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.
Leave the bright blue door on the whitewashed wall
Leave the death ledger under City Hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today
Just leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain and the crooked street remain
'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
There's a train off in the distance, a bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today
Just leave the epic poem on its yellow page
Leave the gray macaw in his covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain
'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
Soundstage in California, televisions in Times Square, yeah
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
Yeah, I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
In truth, the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience, no witnesses, no witnesses
Leave the novelist in his daydream tune
Leave the scientist in her Rubik's Cube
Leave the true genius in the padded room today
Leave the hot, white trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitals
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain
'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
They locked the devil in the basement, threw God up into the air, yeah
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
Yes, you know it's true, why don't you leave me here?
Leave the death ledger under City Hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today
Just leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain and the crooked street remain
'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
There's a train off in the distance, a bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today
Just leave the epic poem on its yellow page
Leave the gray macaw in his covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain
'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
Soundstage in California, televisions in Times Square, yeah
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
Yeah, I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
In truth, the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience, no witnesses, no witnesses
Leave the novelist in his daydream tune
Leave the scientist in her Rubik's Cube
Leave the true genius in the padded room today
Leave the hot, white trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitals
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain
'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
They locked the devil in the basement, threw God up into the air, yeah
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
Yes, you know it's true, why don't you leave me here?
Lyrics submitted by apocalypse84
I Must Belong Somewhere [Companion Version] Lyrics as written by Conor Oberst
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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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.
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
I think while you shouldn't give into those "bad ideas," Sarah, it can also be not talking about them, keeping the pain inside and not seek release and help.
I don't think there's one thing in this song that is where it belongs. Just status quo. And what's more, most of what is listed in this song (save the end, perhaps) is rarely witnessed or acknowledged by the majority of society. It's simply accepted that is it right by the virtue it is ignored. Which leads to the bridge.
I find the bridge most compelling for some reason. A brilliant answer to the falling tree in the forest. Society is pretty convinced of the requirement of an audience. The speaker is offering up the irony that we are convinced that a record is necessary for something to exist. I don't know I'm lost in my own thoughts. Thing song would be hell to memorize.