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.
Little Mona Lisa laying by my side
"Crimson and Clover" pullin' overtime
I feel too close to be losin' touch
By givin' in, what am I givin' up
Am I losin' way too much
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
I'm goin' so fast that I can't slow down
It's hard to get up when you're spinnin' round and round
I'd give you the the news but nothin's changed
I'd sing you a song but they blew it away
All wrapped up in this stupid ass game
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
Can't I get back my lonely life
Can't I get back my lonely life
"Crimson and Clover" pullin' overtime
I feel too close to be losin' touch
By givin' in, what am I givin' up
Am I losin' way too much
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
I'm goin' so fast that I can't slow down
It's hard to get up when you're spinnin' round and round
I'd give you the the news but nothin's changed
I'd sing you a song but they blew it away
All wrapped up in this stupid ass game
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
Hey
California waiting
Every little thing's gotta be just right
Say
While you're tryin' to save me
Can't I get back my lonely life
Can't I get back my lonely life
Can't I get back my lonely life
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Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in
"There was a time
you opened up every doorway
you didn't mind if everything
wasn't your way"
then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else,
"Don't pull away
that goes against what you told me
I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum"
so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it,
"I think you've changed
but you insist that
that's not true"
quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum",
"You look so strange, so distant
that you're hardly you
Now I can see
how you have been acting different
You say it's me
but I know
that it isn't
it's love in a vacuum"
but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines
"You will be lonely
if you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have,
"Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
love in a vacuum
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
You will be lonely
if you leave me alone
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough"
you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment,
"You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough
and just wait
you will be lonely
Love in a vacuum
Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
Love in a vacuum".
'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the coke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song.
Quintessential Aimee Mann.
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Step
Ministry
Ministry
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.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
No comments? WHY? This is such a great song.
I dont understand the reference to "crimson and clover". Its in other songs too.
it's an old favorite of caleb's, i've seen him talk about it in an interview
In the interview Caleb saids the song (Crimson and Clover) is about taking a girl's virginity in the grass.<br /> <br /> ...The lost of pureness/youthfulness
Im not sure if everyone knows this but since thier father was a preacher they were only alowwed to listen to gospel music growing up ... I saw an interview where Caleb said Crimson and Clover was the first song he heard besides gospel when he was getting a ride home from school with one of his friends!