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.
Stepchild, you have outlived your time
You represent embarrassment and failure
And the father who must be killed
Is the blight upon your blighted life
And his might is his legal right
To ground you down
Stepchild, with every petty swipe
You just might find you're fighting for your life
And the father who must be killed
Is a step farther but nonetheless
The way he chews his food
Rips right through your senses
Stepchild, there's a knife in a drawer in a room downstairs
And you, you know what you must do
So the stepchild ran with a knife to his sleeping frame
And slams it in his arms, his legs, his face, his neck and says
There's a law against me now
And the father who must be killed
With his dying breath, he grabs her hand
And he looks into her eyes
He says "I'm sorry" and he dies
Stepchild, I release you
With this broken voice I beseech you
Why are lives so short?
The stepchild thought half pointing to the sky
No one to warn me
No hand to touch me
And no Bible-belters to mess with me
Mama don't miss me
Mama don't miss me
This death will complete me
"But where I go there will be no one to meet me
I know there will be no one to meet me"
But still the step-child press the knife to her throat
Half pointing to the sky
Just as mother-less birds fly high
Then so shall I
So shall I
So shall I
So shall I
So shall I
You represent embarrassment and failure
And the father who must be killed
Is the blight upon your blighted life
And his might is his legal right
To ground you down
Stepchild, with every petty swipe
You just might find you're fighting for your life
And the father who must be killed
Is a step farther but nonetheless
The way he chews his food
Rips right through your senses
Stepchild, there's a knife in a drawer in a room downstairs
And you, you know what you must do
So the stepchild ran with a knife to his sleeping frame
And slams it in his arms, his legs, his face, his neck and says
There's a law against me now
And the father who must be killed
With his dying breath, he grabs her hand
And he looks into her eyes
He says "I'm sorry" and he dies
Stepchild, I release you
With this broken voice I beseech you
Why are lives so short?
The stepchild thought half pointing to the sky
No one to warn me
No hand to touch me
And no Bible-belters to mess with me
Mama don't miss me
Mama don't miss me
This death will complete me
"But where I go there will be no one to meet me
I know there will be no one to meet me"
But still the step-child press the knife to her throat
Half pointing to the sky
Just as mother-less birds fly high
Then so shall I
So shall I
So shall I
So shall I
So shall I
Lyrics submitted by raisedbypuffins, edited by leesong
The Father Who Must Be Killed Lyrics as written by Alain Gordon Whyte Steven Morrissey
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
This song is obviously a bullet sent flying towards rightwing American Catholics. Their hypocrisy is well-known. There are extremely severe regulations in certain towns in the Bible Belt (Bible rules the daily life in very extreme ways sometimes)
Seems to me to be a song about a girl who has been abused by some overreligious stepfather or a preacher. Look at the hatred with which she 'slams' the knife into the several parts of his body. And she is obviously driven by madness. Totally broken down there is a voice inside her that forces her to end it all. She feels dirty and used and her soul can never be redeemed (hopelessness induced by the fear of never being forgiven by the fearsome God they worship).
Have you been to the Bible Belt? I agree many people are hypocritical, but which towns are you referring to? None that I've been to, and I live here.