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.
What are you changing?
Who do you think you're changing?
You can't change things
We're all stuck in our ways
It's like trying to clean the ocean
What do you think, you can drain it?
Well, it was poison and dry
Long before you came
But you can wake up younger under the knife
You can wake up sounder if you get analyzed
And I'd better wake up
There but for the grace of God go I
It's hard to believe your prophets
When they're asking you to change things
With their suspect lives, we look the other way
Are you really that pure, sir?
Thought I saw you in Vegas
It was not pretty, but she was (not your wife)
But she will wake up wealthy
And you will wake up forty-five
And she will wake up with baby
There but for the grace of God go I
What am I fighting for?
The cops are at my front door
I can't escape that way
The windows are in flames
And what's that on your ankle?
You say they're not coming for you
But house arrest is really just the same (just the same)
Like when you wake up behind the bar
Trying to remember where you are
Having crushed all the pretty things
There but for the grace of God go I
But I still believe
And I will rise up with fists
And I will take what's mine
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
Who do you think you're changing?
You can't change things
We're all stuck in our ways
It's like trying to clean the ocean
What do you think, you can drain it?
Well, it was poison and dry
Long before you came
But you can wake up younger under the knife
You can wake up sounder if you get analyzed
And I'd better wake up
There but for the grace of God go I
It's hard to believe your prophets
When they're asking you to change things
With their suspect lives, we look the other way
Are you really that pure, sir?
Thought I saw you in Vegas
It was not pretty, but she was (not your wife)
But she will wake up wealthy
And you will wake up forty-five
And she will wake up with baby
There but for the grace of God go I
What am I fighting for?
The cops are at my front door
I can't escape that way
The windows are in flames
And what's that on your ankle?
You say they're not coming for you
But house arrest is really just the same (just the same)
Like when you wake up behind the bar
Trying to remember where you are
Having crushed all the pretty things
There but for the grace of God go I
But I still believe
And I will rise up with fists
And I will take what's mine
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
There but for the grace of God go I
Lyrics submitted by y plus white girl
Rise Up with Fists Lyrics as written by Jenny Lewis
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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@Thief- no you\'re not crazy at all for thinking that any rilo Kiley or Jenny Lewis fan should know that she definitely is very unsure about the whole religion thing and it\'s pretty clear in born secular which is a total mockery of like a church choir song I just don\'t think a lot of people realize that she\'s more being ironic and more just using the phrase and not anything about religion