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.
The king's taken back the throne
The useless seed was sown
When they say they're cutting off the phone
Then tell 'em you're not home
No place to hide
You'll find there's a soldier on their side
You're still a soldier in your mind
But nothing's on the line
You say it's money that we need
As if we're the only mouths to feed
I know that no matter what you say
There are some debts we never pay
Working for the church while your family dies
You take what they give you
And you keep it inside
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
I can taste the fear
Lift me up and take me out of here
Don't want to fight, don't want to die
Just want to hear you cry
Who's gonna throw the very first stone
Oh, who's gonna re set the bone
Walking with your hand in a sling
Wanna hear the soldier sing
Working for the church while my family dies
You're little baby sister's gonna lose her mind
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
I can taste your fear
It's gonna lift you up and take you out of here
If the bone shot never heals
I cannot make him yield
You can't find me now
But they're gonna get their money back somehow
And when you finally disappear
We'll just say you were never here
Been working for the church while your life falls apart
They're singing hallelujah when defeating your heart
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
The useless seed was sown
When they say they're cutting off the phone
Then tell 'em you're not home
No place to hide
You'll find there's a soldier on their side
You're still a soldier in your mind
But nothing's on the line
You say it's money that we need
As if we're the only mouths to feed
I know that no matter what you say
There are some debts we never pay
Working for the church while your family dies
You take what they give you
And you keep it inside
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
I can taste the fear
Lift me up and take me out of here
Don't want to fight, don't want to die
Just want to hear you cry
Who's gonna throw the very first stone
Oh, who's gonna re set the bone
Walking with your hand in a sling
Wanna hear the soldier sing
Working for the church while my family dies
You're little baby sister's gonna lose her mind
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
I can taste your fear
It's gonna lift you up and take you out of here
If the bone shot never heals
I cannot make him yield
You can't find me now
But they're gonna get their money back somehow
And when you finally disappear
We'll just say you were never here
Been working for the church while your life falls apart
They're singing hallelujah when defeating your heart
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
Hear the soldier groan we'll got it at alone
Lyrics submitted by newkicks, edited by nycgirlxx, 2blablabla, peregrine47, jasemuleson, MrLillico, Portishead93, Duffbeer
Intervention Lyrics as written by Regine Chassagne Jeremy Gara
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The lyrics sound very Blake influenced to me, he wrote a lot about religion and also the body and soul. The line "lift me up and take me out of here" reminds me of Blake's idea of the body as a cage (coincidentally or not the title of another song on this album) and the pure soul leaving it. The lines about the church sound a lot like lines from Blake's songs of innocence/experience. And the soldier's groan reminds me of "the hapless soldier's sigh" from Blake's poem London.
Whoever mentioned the second coming is onto an interesting line, the song certainly seems to express fear and reluctance with the present 'situation' in the world and the idea of death (lift me up and take me out of here) seems appealing.
They are perhaps suggesting that the world is in need of the second coming (who's going to throw the first stone?) or a revolution to lift its pure soul out of its currently evil/ruined body.
The lines "you're fighting as a soldier on their side, you're still a soldier in your minds" imply that we are being used as a means to an end without our own permission - we may not agree with what is being done in the world, but it is being done in our name. Yet in our heads (our souls) we know what is right and we must lift this out of our bodies so to speak.
"Say its money that we need as if there were only mouths to feed" - we have souls to feed as well, on the surface the problem we are faced with seems a fairly simple one: just feed people and we'll be fine. But there's more to it than that, the debts you'll never pay are the debts you owe to your soul, which according to Blake's ideas was the only thing that remained constant as it passed through different bodies. So the impurities we have caused our soul will haunt us forever.
Blake also saw churches as equivalent to bodies: materialistic and man made, what really mattered was what was inside (the worshippers) same as with the body & soul. So the church is a metaphor for authority: we all work for the system, the state and we let this take over our lives & we let our love for other humans slip. Probably because we are scared of the consequences of not doing so.
So the lyrics say we need to leave the church, we need to leave our bodies and we must respect our souls. We need a huge change to make this happen. The constant references to soldiers imply that we (soldiers) are being used for the wrong things & we need to go it alone. Our souls need to escape our bodies so we cannot be used.
Amazing song and great lyrics.