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.
I can't see where you're comin' from
But I know just what you're runnin' from
And what matters ain't the "who's baddest" but the
Ones who stop you falling from your ladder
When you feel like you're feeling now
And doin' things just to please your crowd
When I love you like the way I love you
And I suffer but I ain't gonna cut you 'cause
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
And every time I close my eyes
I think, I think about you inside
And your mother givin' up on asking why
Why you lie and you cheat
and you try to make a fool out of she
I can't see where you're comin' from
But I know just what you're runnin' from
And what matters ain't the "who's baddest" but the
Ones who stop you falling from your ladder, cause
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
But I know just what you're runnin' from
And what matters ain't the "who's baddest" but the
Ones who stop you falling from your ladder
When you feel like you're feeling now
And doin' things just to please your crowd
When I love you like the way I love you
And I suffer but I ain't gonna cut you 'cause
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
And every time I close my eyes
I think, I think about you inside
And your mother givin' up on asking why
Why you lie and you cheat
and you try to make a fool out of she
I can't see where you're comin' from
But I know just what you're runnin' from
And what matters ain't the "who's baddest" but the
Ones who stop you falling from your ladder, cause
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better man
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"
Lyrics submitted by Tyrak, edited by kenji1nonly, juane , LateGoodby, DamianDD, yesdaniel, NightfallGemini, ChipperSpiff, cegas, NeonKilljoy, zalmly, LifeGoesOn275, h4emp3, AngelSwordAF, stillborn86, joseph1181, bigblack, Hunter676, AAMM, ArmandSpice, xerazal, Sl4sher
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I see it as being about a dysfunctional family.\n\nThe first and second verse is probably the girl of the family. Like the daughter. It\'s all about doing dysfunctional things to please low lifes and "What matters aint the, who\'s baddest" could be the girl going for bad guys and ignoring the people that would actually support her.\n\nThe third verse could be the brother, who the mother enables. Of course, if we were to take the brothers relationship with gangsters (whom he knows on the "inside) or the sister had actually gone to jail then they could be the same person. But I see it more as two different people, the brother and the sister.\n\nThe chorus then is that in these family systems nobody wants to hear from the more virtuous individual who might actually call all this stuff out.