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.
The handshake seals the contract from the contract
There's no turning back
The turning point of a career in Korea, being insincere
The holiday was fun packed
The contract still intact
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The graph on the wall
Tells the story of it all
Picture it now
See just how the lies and deceit
Gained a little more power
Confidence taken in by a sun tan and a grin
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
Everything, everything
Everything, everything
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
There's no turning back
The turning point of a career in Korea, being insincere
The holiday was fun packed
The contract still intact
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The graph on the wall
Tells the story of it all
Picture it now
See just how the lies and deceit
Gained a little more power
Confidence taken in by a sun tan and a grin
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves after all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
Everything, everything
Everything, everything
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
Lyrics submitted by gasmask, edited by Apikaila1018
Everything Counts Lyrics as written by Martin Gore
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I heard this song as a teenager on my FM stereo Walkman in the back seat of the family car from some college station around Hartford, CT while going to pick up my grandparents at the airport who were visiting us. It was around 1982, & I only knew DM from their 1st album, Speak & Spell. Wow! I thought. DM has really changed their sound (harder edged & more industrial), gotten more outspoken about real life...I love DM again! "Everything Counts" summed up the attitude of the '80s: Those Who Die W/the Most Toys Wins. Reagan was the pres. The government was right-wing conservatives w/a "let's have a war" bent, i.e. our fed. gov't sold arms to the wrong side! Like the Iranians, the Contras in El Salvador-all this & Reagan joked, "We will begin bombing in 5 min." :P Kids feared nuclear war in the '80s. But money & status was the ticket to joy, thought social climbers a/k/a Yuppies. I worked in Sales support w/younger mindsets my age. Where did I go wrong, LOL? I was a big DM fan, down to wearing black, w/odd haircuts & Manic Panic-even combat boots and a black trench coat! Call me "AntiYup" because this song predicated how I would become as an free-thinking, non-status-seeking BBWinB (Big Beautiful Woman in Black) in my 20's & 30s.