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.
Don't blame your daughter
That's just sentimental
And don't blame your mum
For all that you've done wrong
Your daddy's is not guilty
You came out a little faulty
And the factory closed
So you can't hold them liable
You come from an island
You're cutting diamonds
With a rubber knife
Your autograph's is worthless
So don't send me letters
And don't mail me cash
'Cause your money is no good
What's left in your mattress
Is holes and lack of love left
Some hair from a horse
And none of it is yours, man
You come from an island
You're cutting diamonds
With a rubbery knife
And the song you sing today
Wasn't always in your head
The words you try to say
Are the ones you should've said
They're glistening like diamonds
Go out and find them
But don't blame your daughter
Read me your tombstone
Tell me you're sorry
Fax me your will
You owe me something still
Blood is like water
The bath that you poured me
Has drained and is gone
Don't blame it on your son
And the song you sing today
Wasn't always in your head
The words you try to say
Are the ones you should've said
They're glistening like diamonds
Go out and find them, boy!
The world is full of diamonds
Go out and find them
But don't blame your daughter
That's just sentimental
And don't blame your mum
For all that you've done wrong
Your daddy's is not guilty
You came out a little faulty
And the factory closed
So you can't hold them liable
You come from an island
You're cutting diamonds
With a rubber knife
Your autograph's is worthless
So don't send me letters
And don't mail me cash
'Cause your money is no good
What's left in your mattress
Is holes and lack of love left
Some hair from a horse
And none of it is yours, man
You come from an island
You're cutting diamonds
With a rubbery knife
And the song you sing today
Wasn't always in your head
The words you try to say
Are the ones you should've said
They're glistening like diamonds
Go out and find them
But don't blame your daughter
Read me your tombstone
Tell me you're sorry
Fax me your will
You owe me something still
Blood is like water
The bath that you poured me
Has drained and is gone
Don't blame it on your son
And the song you sing today
Wasn't always in your head
The words you try to say
Are the ones you should've said
They're glistening like diamonds
Go out and find them, boy!
The world is full of diamonds
Go out and find them
But don't blame your daughter
Lyrics submitted by Ocean Soul
Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) Lyrics as written by Nathan Larson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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the fantastic thing about this song is that the singer is singing towards her father (not mother, hamessyrath--the clues come when she sings "man" in the second verse and "boy" in the final chorus), but she holds the 2nd person perspective throughout the song. This sort of fools the listener into thinking that she might be singing to someone else's father, but "blood is like water, the bath that you poured me" proves that it is her own father. Effectively, the 2nd person perspective implies emotional distance--she is singing to her father as though he is just another man.