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.
Wasn't the question you asked me
It wasn't the answer I gave
That made me feel like I was on a train
Was a distant voice
Made me make a choice
That I had to get the fuck out of this town
I got a lot of things to do
A lot of places to go
I've got a lot of good things coming my way
And I'm afraid to say that you're not one of them.
Last time I was there
You were out on the couch
Pressed into a little electric 2
It was the way that you smiled
Made me know at once
That I had to get the fuck out of this town
'Cause I've decide to make a stand
And I'm not gonna take your hand
I'm taking the next bus outta here,
I'm gonna head for Box Elder, M.O.
It wasn't the answer I gave
That made me feel like I was on a train
Was a distant voice
Made me make a choice
That I had to get the fuck out of this town
I got a lot of things to do
A lot of places to go
I've got a lot of good things coming my way
And I'm afraid to say that you're not one of them.
Last time I was there
You were out on the couch
Pressed into a little electric 2
It was the way that you smiled
Made me know at once
That I had to get the fuck out of this town
'Cause I've decide to make a stand
And I'm not gonna take your hand
I'm taking the next bus outta here,
I'm gonna head for Box Elder, M.O.
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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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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Surprised nobody has nailed this one yet. (Not that many have tried...)
It's pretty straightforward - his relationship is ending. It was a very tough decision but he now knows with conviction that it is over. "Box Elder" is just another way of saying something like "Bumblefuck" or "Anywhere but here". As in "I don't care where I go next, as long as it isn't in the same town as you". You could even interpret the last line as something like "I want out of here so bad that I'm taking the next bus out of town wherever it may go... and it happens to be going to Box Elder".
this song ist rad
box elder is a kind of poison ivy the song is about "poisonous women"
he doesn't want to fall for the same girl that a relationship with whom would only inevitably end in heartache on someone's part.
"Pressed into a little electric 2 It was the way that you smiled "
oh wow. we are WaStEd.
I've always heard "on a tray"
Also, as far as I can tell, there is no town called Box Elder in Missouri. I'm pretty sure SM meant to say MT since there is a town by that name in Montana. Of course, MO sounds better, but I must be pedantic.
@ratanx <br /> I always heard "tray" too, which made me think something like he was being served as food for someone to eat and he doesn't like feeling like he's here for someone else's pleasure? No clue
Malkmus worked at a resort in Montana in '89 or so. He talks about it in a YouTube interview for SnowGhost studios where he recorded at least part of Real Emotional Trash. Glacier National Park lies between Whitefish and Box Elder in Montana.
I felt exactly the same way about a town and a girl a few months ago. For me it's not just about breaking up with the girl, it's also about being sick of the whole town, the people and the places and the whole community ... the girl thinks she can keep him there, but na, sorry.
I always figured that it was just about hating the world (town) around you & just wanting to "get the fuck out" and go anywhere else.
But looking closer at the lyrics it could be taken to be about a bad relationship and just wanting to get out of it.