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.
Is that all that matters anymore?
Who happened to like that band first,
And who likes them more,
Why do you compensate for the fact,
That you clearly so oh very silly,
By walking around my town like a fallowfield hillbilly?
You know who you are,
I've seen the way you look at all of the normal kids,
You think that they've just come out Strangeways,
Just because they won't bat both eyelids,
When you walk past with your eyeliner on, one hand in glove,
They're here for the music the thing that they love,
And it was literally carnage at the back of piccadilly,
To see who could buy it first,
And does the limtied edition seven inch quench your thirst?
For an album that will probably let you down,
But it doesn't even matter because you don't like that band anymore,
Because they're not underground,
I've seen the way you look at all of the normal kids,
You think that they've just come out Strangeways,
Just because they won't bat both eyelids,
When you walk past with your eyeliner on, one hand in glove,
I'm gonna ask you, can you find your own way home are you stuck?
Please don't think that I'm being a bitch,
I just happen to witness a lot of things which,
Get me annoyed 'cause you're filling a void,
Have you got nothing better to do?
I've seen the way you look at all of the normal kids,
You think that they've just come out Strangeways,
Because they won't bat both eyelids,
When you walk past with your eyeliner on, one hand in glove,
I'm gonna ask you, can you play guitar my boy?
Who happened to like that band first,
And who likes them more,
Why do you compensate for the fact,
That you clearly so oh very silly,
By walking around my town like a fallowfield hillbilly?
You know who you are,
I've seen the way you look at all of the normal kids,
You think that they've just come out Strangeways,
Just because they won't bat both eyelids,
When you walk past with your eyeliner on, one hand in glove,
They're here for the music the thing that they love,
And it was literally carnage at the back of piccadilly,
To see who could buy it first,
And does the limtied edition seven inch quench your thirst?
For an album that will probably let you down,
But it doesn't even matter because you don't like that band anymore,
Because they're not underground,
I've seen the way you look at all of the normal kids,
You think that they've just come out Strangeways,
Just because they won't bat both eyelids,
When you walk past with your eyeliner on, one hand in glove,
I'm gonna ask you, can you find your own way home are you stuck?
Please don't think that I'm being a bitch,
I just happen to witness a lot of things which,
Get me annoyed 'cause you're filling a void,
Have you got nothing better to do?
I've seen the way you look at all of the normal kids,
You think that they've just come out Strangeways,
Because they won't bat both eyelids,
When you walk past with your eyeliner on, one hand in glove,
I'm gonna ask you, can you play guitar my boy?
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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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He certainly did earn that reputation.
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Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
The Smiths references; "hand in glove", "strangeways". Strangeways being the prison in manchester :) one of my favourite Courteeners songs, criticizing the 'scene.