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.
Grandma came to see
Something she could not believe
How could her girl be
So naive
Tar baby, tar baby told
The secret she conceived
Oh, that big old smile of yours
Could turn the wind into a song
How could I have doubted?
Honey it's with me that you belong
Tar baby, tar baby
I love you so
(I love you)
Like a brand new blade
You cut into my life
Cut through two decades (decades)
Like a hot coal on ice (baby, baby, baby, baby, babe)
Tar baby, my tar baby
It maybe, was meant to be
When I look at you
I can't believe my eyes
And with your magic
I think you just might charm the birds
Out of the skies
Tar baby, tar baby, tar baby
Came good out of grief
A golden thread inside of the web
That I got caught in
Oh, it's a lover's revenge, but out of the pain
Come the best things
You cut into my life
You cut into my life
(Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, don't you know that?)
You cut into my life (I love you)
You cut into my life
La la la la la ooh
You can turn the wind into a song
La la la la la baby baby baby
It's with me you belong
Something she could not believe
How could her girl be
So naive
Tar baby, tar baby told
The secret she conceived
Oh, that big old smile of yours
Could turn the wind into a song
How could I have doubted?
Honey it's with me that you belong
Tar baby, tar baby
I love you so
(I love you)
Like a brand new blade
You cut into my life
Cut through two decades (decades)
Like a hot coal on ice (baby, baby, baby, baby, babe)
Tar baby, my tar baby
It maybe, was meant to be
When I look at you
I can't believe my eyes
And with your magic
I think you just might charm the birds
Out of the skies
Tar baby, tar baby, tar baby
Came good out of grief
A golden thread inside of the web
That I got caught in
Oh, it's a lover's revenge, but out of the pain
Come the best things
You cut into my life
You cut into my life
(Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, don't you know that?)
You cut into my life (I love you)
You cut into my life
La la la la la ooh
You can turn the wind into a song
La la la la la baby baby baby
It's with me you belong
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This song was from her 1985 album Promise - Her only daughter (so far as I can tell) was born in 1996. Get off the heroin thing - the "its always about drugs" thing gets annoying.