under inertia in the safe, possibly ordinary place where your life and choices have brought you. And so he chooses a goal or destination to reach for, begins to believe he can attain it, and begins to strive toward it.
The key revelation and meaning in the song for me comes in the last verse when he is discouraged because he cannot seem to make visible progress toward his goal and wonders whether it is a waste of time to try. Finally the idea becomes clear that it is not the goal that is most important, it is the striving toward it, the journey, the process, the brings the growth and progress that enriches your life and makes more things possible for you.
I love the use of the horizon image, one that we can all bring to mind and whose behaviour we visually and instinctively understand. I makes a clear and beautiful metaphor for of a goal that seems to forever shift out of reach and stay too far away to attain, but the movement of the goal further away is a result of your progress, how far you've come, and also it brings access to more of the world and more to experience as you "extend your horizons."