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.
Watch me fly away
Through the night sky yeah
Now that all you touched
Has finally turned gray
And roads can't hold us down
Winds will move us around
With no need to return
To this gray town
Want to bet I can tell
You've been in bed for too long
So let's just say so long
And I watched you at the cove
You read on rocks below
And I turned home
Without so much as hello
Want to know where I go
I've been away for too long
And it's hard to leave
When I haven't seen
You in so long
And if we had just
Held out for tomorrow
We might have seen
What seemed so far away
We didn't even bother to stay
There it goes I can tell
You're gonna to keep
Your eyes to the ground
Waiting for something
To finally come around
Tell you that you knew
That you weren't wrong
And it's finally time for so long
Through the night sky yeah
Now that all you touched
Has finally turned gray
And roads can't hold us down
Winds will move us around
With no need to return
To this gray town
Want to bet I can tell
You've been in bed for too long
So let's just say so long
And I watched you at the cove
You read on rocks below
And I turned home
Without so much as hello
Want to know where I go
I've been away for too long
And it's hard to leave
When I haven't seen
You in so long
And if we had just
Held out for tomorrow
We might have seen
What seemed so far away
We didn't even bother to stay
There it goes I can tell
You're gonna to keep
Your eyes to the ground
Waiting for something
To finally come around
Tell you that you knew
That you weren't wrong
And it's finally time for so long
Lyrics submitted by rjbucs28, edited by jefferyjxn
So Long Lyrics as written by Jenny Lewis Blake Sennett
Lyrics © 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!
ha! oh man. okay. first, ohxishxitsxdavid, i apologize for insulting you. i had the sense you were in the camp (usually the young'uns) who listen to elliott because he's soooo saaaaad and then to cut themselves to ribbons while listening to roman candle because elliott is the oooonly one who uuunderstaaands.
i was wrong. i apologize.
and i'm not an indie elitist. really. i'm not a sad little emo kid "who takes everything to heart." your facetiousness escaped me and i thought you were serious. i just went back and re-read your comment. your facetiousness still escapes me. perhaps you need to work on your internet facetiousness. or i need to work on my internet facetiousness spotting.
and i'm actually sort of flattered that someone called me an indie elitist. i went to oberlin and was never cool enough to hang with the black-clad pop-bottle-eyeglasses-wearing indie elitists who worked for the concert series and would sneer at you in their studded belts and converse all-stars as they stamped your hand for admission to shows. this is like total vicarious living via the internet. i am now an indie snob! cool!
i don't believe there are 'qualifications' to listen to his work. but i do think it takes a certain type of person to understand his work and not just chalk it up as sadness covered in depression sauce and served with a side of misery. i think you know what i mean-- how many reviews have you read that dismissed him as 'mister misery'? for example, pitchfork: "meekly mewed verses coated in thick, gloppy layers of heartbreak, lyrics hanging heavy with cold defeat, vocals seeped in doom."
right.
so, in closing: i read you wrong, i take it back, i shall summarily burn in hell for some short period of time for this. but please, don't call me a "so-called fan." cause that-- that i will take to heart.