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 colored this picture for you
A little girl crying in her room
Her mom's just outside the door holding her head
And her brother's outside shooting hoops
Yeah, you can see him past her windowsill,
but we're not looking at him the same ever again
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Tell mama that you're ok?
May flowers
She won't say a single word
the doctor's gave up on her,
some things just can't be cured
Or covered up
These days she's hardly alive
Uh oh, Uh oh
She's already dead in the eyes
Uh oh, Uh oh
The house has been silent ever since.
Uh oh
Tell me what happened to Caroline
Whatever happened to Caroline?
What ever happened to Caroline?
Come on!
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Mama knows it hurts inside
Deflowered!
"When you're on your feed again you'll grow a resilience to those cold,
unrelenting showers"
May flowers
Grow taller
the harder April storms on the land
If you knew these storms were gonna come
I thought mothers protected their young
Those rainclouds are hiding your son
Now look at what happened to Caroline!
Look at what happened to Caroline!
Whatever happened to Caroline?
How do we solve a problem like
Uh oh, uh uh, uh oh, uh huh, uh oh
you don't.
Uh oh Uh oh!
still we've got to catch those clouds,
we've got to keep them down.
How do we solve a problem we don't want to know about?
Uh oh, we don't..
A little girl crying in her room
Her mom's just outside the door holding her head
And her brother's outside shooting hoops
Yeah, you can see him past her windowsill,
but we're not looking at him the same ever again
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Tell mama that you're ok?
May flowers
She won't say a single word
the doctor's gave up on her,
some things just can't be cured
Or covered up
These days she's hardly alive
Uh oh, Uh oh
She's already dead in the eyes
Uh oh, Uh oh
The house has been silent ever since.
Uh oh
Tell me what happened to Caroline
Whatever happened to Caroline?
What ever happened to Caroline?
Come on!
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Mama knows it hurts inside
Deflowered!
"When you're on your feed again you'll grow a resilience to those cold,
unrelenting showers"
May flowers
Grow taller
the harder April storms on the land
If you knew these storms were gonna come
I thought mothers protected their young
Those rainclouds are hiding your son
Now look at what happened to Caroline!
Look at what happened to Caroline!
Whatever happened to Caroline?
How do we solve a problem like
Uh oh, uh uh, uh oh, uh huh, uh oh
you don't.
Uh oh Uh oh!
still we've got to catch those clouds,
we've got to keep them down.
How do we solve a problem we don't want to know about?
Uh oh, we don't..
Lyrics submitted by BecauseTylerKnows
May Flowers Lyrics as written by Tim Kasher Gretta Mindy Cohn
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
Show Me a Little Shame
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
He certainly did earn that reputation.
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Techno Ted
Audioslave
Audioslave
Techno Ted may be a person who caused Chris incredible emotional pain & trepidation as well as moments of peace & happiness but now is removed and awaiting his fate. Darling may be a different person who is also free of him and can live her life free of Ted's tyranny. "In between all the laughing, and daydreams ... lies: a desert of truth" Lies are like a desert or the omission of Truth: Where there were Lies then Truth was absent. The song, "Techno Ted", may be a cathartic celebration of the downfall of this person.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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:
"I had all and then most of you"
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
"Some and now none of you"
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"
It's on the Eight Teeth To Eat You Split which contains four amazing, AMAZING songs by Cursive, as well as four songs by this band Eastern Youth, which is Japanese i believe. Pretty cool stuff. As for a burnable version, if you're going to try to get the song for free, do your own homework. Trust me, it wasn't that hard for me to find it.