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.
Little birds born without a mother or a father
I can feel their feathers forming in the running water
Now there is another in the middle of my mouth
A hundred altogether inside of me now
Little birds, little birds, come into my body
Mother, they're within me every moment I'm awaking
Bodies multiplying till they finally overtake me
Put your ears up to my mouth and you can hear them singing
Put your hands within me and you'll know what I am feeling
I just want to swallow up and promise to protect them
Daddy, come towards me, I could see his hands are shaking
Put his hands against me, he could feel their bodies breaking
Pushed me to the floor and put his hands up for a beating
"I don't want to hear it anymore" he kept repeating
"Do you really want the burning hell to come and get you?"
"Did you see the burning hell? It took your baby brother?
Did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?
Another boy in town at night, he took him for his lover
And deep in sin they held each other
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in
Knowing God in heaven no could never could forgive him
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in"
Little boy born without a mother or a father
Taken to the river and then pushed into the water
And the priests are singing that the hell was getting hotter
La, la-la la la
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
And here beneath the water
I can see how the light
Distorts so strange
And this is how
I would like to leave my body
And start again
I can feel their feathers forming in the running water
Now there is another in the middle of my mouth
A hundred altogether inside of me now
Little birds, little birds, come into my body
Mother, they're within me every moment I'm awaking
Bodies multiplying till they finally overtake me
Put your ears up to my mouth and you can hear them singing
Put your hands within me and you'll know what I am feeling
I just want to swallow up and promise to protect them
Daddy, come towards me, I could see his hands are shaking
Put his hands against me, he could feel their bodies breaking
Pushed me to the floor and put his hands up for a beating
"I don't want to hear it anymore" he kept repeating
"Do you really want the burning hell to come and get you?"
"Did you see the burning hell? It took your baby brother?
Did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?
Another boy in town at night, he took him for his lover
And deep in sin they held each other
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in
Knowing God in heaven no could never could forgive him
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in"
Little boy born without a mother or a father
Taken to the river and then pushed into the water
And the priests are singing that the hell was getting hotter
La, la-la la la
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
And here beneath the water
I can see how the light
Distorts so strange
And this is how
I would like to leave my body
And start again
Lyrics submitted by subverted0, edited by danzase6, kirkweigensber, putainan
Little Birds [Demo - 1998] Lyrics as written by Jeff Mangum
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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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:
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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
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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"
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Hayalperest
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
yeah, i don't think that this song is about jeff personally. there does seem to be some similarities between the character in this song as the one in two headed boy pt. 2
but from what i've read about Jeff from an interview is that he gets a lot of his lyrics and melodies from practicing a kind of relaxation between sleep and awake and images just kind of come to him. so it seems like this might just be a character he's come up with in his imagination or maybe it's about someone he knows, because he also said he wrote songs about people he knew to try and help them... kind of.