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.
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
You say, you'll provide the birdbath
If I provide the skin
And bathing in the moonlight
I'm to tremble like a kitten
If blue eyed babes
Raised as Hitler's little brides and sons
They got angelic tendencies
Like some boys tend to act like queens
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you watch her sleep
You love to hear her sing
And wear purple eyes like rings
Well the flowers have no scent
And the child's been miscarried
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
You say, you'll provide the birdbath
If I provide the skin
And bathing in the moonling
I'm to tremble like a kitten
Oh every angel's terrible
Said freud and rilke all the same
Rimbaud never paid them no mind
But jimmi morrison had his elevators
His elevators
He had his elevator angels
And if every angel's terrible
Why do you hide inside her
Like a child in a skirt
The supermarket's loud and bright
And boy don't she feel warm tonight
Boy don't she feel warm tonight
Boy don't she feel warm tonight?
(She sounded like an angel when she cried)
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible why do you welcome them
You say, You'll provide the birdbath
If I provide the skin
She sounded like an angel when she cried.
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
You say, you'll provide the birdbath
If I provide the skin
And bathing in the moonlight
I'm to tremble like a kitten
If blue eyed babes
Raised as Hitler's little brides and sons
They got angelic tendencies
Like some boys tend to act like queens
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you watch her sleep
You love to hear her sing
And wear purple eyes like rings
Well the flowers have no scent
And the child's been miscarried
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
You say, you'll provide the birdbath
If I provide the skin
And bathing in the moonling
I'm to tremble like a kitten
Oh every angel's terrible
Said freud and rilke all the same
Rimbaud never paid them no mind
But jimmi morrison had his elevators
His elevators
He had his elevator angels
And if every angel's terrible
Why do you hide inside her
Like a child in a skirt
The supermarket's loud and bright
And boy don't she feel warm tonight
Boy don't she feel warm tonight
Boy don't she feel warm tonight?
(She sounded like an angel when she cried)
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible
Then why do you welcome them
If every angel's terrible why do you welcome them
You say, You'll provide the birdbath
If I provide the skin
She sounded like an angel when she cried.
Lyrics submitted by myodalisque, edited by EvilDeedsX
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I am still puzzled by the paragraph on Freud, Rilke, Rimbaud and Morisson.
Rilke had a relationship with a psycho-analyst named Lou Andreas-Salom, who was also good friends with Freud. But I don't see how that would be a clue.
Initially, I thought the song was about women in general, who are both beautiful (like angels) but also can have terrible characters. Rilke had a troublesome relationship with his mother, who dressed him up as a girl when he was young. With Freud's famous theories on castration anxiety, this might correlate with Rilke's loving but disturbed view on women. Rimbaud was gay, so he never paid women no mind. Morisson, at the end, from a completely different era than the other three, was a promiscuous loverboy. He had his elevator angels (notice the plural), who would come down to him, and have contacts, without the complexes of the other ones.
This is all still far from coherent for me, and maybe I'm on the wrong track completely. I just thought I'd put it here, so maybe someone else could do something with these clues.