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.
Believe you me, there's little people in the trees.
Dangling their candy dreams, trading castles for factories.
Convince me (Convince me, Convince me), there's something better to rely on.
Frame your nonsense on the wall, then pin it to a waterfall.
Will you please, will you turn off the machine?
Drawing conclusions with the pencil in your hand.
Drawing bridges to remind you where you stand.
Where do you stand, where do you stand?
Can you believe, there's a tailor in the sky, he sews white pockets for tears.
Collecting raindrops from your eyes.
Incomplete (incomplete, incomplete), it's one belief against the other.
When constellations weep, we are bound to one another.
What do you see, when you turn off the tv?
Drawing conclusions with the pencil in your hand.
Drawing bridges to remind you where you stand.
Where do you stand, where do you stand?
Where do you, where do you stand?
There's little people in the trees.
They're trading castles for factories.
Have I convinced you of anything?
Dangling their candy dreams, trading castles for factories.
Convince me (Convince me, Convince me), there's something better to rely on.
Frame your nonsense on the wall, then pin it to a waterfall.
Will you please, will you turn off the machine?
Drawing conclusions with the pencil in your hand.
Drawing bridges to remind you where you stand.
Where do you stand, where do you stand?
Can you believe, there's a tailor in the sky, he sews white pockets for tears.
Collecting raindrops from your eyes.
Incomplete (incomplete, incomplete), it's one belief against the other.
When constellations weep, we are bound to one another.
What do you see, when you turn off the tv?
Drawing conclusions with the pencil in your hand.
Drawing bridges to remind you where you stand.
Where do you stand, where do you stand?
Where do you, where do you stand?
There's little people in the trees.
They're trading castles for factories.
Have I convinced you of anything?
Lyrics submitted by xxeasyxcorexx
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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.
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
This song could mean one of two things for me. The simplified version is that we are relying entirely too much on media and technology to form our opinions about the world. The lines "What do you see when you turn off the TV", paired with the absurdity of the statements "believe you me, there are little people in the trees" and "there's a tailor in the sky" seem to suggest that we draw blindly from what we're presented in media and technology, and the song is asking us where we stand when we "turn off the machine."
But I'm more inclined to think that the repeated use (and variation) of the line "where do you stand?" is speaking of more than that. Where do you stand when "you turn off the TV"? What are your beliefs when you're not relying "on the machine"? To me this could be saying that to believe in something enough that you would stand up for it is better than utter apathy (possibly engendered by "the machine"?). Believing that there are little people in the trees or tailors in the sky, if you're willing to stand for that, is better than no belief at all.
I like that answer above, and its probably very right. (I never ask thetm what their songs about... but they do often talk about it at concerts.) Something they have said about this song is that its about how there is no real truth, and its all what you perceive. so yeah.