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'm at my best when I'm at my worst
I'm at worst when it's not rehearsed
I don't wanna know the goddamn words
I don't wanna have to spell it out
Don't wanna mumble what I'm trying to say
I wanna scream it from my foaming mouth
Shoot out the lights and ride away
I'm at my worst when I'm at my best
I'm at my best when I'm trying to look
And think and talk and sing and read and write
Like all the rest
We're all just trying to play our rolls
In a play that runs ad nausem
I hate this damn enlightenment
We were better off as animals, right?
We're at our best when it's from our hips
From our hips we don't give a shit
It just feels good and that's no sin
It's the only way to feel alive
The closest thing to being born again
And when baby comes it's job well done
Roll in the hay, oh roll around the sun
We're at our worst when it's from our lips
From our lips we caused a rift,
And world has fallen in
From babble to ball room brawls
Our words have formed a death sentence
And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all
And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all
I'm at worst when it's not rehearsed
I don't wanna know the goddamn words
I don't wanna have to spell it out
Don't wanna mumble what I'm trying to say
I wanna scream it from my foaming mouth
Shoot out the lights and ride away
I'm at my worst when I'm at my best
I'm at my best when I'm trying to look
And think and talk and sing and read and write
Like all the rest
We're all just trying to play our rolls
In a play that runs ad nausem
I hate this damn enlightenment
We were better off as animals, right?
We're at our best when it's from our hips
From our hips we don't give a shit
It just feels good and that's no sin
It's the only way to feel alive
The closest thing to being born again
And when baby comes it's job well done
Roll in the hay, oh roll around the sun
We're at our worst when it's from our lips
From our lips we caused a rift,
And world has fallen in
From babble to ball room brawls
Our words have formed a death sentence
And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all
And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all
Lyrics submitted by laviebonne, edited by Mellow_Harsher
From the Hips Lyrics as written by Ted James Stevens Matthew Ryan Maginn
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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It seems pretty straight-forward... sometimes you hook up with someone and wind up fuckbuddies and things turn into a mess when you try to take it seriously.