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.
Fuck California
You made me boring
I bled all my blood out
But these red pants
They don't show that
My old friends though
They know that
And when I sold them
I sold that
I'm sorry Gracie girl you're golden
I'm sorry Steven and Andrew
That I ever left you
You never seen the ocean
You never been on a plane
Schizophrenia rules the brain
Aliens coming to take you away
You're still my favorite
Past Life Martyred Saint
Gimme the places I'll give you the names
Wasted away alone on the plains
What's it like to be small-town and gay?
Fuck it baby I know you'll never change
So hold me down but I got it
Quick hit to the face
Soft blow to the mouth
On Christmas morning
You're bleeding from the fingertips
You rubbed me raw you rubbed me wrong
And I heave when I think of you
Oh! California
Now you've corrupted us all
With your sexuality
Tried to tell me love was free
Tried to tell me love was free
Us and them baby
You you you you you and me
Oh Love! In the time of scandal
Love in the form of tragedy
Love so much so real so fucked it's 5150
But I'm just 22, I'm just 22
I don't mind dyin'
I don't mind dyin'
I don't mind
What does failure taste like?
To me it tastes like dirt
And I'm beggin' you please to look away
I bet my money on the bob-tail nag
Somebody bet on the bay
I saw Joseph carrying the gun
I saw Mary carrying the gun
The gun the gun the gun
The gun carrying the gun
I saw Grandpa
Carrying the gun
I saw grandma
Carrying the gun
The gun the gun the gun
The gun carrying the gun
I used to carry the gun
I used to carry the gun
The gun the gun the gun
The gun carrying the gun
You made me boring
I bled all my blood out
But these red pants
They don't show that
My old friends though
They know that
And when I sold them
I sold that
I'm sorry Gracie girl you're golden
I'm sorry Steven and Andrew
That I ever left you
You never seen the ocean
You never been on a plane
Schizophrenia rules the brain
Aliens coming to take you away
You're still my favorite
Past Life Martyred Saint
Gimme the places I'll give you the names
Wasted away alone on the plains
What's it like to be small-town and gay?
Fuck it baby I know you'll never change
So hold me down but I got it
Quick hit to the face
Soft blow to the mouth
On Christmas morning
You're bleeding from the fingertips
You rubbed me raw you rubbed me wrong
And I heave when I think of you
Oh! California
Now you've corrupted us all
With your sexuality
Tried to tell me love was free
Tried to tell me love was free
Us and them baby
You you you you you and me
Oh Love! In the time of scandal
Love in the form of tragedy
Love so much so real so fucked it's 5150
But I'm just 22, I'm just 22
I don't mind dyin'
I don't mind dyin'
I don't mind
What does failure taste like?
To me it tastes like dirt
And I'm beggin' you please to look away
I bet my money on the bob-tail nag
Somebody bet on the bay
I saw Joseph carrying the gun
I saw Mary carrying the gun
The gun the gun the gun
The gun carrying the gun
I saw Grandpa
Carrying the gun
I saw grandma
Carrying the gun
The gun the gun the gun
The gun carrying the gun
I used to carry the gun
I used to carry the gun
The gun the gun the gun
The gun carrying the gun
Lyrics submitted by FiberOpticJesus
California Lyrics as written by Erika M. Anderson
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Love in a Vacuum
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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.
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
The greatest line to me is "love so much so real so fucked it's 5150." I had to Google it, but 5150 is a California Welfare and Institutions Code for "involuntary psychiatric hold." Using that as a definition of love is brilliant.
in california when the cops take someone away for being crazy it's referred to as a 5150, from that code. That's how the number is in the popular lexicon, it's known from people being arrested