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.
I don't wanna hear the noises on TV
I don't want the salesmen coming after me
I don't wanna live in my father's house no more
I don't want it faster, I don't want it free
I don't wanna show you what they done to me
I don't wanna live in my father's house no more
I don't wanna choose black or blue
I don't wanna see what they done to you
I don't wanna live in my father's house no more
Because the tide is high
And it's rising still
And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
Don't wanna give 'em my name and address
Don't wanna see what happens next
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more
Don't wanna live with my father's debt
You can't forgive what you can't forget
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more
Don't wanna fight in a holy war
Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door
I don't wanna live in america no more
Because the tide is high
And it's rising still
And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
MTV, what have you done to me?
Save my soul, set me free
Set me free! what have you done to me?
I can't breathe! I can't see
World War III
When are you coming for me?
Been kicking up sparks
We set the flames free
The windows are locked now
So what'll it be?
A house on fire, a rising sea?
Why is the night so still?
Why did I take the pill?
Because I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't want the salesmen coming after me
I don't wanna live in my father's house no more
I don't want it faster, I don't want it free
I don't wanna show you what they done to me
I don't wanna live in my father's house no more
I don't wanna choose black or blue
I don't wanna see what they done to you
I don't wanna live in my father's house no more
Because the tide is high
And it's rising still
And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
Don't wanna give 'em my name and address
Don't wanna see what happens next
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more
Don't wanna live with my father's debt
You can't forgive what you can't forget
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more
Don't wanna fight in a holy war
Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door
I don't wanna live in america no more
Because the tide is high
And it's rising still
And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
MTV, what have you done to me?
Save my soul, set me free
Set me free! what have you done to me?
I can't breathe! I can't see
World War III
When are you coming for me?
Been kicking up sparks
We set the flames free
The windows are locked now
So what'll it be?
A house on fire, a rising sea?
Why is the night so still?
Why did I take the pill?
Because I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
I don't wanna see it at my windowsill
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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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.
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The Night We Met
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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"
this song means different things to everyone of course to me it made me think about actually living under my fathers roof. always so limited there.. i always wanted out im out now but im still with family so its not exactly the kind of freedom im literally counting down the days to have the windowsill part for me was not seeing the world, adventures or disasters from my bedroom window. i wanna travel, block out "tv and salesmen and debt" and the black OR blue decisions ... i just want to be. free. of it all