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.
She's here Mr. Johnson
Ok, thank you very much
Granny, they're expecting you
You're a little late so
Come right this way, step right in, ok?
Wait oh, say it now, say it now, ahem
Me and the Ohio Players gonna tell you about a worm
He's the funkiest worm in the world
Ok, sing it, Clarence
There's a worm in the ground, yes there is
That's right
He is six feet down
Six feet down
He only comes around
When he wants to get down
But when he comes out of his hole
He sounds something like this
Oh that's funky, that's funky
Like nine cans of shaving powder, that's funky
Come on with it again fellas, come on with it
And through all the land, yeah
Yeah
He plays in a band
Plays in a band
He plays guitar without any hands
Pretty good, I might add
Yeah, when he grabs his guitar and starts to pluck
Everybody wants to get up and dance
Ah, get it baby
I'm his manager, heh heh
Gonna make a million dollars
I get it all, till he can spend it
Don't, don't, don't
That's it, that's it
Don't, don't, don't fight the feeling, don't fight it
Ok that's enough, get outta here
Here you go people, listen to this, this is really funky, get outta here
Goin' back in his hole, just the same way he came out
Do we get paid for this? I wanna know
Yes, yes of course
We do? Ok, ok, alright
You're welcome
Ok, thank you very much
Granny, they're expecting you
You're a little late so
Come right this way, step right in, ok?
Wait oh, say it now, say it now, ahem
Me and the Ohio Players gonna tell you about a worm
He's the funkiest worm in the world
Ok, sing it, Clarence
There's a worm in the ground, yes there is
That's right
He is six feet down
Six feet down
He only comes around
When he wants to get down
But when he comes out of his hole
He sounds something like this
Oh that's funky, that's funky
Like nine cans of shaving powder, that's funky
Come on with it again fellas, come on with it
And through all the land, yeah
Yeah
He plays in a band
Plays in a band
He plays guitar without any hands
Pretty good, I might add
Yeah, when he grabs his guitar and starts to pluck
Everybody wants to get up and dance
Ah, get it baby
I'm his manager, heh heh
Gonna make a million dollars
I get it all, till he can spend it
Don't, don't, don't
That's it, that's it
Don't, don't, don't fight the feeling, don't fight it
Ok that's enough, get outta here
Here you go people, listen to this, this is really funky, get outta here
Goin' back in his hole, just the same way he came out
Do we get paid for this? I wanna know
Yes, yes of course
We do? Ok, ok, alright
You're welcome
Lyrics submitted by WittySarcasm
Funky Worm Lyrics as written by Gregory Webster Clarence Satchell
Lyrics © Word Collections Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
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.
Techno Ted
Audioslave
Audioslave
Techno Ted may be a person who caused Chris incredible emotional pain & trepidation as well as moments of peace & happiness but now is removed and awaiting his fate. Darling may be a different person who is also free of him and can live her life free of Ted's tyranny. "In between all the laughing, and daydreams ... lies: a desert of truth" Lies are like a desert or the omission of Truth: Where there were Lies then Truth was absent. The song, "Techno Ted", may be a cathartic celebration of the downfall of this person.
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.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
It's about a worm who can play guitar..I don't know..lol.