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.
Well I don't know why I was dreaming about you
But I do know that I was dancing without you
Then you smiled, and I was lost
You fall in love, why count the cost?
All I gave to you
All you made me do
I react when I hear people ask
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth living for
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth giving more
If I'd had my way this would have happened much sooner
But until that day it was only a rumour
All at once you changed my life
And led me in to paradise
Where I had to do
What I wanted to
I react when I hear people ask
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth living for
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth giving more
I reserve the right to live
My life this way, and I don't give
A damn when I hear people say
I'll pay the price that others pay
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth living for
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth living for
All I gave to you
All you made me do
I react when I hear people ask
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth living for
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth giving more
And I reserve (what?)
The right to live (where?)
My life this way (how?)
I couldn't give
A damn when I (what?)
Hear people say (who?)
I'll pay the price
That others pay
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth living for
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth giving more
And it's worth it
I don't know why
I never thought I'd fall in love
I don't know why
I don't know why
I never thought I'd fall in love
I don't know why
I don't know why
But I do know that I was dancing without you
Then you smiled, and I was lost
You fall in love, why count the cost?
All I gave to you
All you made me do
I react when I hear people ask
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth living for
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth giving more
If I'd had my way this would have happened much sooner
But until that day it was only a rumour
All at once you changed my life
And led me in to paradise
Where I had to do
What I wanted to
I react when I hear people ask
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth living for
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth giving more
I reserve the right to live
My life this way, and I don't give
A damn when I hear people say
I'll pay the price that others pay
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth living for
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth living for
All I gave to you
All you made me do
I react when I hear people ask
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth living for
Was it worth it?
Yes it's worth giving more
And I reserve (what?)
The right to live (where?)
My life this way (how?)
I couldn't give
A damn when I (what?)
Hear people say (who?)
I'll pay the price
That others pay
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth living for
'Cause it's worth it
Yes it's worth giving more
And it's worth it
I don't know why
I never thought I'd fall in love
I don't know why
I don't know why
I never thought I'd fall in love
I don't know why
I don't know why
Lyrics submitted by gothic_hobbit
Was It Worth It? Lyrics as written by Bryan Michael Paul Cox Keyshia M. Cole
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, SPIRIT TWO SMA
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
Jesse with the long hair....
Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
Classic love story true to his western tx roots. One of my favorites as a story, but I think there are alot of songs that are amazing not even listed on this site. I guess I should figure out how to add them, because I have about 8 REK cd's.
Siberian Kiss
Glassjaw
Glassjaw
its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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"
I feel this song is about "forbidden love" so to speak and the backlash you have to face for it from the society which presents this question - "Was it worth it?". The author made the decision to come out in open about it (and confirm the rumour) and shares how liberating that was, and hence - "And led me in to paradise".."I wish it would have happened much sooner".
Towards the end the disclosure that he never thought he would fall in love is interesting. Whether it was the fear or whether he misjudged his own ability to provide love.