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.
Fill up your mind with all it can know
Don't forget that your body will let it all go
Fill up your mind with all it can know
What would we be without wishful thinking
Chambers of chains
With red plastic mouths
The inside of outside
No one has found
How to unring the bell
It's just as well
The turntable sizzles
Casting the spells
The pressure devices
Hell in a nutshell
Is any song worth singing
If it doesn't help
Fill up your mind with all it can know
Don't forget that your body can let it all go
Fill up your mind with all it can know
'Cause what would love be without wishful thinking
Open your arms as far as they will go
We take off your dress
An embarrassing poem
Was written when I was alone
In love with you
I shook down those lines
To shine up the streets
I got up off my hands and knees
To thank my lucky stars that you're not me
What would we be without wishful thinking
What would we be without wishful thinking
What would we be without wishful thinking
Don't forget that your body will let it all go
Fill up your mind with all it can know
What would we be without wishful thinking
Chambers of chains
With red plastic mouths
The inside of outside
No one has found
How to unring the bell
It's just as well
The turntable sizzles
Casting the spells
The pressure devices
Hell in a nutshell
Is any song worth singing
If it doesn't help
Fill up your mind with all it can know
Don't forget that your body can let it all go
Fill up your mind with all it can know
'Cause what would love be without wishful thinking
Open your arms as far as they will go
We take off your dress
An embarrassing poem
Was written when I was alone
In love with you
I shook down those lines
To shine up the streets
I got up off my hands and knees
To thank my lucky stars that you're not me
What would we be without wishful thinking
What would we be without wishful thinking
What would we be without wishful thinking
Lyrics submitted by eastcidskl
Wishful Thinking Lyrics as written by Jeffrey Scot Tweedy Glenn Kotche
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Unison Rights S.L.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fill up your mind with all it can know Don't forget that your body will let it all go Fill up your mind with all it can know What would we be without wishful thinking
I get the feeling that verse means that you should wish all you want. Fill up your mind with wishes, because for most of us, we won't do anything about those wishes anyway. We just let those thoughts go.
Chambers of chains With red plastic mouths The inside of outside No one has found How to unring the bell It's just as well
How to unring the bell we just rung? When we say something kinky, oops. When we say something stupid, oops! Maybe we shouldn't have said that. How embarassing. It's out there - you can't take it back. Oh Jeff you kinky dude!
I think the rest of you got those other verses.