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.
Don't you cherish me to sleep
Oh
Never keep your eyelids clipped
Hold me for the pops and clicks
I was only for the father's crib
Hair, old, long along
Your neck onto your shoulder blades
Oh
Always keep that message taped
Cross your breasts you won't erase
I was only for your very space
Hip, under nothing
Propped up by your other one
Face 'way from the sun
Just have to keep a dialogue
Teach our bodies, haunt the cause
I was only trying to spell a loss
Joy, it's all founded
Pincher with the skin inside
Oh
You pinned me with your black sphere eyes
You know that all the rope's untied
I was only for to die beside
So it's storming on the lake
Little waves our bodies break
There's a fire going out
But there's really nothing to the south
Swollen orange and light let through
Your one-piece swimmer stuck to you
Sold, I'm ever
Open ears and open eyes
Oh
Wake up to your starboard bride
Who goes in and then stays inside
Oh, the demons come, they can subside
Oh
Never keep your eyelids clipped
Hold me for the pops and clicks
I was only for the father's crib
Hair, old, long along
Your neck onto your shoulder blades
Oh
Always keep that message taped
Cross your breasts you won't erase
I was only for your very space
Hip, under nothing
Propped up by your other one
Face 'way from the sun
Just have to keep a dialogue
Teach our bodies, haunt the cause
I was only trying to spell a loss
Joy, it's all founded
Pincher with the skin inside
Oh
You pinned me with your black sphere eyes
You know that all the rope's untied
I was only for to die beside
So it's storming on the lake
Little waves our bodies break
There's a fire going out
But there's really nothing to the south
Swollen orange and light let through
Your one-piece swimmer stuck to you
Sold, I'm ever
Open ears and open eyes
Oh
Wake up to your starboard bride
Who goes in and then stays inside
Oh, the demons come, they can subside
Lyrics submitted by thuglifeforevs
Calgary Lyrics as written by Matthew Boutwell Mccaughan Justin Deyarmond Edison Vernon
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Just heard an interview with Justin where he says something along these lines (and this is something of a paraphrase):
"When I wrote this song, I'd never been to Calgary - still haven't been - and I had a few really close friends that I'd met throughout the years from Calgary, and it always seemed like a place that I felt connected to. This song sort of became about an envisionment, a place, about when you think there's somebody out there that you could be in love with but you haven't met them yet. And it sort of became a metaphor for places you haven't been but that you feel like you know, and you can sort of have that feeling about somebody you haven't met that you feel like you're supposed to be with."
And in an interview with NPR, he says this while talking about Beth/Rest:
"Calgary sort of introduces that idea... eventually, you start waking up to the fact that you might be ready to spend your life with somebody and still feel good about who you are and what kind of changes you're going to go through no matter what."
So, hope that says something.
That makes more sense considering the music video.