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.
The people's key
Ringing through arena seats
The black machine
Played it all from memory
A fever dream
Well, I'll come back eventually
To wade into the water
Another and another
We go
Form some kind of code
The bodies float
And form some kind of code
The bodies float
Someone ought to know, oh
Papa hobo
Don't hide your eyes
Mother mountain
Don't kill your unborn child
His day is coming
His day is coming
The question burns
Beneath the centuries of dirt
That voice you've heard
Every head's a different world
Well, mine's concerned
I boarded up the windows
A catatonic plateau
A backwards black-faced minstrel show
So just let me go
The prisoner moans
Oh, just let me go
The prisoner moans
No one has to know, oh
Eva Braun went to dye her hair
Little Hitler sighs in his giant's chair
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed
The people's key
Ringing filling everything
The theme repeats
Thinner than the galaxy
Impart to me
Your wisdom and eventually
I'll float into the ether
Another from another
We grow
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
No, you're not alone, oh
History bows and it steps aside
In the jungle, there's columns of purple light
We're starting over
We're starting over
We're starting
We're starting
Ringing through arena seats
The black machine
Played it all from memory
A fever dream
Well, I'll come back eventually
To wade into the water
Another and another
We go
Form some kind of code
The bodies float
And form some kind of code
The bodies float
Someone ought to know, oh
Papa hobo
Don't hide your eyes
Mother mountain
Don't kill your unborn child
His day is coming
His day is coming
The question burns
Beneath the centuries of dirt
That voice you've heard
Every head's a different world
Well, mine's concerned
I boarded up the windows
A catatonic plateau
A backwards black-faced minstrel show
So just let me go
The prisoner moans
Oh, just let me go
The prisoner moans
No one has to know, oh
Eva Braun went to dye her hair
Little Hitler sighs in his giant's chair
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed
The people's key
Ringing filling everything
The theme repeats
Thinner than the galaxy
Impart to me
Your wisdom and eventually
I'll float into the ether
Another from another
We grow
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
No, you're not alone, oh
History bows and it steps aside
In the jungle, there's columns of purple light
We're starting over
We're starting over
We're starting
We're starting
Lyrics submitted by robotbears
A Machine Spiritual (The People's Key) [Companion Version] Lyrics as written by Conor M Oberst
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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There are a few key lines I'd like to point out as they relate to my interpretation above...
"Form some kind of code of flesh and bone"
Consider how our interactions can be expressed like a computer software code interacting with the hardware (the earth). A computer chip is a series of on/off switches (good/evil? light/dark?) by which the software and the hardware speak.
"History bows and it steps aside" "another from another we grow"
In previous songs, Conor speaks of the innate instinct most animals have to let themselves die so that others may live and at the time he pondered the purpose. I think he expands on that idea with this song - that the cycle of birth to death and the progress made between each is part of that spiritual machine.
"The theme repeats, thinner than the galaxy"
This is particularly important, because while it initially appears as a contradiction or contrast, if you listen to songs like "Singularity" or are familiar with the concept (as well as quantum theory), the galaxy can be viewed as something very 'thin'.
"Papa Hobo don’t hide your eyes Mother Mountain don’t kill your unborn child"
I'm not sure about 'Papa Hobo', but I'm fairly certain that "Mother Mountain" refers to the theory that life originally began from volcanic vents during the early stages of earth's existence.
If I'm correct, he's basically saying that the 'unborn child' is mankind and that our day is coming when we will be enlightened or 'born' and then, having finally heard that 'voice', fully aware of the depth of our existence.
These are some huge concepts he's working with, and I marvel at his ability to write about them in simple human terms, but that's always been Conor's specialty. You look at his body of work and there's a whole library of philosophies within, but this one really is a masterpiece.