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've always been behind you
So I think we should meet
I've sharpened my knives
So I'm gonna use them
Oh, baby
Oh, lalalala
I'm gonna smother you with my love
Forever and ever, also forever
Acid and poison and chemicals baby
Is what I mean to provide
I know together, we'll make the possible
Totally impossible
Lalalalalala-luh
If you want me I'm yours
And even if you don't want me
I'm trained and licensed and armed to the teeth
I think you'll agree
It's so hard to apologize
So I'm just gonna skip it
Sleep deprivation will make you a million
Did you just hear something crazy?
I got my fingers crossed you'll catch something baby
Cause I just threw myself at you
Everyone run and hide
I'm coming to find you
Is my face still bleeding?
Then what is your problem?
By the skin of my teeth
That's how I'm going to drive you
Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh
LSD and a bloody pile of rags (Hey)
I hate to be the bearer of bad news
But I am
But I am
But I am
So I think we should meet
I've sharpened my knives
So I'm gonna use them
Oh, baby
Oh, lalalala
I'm gonna smother you with my love
Forever and ever, also forever
Acid and poison and chemicals baby
Is what I mean to provide
I know together, we'll make the possible
Totally impossible
Lalalalalala-luh
If you want me I'm yours
And even if you don't want me
I'm trained and licensed and armed to the teeth
I think you'll agree
It's so hard to apologize
So I'm just gonna skip it
Sleep deprivation will make you a million
Did you just hear something crazy?
I got my fingers crossed you'll catch something baby
Cause I just threw myself at you
Everyone run and hide
I'm coming to find you
Is my face still bleeding?
Then what is your problem?
By the skin of my teeth
That's how I'm going to drive you
Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh
LSD and a bloody pile of rags (Hey)
I hate to be the bearer of bad news
But I am
But I am
But I am
Lyrics submitted by DeadEndFriend, edited by Txredhead
Interlude With Ludes Lyrics as written by Josh Homme John Baldwin
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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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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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
@bumbaklatious I think I agree with you and also with WPSIATWIN. I think the drug is "speaking" to Josh, but that Josh may have gotten in too deep with drugs altogether, causing him to act really weird, and do crazy stuff (see TCV interview where Dave and JPJ are laughing at Josh being on "6 different drugs").
Perhaps it got to the point that Josh was using, but didn't really want to be--or maybe he could see how it was messing up his life--but was more or less trapped in using chemicals to alter his reality more than he should have.
I take "sleep deprivation will make you a million" to mean that maybe he was working so hard on the band, writing music and lyrics in order to "make a million" that he was becoming sleep deprived...so he was taking ludes and other drugs, but they only made him hear things ("did you just hear something crazy?"), as well as doing stuff that would get him into trouble, like not being emotionally present--not apologizing when it was necessary; or getting into situations that caused his face to bleed...yet he still took LSD.
I think the drugs are telling him: Acid and poison and chemicals baby Is what I mean to provide I know together, we'll make the possible (potential success) Totally impossible (he'll become a loser, doing nothing if he keeps taking so many drugs) I hate to be the bearer of bad news (that drugs can ruin your life) But I am (because...it's the truth)