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.
Me and Snake talk about you
Every day
I can't wait to see your face
And he tells me he feels the same
We lie awake
We're tired but we can't get to sleep
I'm tired 'cause I've scraped through the day
He's tired because he's been out late, again
And there he lies
Staring up with his big gay eyes
And whispers to me "Aren't you tired?"
"I'm tired of missing Bea"
I'll wait with Snake
He's soft inside but not as soft as you
I love that snake but I love you more
He's no substitute
I'll wake, I'll wake with you soon
Yesterday Snake told me about the time
When we came to meet you off the plane
We all drove home in Wheels
He was proud and awfully glad that I took him out
I said "How does New York sound?"
He said "It sounds quite loud"
So pack your pipes
Pack your Chapstick and your tights
And one shoe for going out at night
We're go to visit Bea
We'll take a camera
And go to the zoo
And take pictures of other snakes
With you
and hope one turns out to be gay
I'll wait with Snake
He's soft inside but not as soft as you
I love that snake but I love you more
He's no substitute
I'll wake, I'll wake with you soon
Every day
I can't wait to see your face
And he tells me he feels the same
We lie awake
We're tired but we can't get to sleep
I'm tired 'cause I've scraped through the day
He's tired because he's been out late, again
And there he lies
Staring up with his big gay eyes
And whispers to me "Aren't you tired?"
"I'm tired of missing Bea"
I'll wait with Snake
He's soft inside but not as soft as you
I love that snake but I love you more
He's no substitute
I'll wake, I'll wake with you soon
Yesterday Snake told me about the time
When we came to meet you off the plane
We all drove home in Wheels
He was proud and awfully glad that I took him out
I said "How does New York sound?"
He said "It sounds quite loud"
So pack your pipes
Pack your Chapstick and your tights
And one shoe for going out at night
We're go to visit Bea
We'll take a camera
And go to the zoo
And take pictures of other snakes
With you
and hope one turns out to be gay
I'll wait with Snake
He's soft inside but not as soft as you
I love that snake but I love you more
He's no substitute
I'll wake, I'll wake with you soon
Lyrics submitted by redroseblackbow, edited by smallwonderrobot
Snake Lyrics as written by Scott John Hutchison Grant David Hutchison
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in
"There was a time
you opened up every doorway
you didn't mind if everything
wasn't your way"
then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else,
"Don't pull away
that goes against what you told me
I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum"
so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it,
"I think you've changed
but you insist that
that's not true"
quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum",
"You look so strange, so distant
that you're hardly you
Now I can see
how you have been acting different
You say it's me
but I know
that it isn't
it's love in a vacuum"
but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines
"You will be lonely
if you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have,
"Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
love in a vacuum
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
You will be lonely
if you leave me alone
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough"
you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment,
"You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough
and just wait
you will be lonely
Love in a vacuum
Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
Love in a vacuum".
'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the coke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song.
Quintessential Aimee Mann.
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
Techno Ted
Audioslave
Audioslave
Techno Ted may be a person who caused Chris incredible emotional pain & trepidation as well as moments of peace & happiness but now is removed and awaiting his fate. Darling may be a different person who is also free of him and can live her life free of Ted's tyranny. "In between all the laughing, and daydreams ... lies: a desert of truth" Lies are like a desert or the omission of Truth: Where there were Lies then Truth was absent. The song, "Techno Ted", may be a cathartic celebration of the downfall of this person.
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'm pretty sure the line is actually "hope one of them turns out to be gay" like, so it can go out with snake. it's fairly obviously not about wanking cos most people don't write songs about girls in which they describe their penises as gay...