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.
They'll be making sure you stay amused
They'll fill you up with drugs and booze
Maybe you'll make the evenin' news
And when you're trippin' over your dreams
They'll keep you down by any means
By the end of the night you'll be
Stiflin' your screams
Since you became a V.I. Person
It's like your problems have all worsened
Your paranoia casts aspersions
On the truths you know
And they'll just put you in a spotlight
And hope that you'll do alright
Or maybe not
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
So why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Starz in their eyes
Remember they said you'd show them all
Emphasize the rise but not the fall
And now you're playin' a shoppin' mall
Your mum and dad, they can't believe
What you appear to have achieved
While the rest of these users are just laughin' in their sleeves
Since you became a V.I. Person
It's like your problems have all worsened
Your paranoia casts aspersions
On the truths you know
And now the tabloids use your face
To document your fall from grace
And then they'll tell you that
That's just the way it goes
That's just the way it goes
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From your private bedroom dance routines
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
So why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Starz in their eyes
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
When I grow up I'm goin' to be famous
Behind the steel barrier, sequence and glitter
Five inch heels still knee deep in the litter
Each of them a bitter bullshitter
Wrapped up in the cloak of fake glamor
Gettin' lost in the camera
Well, footprints are fool's gold
And diamonds crust their glitz on their one off plimsolls
So little time for these one off arseholes
Rigor mortis Ken and Barbie dolls
A pair of big shades and a push up bra
It's such a short gap between the gutter and stars
But you've come a long way from the place that you started
So why'd you wanna go and get so down hearted
Welcome to the kingdom of the blagger
Uncuttin' your nose, clean coat in your bladder
A whole lot happier, a whole lot sadder
Used to be satisfied, now you feel like Mick Jagger
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From your private bedroom dance routines
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
They'll fill you up with drugs and booze
Maybe you'll make the evenin' news
And when you're trippin' over your dreams
They'll keep you down by any means
By the end of the night you'll be
Stiflin' your screams
Since you became a V.I. Person
It's like your problems have all worsened
Your paranoia casts aspersions
On the truths you know
And they'll just put you in a spotlight
And hope that you'll do alright
Or maybe not
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
So why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Starz in their eyes
Remember they said you'd show them all
Emphasize the rise but not the fall
And now you're playin' a shoppin' mall
Your mum and dad, they can't believe
What you appear to have achieved
While the rest of these users are just laughin' in their sleeves
Since you became a V.I. Person
It's like your problems have all worsened
Your paranoia casts aspersions
On the truths you know
And now the tabloids use your face
To document your fall from grace
And then they'll tell you that
That's just the way it goes
That's just the way it goes
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From your private bedroom dance routines
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
So why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
Starz in their eyes
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
When I grow up I'm goin' to be famous
Behind the steel barrier, sequence and glitter
Five inch heels still knee deep in the litter
Each of them a bitter bullshitter
Wrapped up in the cloak of fake glamor
Gettin' lost in the camera
Well, footprints are fool's gold
And diamonds crust their glitz on their one off plimsolls
So little time for these one off arseholes
Rigor mortis Ken and Barbie dolls
A pair of big shades and a push up bra
It's such a short gap between the gutter and stars
But you've come a long way from the place that you started
So why'd you wanna go and get so down hearted
Welcome to the kingdom of the blagger
Uncuttin' your nose, clean coat in your bladder
A whole lot happier, a whole lot sadder
Used to be satisfied, now you feel like Mick Jagger
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From the dog and duck karaoke machine
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
Now why do you wanna go and put starz in their eyes?
It's the same old story
Well, they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come
From your private bedroom dance routines
And Saturday night's drunken dreams
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Insane Ian
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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Lord Huron
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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"
I think it's about the current culture of the instant celebrity - particularly shows like x factor and things. They build up people's hopes and make people achieve their dreams of being famous, but it's not all it's cracked up to be, and soon enough they'll be nobodies again. Quite a happy sounding song considering the message, but I like it!