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.
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bet your bottom dollar bill you're a playboy, yeah, yeah!
Daddy cool, with a ninety dollar smile (oh yeah)
Took my money out of gratitude
And he get right out of town
Well, I gotta getty up steady up, shoot him down
Gotta hit that latitude, babe
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big, bad Leroy Brown - he got no common sense
No, no, he got no brains, but he sure gotta lot of style
Can't stand no more in this, here, jail
I gotta rid myself of this sentence
Gotta get out of the heat, step into the shade
Gotta get me there dead or alive, babe
Woo, woo, big, bad Leroy
Woo, woo, woo, woo
Big, bad Leroy Brown
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta bring back Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big mama Lulu Belle - she had a nervous breakdown
She had a nervous breakdown
Leroy's taken her honey child away
But she met him down at the station, ooo-hoo
Put a shotgun to his head, and, unless I be mistaken
This is what she said
Big bad big boy, big bad Leroy Brown
I'm gonna get that cutie pie
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big bad caused a mighty fine sensation, yeah, yeah!
Gone and got himself elected President
We want Leroy for President
Next time you gotta hit a bitty baddy weather
This time like a shimmy shammy leather
He's a big boy, bad boy Leroy
I don't care where you get him from
Bring that big, bad Leroy back
Want him back
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bet your bottom dollar bill you're a playboy, yeah, yeah!
Daddy cool, with a ninety dollar smile (oh yeah)
Took my money out of gratitude
And he get right out of town
Well, I gotta getty up steady up, shoot him down
Gotta hit that latitude, babe
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big, bad Leroy Brown - he got no common sense
No, no, he got no brains, but he sure gotta lot of style
Can't stand no more in this, here, jail
I gotta rid myself of this sentence
Gotta get out of the heat, step into the shade
Gotta get me there dead or alive, babe
Woo, woo, big, bad Leroy
Woo, woo, woo, woo
Big, bad Leroy Brown
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta bring back Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big mama Lulu Belle - she had a nervous breakdown
She had a nervous breakdown
Leroy's taken her honey child away
But she met him down at the station, ooo-hoo
Put a shotgun to his head, and, unless I be mistaken
This is what she said
Big bad big boy, big bad Leroy Brown
I'm gonna get that cutie pie
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big bad caused a mighty fine sensation, yeah, yeah!
Gone and got himself elected President
We want Leroy for President
Next time you gotta hit a bitty baddy weather
This time like a shimmy shammy leather
He's a big boy, bad boy Leroy
I don't care where you get him from
Bring that big, bad Leroy back
Want him back
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