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.
Tell me the legends of long ago
When the kings and queens would dance
In the realm of the Black Rose
Play me the melodies I want to know
So I can teach my children, oh
Pray, tell me the story of young Cuchulainn
How his eyes were dark his expression sullen
And how he'd fight and always won
And how they cried when he was fallen
Oh, tell me the story of the queen of this land
And how her sons died at her own hand
And how fools obey commands
Oh, tell me the legends of long ago
Where the mountains of Mourne
Come down to the sea
Will she no come back to me?
Will she no come back to me?
Oh Shenandoah, I hear you calling
Far away you rolling river
Roll down the mountain side
On down, on down go Lassie go
Oh, tell me the legends of long ago
When the kings and queens would dance
In the realms of the Black Rose
And play me the melodies so that I might know
And I can tell my children, oh
My Roisin Dubh is my one and only true love
It was a joy, that Joyce brought to me
While William Butler waits
And Oscar, he's going wild
Ah sure, Brendan where have you been?
Looking for a girl with green eyes
My dark Rosaleen is my colleen
That Georgie knows best
But Van is the man
Starvation once again
Drinking whiskey in the jar, oh
Synge's playboy of the western World
As Shaw, Sean I was born and reared there
Where the Mountains of Mourne
Come down to the sea
Is such a long, long way from Tipperary
When the kings and queens would dance
In the realm of the Black Rose
Play me the melodies I want to know
So I can teach my children, oh
Pray, tell me the story of young Cuchulainn
How his eyes were dark his expression sullen
And how he'd fight and always won
And how they cried when he was fallen
Oh, tell me the story of the queen of this land
And how her sons died at her own hand
And how fools obey commands
Oh, tell me the legends of long ago
Where the mountains of Mourne
Come down to the sea
Will she no come back to me?
Will she no come back to me?
Oh Shenandoah, I hear you calling
Far away you rolling river
Roll down the mountain side
On down, on down go Lassie go
Oh, tell me the legends of long ago
When the kings and queens would dance
In the realms of the Black Rose
And play me the melodies so that I might know
And I can tell my children, oh
My Roisin Dubh is my one and only true love
It was a joy, that Joyce brought to me
While William Butler waits
And Oscar, he's going wild
Ah sure, Brendan where have you been?
Looking for a girl with green eyes
My dark Rosaleen is my colleen
That Georgie knows best
But Van is the man
Starvation once again
Drinking whiskey in the jar, oh
Synge's playboy of the western World
As Shaw, Sean I was born and reared there
Where the Mountains of Mourne
Come down to the sea
Is such a long, long way from Tipperary
Lyrics submitted by deathwish, edited by Ulysses1606
Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend Lyrics as written by Gary Moore Dp
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
Siberian Kiss
Glassjaw
Glassjaw
its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
The Spy
Doors, The
Doors, The
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?
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
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.
This song is full of Irish cultural references. Roisin Dubh is Irish for Black Rose which is a nickname for Ireland itself. Cuchulainn is a mythical Irish warrior. The Shenandoah is a river in Ireland. James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan are all Irish authors referenced in clever fashion in this song. Dark Rosaleen is an english translation of Roisin Dubh (so its essentially Dark Rose) I think, although I'm not much of a soccer guy, that George Best was a soccer player in Northern Ireland. Van the Man is Van Morrison, Irish musician. Starvation refers to the great famine. Whiskey in the Jar is a traditional Irish song and Synge is JM Synge is an Irish playwright. Playboy of the Western World was a Synge play. Tipperary is a county in Ireland.
Pretty clever way of paying homage to Thin Lizzy's homeland.
@Twinb1983 Nice description! Except the Shenandoah is in America [the Shannon is in Ireland]. Many Irish people migrated to the region of the Shenandoah which may explain the reference.