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.
She was long gone, long, long gone
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'til no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
And I stood very still by the window sill
And I wondered for those I love still
I cried in my mind where I stand behind
The beauty of love's in her eyes
She was long gone, long, long gone
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'til no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
And I borrowed the page
From a leopard's cage
And I prowled in the evening sun's glaze
Her head lifted high to the light in the sky
The opening dawn on her face
She was long gone long, long gone
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'till no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
And I stood very still by the window sill
And I wondered for those I love still
I cried in my mind where I stand behind
The beauty of love's in her eyes
She was long gone long, long gone
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'till no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
She was long gone long, long gone.
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'til no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
And I stood very still by the window sill
And I wondered for those I love still
I cried in my mind where I stand behind
The beauty of love's in her eyes
She was long gone, long, long gone
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'til no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
And I borrowed the page
From a leopard's cage
And I prowled in the evening sun's glaze
Her head lifted high to the light in the sky
The opening dawn on her face
She was long gone long, long gone
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'till no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
And I stood very still by the window sill
And I wondered for those I love still
I cried in my mind where I stand behind
The beauty of love's in her eyes
She was long gone long, long gone
She was gone, gone, the bigger they come
The larger her hand 'till no one understands
Why for so long she'd been gone.
She was long gone long, long gone.
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I agree it's ace. Very lost mariner.
I think it's autobiographical. In his lyrics he more than often speaks in the third person, and he tends to refer to himself as female a lot too. In my opinion it's for two reasons.
In this one it's 'she' as in a ship or veichle he's steering - or rather that he's meant to be steering but he's on strike & has stopped or run aground (rather than given up). Like him being beached in Opel.
In some others it's sarcasm - because his girlfriend (and I reckon women in general) have pushed to acquire & have taken over the dominant male role by trading off their sexulaity (like a gigolo). Stupid thing is, they forget that they haven't taken, men have surrendered and given. Fine, but they should have some grace about it and recognise what real strength is - rather than their over-blown show off posturers who are only inflated in their padded bag of safe civilisation. Boagrecious's to a man, or rather water bison.
The hands are what's he's done to his life by using it as a picket line to demonstrate and communicate his dissatisfaction. That's 'abstract oppositional defiance' for you.
The sky is death, the light in the sky is God - Apollo. Syd's Achilles too don't you know.