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.
See, I think drugs have done some good things for us, I really do
And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us
Do me a favor, go home tonight and take all your albums
All your tapes and all your CDs and burn 'em, 'cause you know what?
The musicians who've made all that great music that's enhanced your lives
Throughout the years, real fucking high on drugs
Dreaming of that face again
It's bright and blue and shimmering
Grinning wide
And comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes
On my back and tumbling
Down that hole and back again
Rising up
And wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye
In, out, in, out, in, out
A child's rhyme stuck in my head
It said that life is but a dream
I've spent so many years in question
To find I've known this all along
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running?
Shrouding all the ground around me
Is this holy crow above me
Black as holes within a memory
And blue as our new second sun
I stick my hand into his shadow
To pull the pieces from the sand
Which I attempt to reassemble
To see just who I might have been
I do not recognize the vessel
But the eyes seem so familiar
Like phosphorescent desert buttons
Singing one familiar song
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing the tail of dogma
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding from me
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us
Do me a favor, go home tonight and take all your albums
All your tapes and all your CDs and burn 'em, 'cause you know what?
The musicians who've made all that great music that's enhanced your lives
Throughout the years, real fucking high on drugs
Dreaming of that face again
It's bright and blue and shimmering
Grinning wide
And comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes
On my back and tumbling
Down that hole and back again
Rising up
And wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye
In, out, in, out, in, out
A child's rhyme stuck in my head
It said that life is but a dream
I've spent so many years in question
To find I've known this all along
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running?
Shrouding all the ground around me
Is this holy crow above me
Black as holes within a memory
And blue as our new second sun
I stick my hand into his shadow
To pull the pieces from the sand
Which I attempt to reassemble
To see just who I might have been
I do not recognize the vessel
But the eyes seem so familiar
Like phosphorescent desert buttons
Singing one familiar song
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing the tail of dogma
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding from me
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
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its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
this is such a meaningful song. maynard speaks about finding yourself and opening your mind to endless possibilities.