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 bleach the sky
Every night
Loaded on wrong
And further from right
Spinning around
Two howling moons
'Cause they're always there
Whatever I do
The river is loaded
I've been there today
Took it some questions
She does me again
I'd die in your arms
If you were dead too
Here comes a lie
We will always be true
Going up when coming down
Scratch away, away, away, away
It's the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh the little things that kill
That little thing that kill
The bigger you give bigger you get
We're boss at denial
But best at forget
Cupboard is empty we really need food
Summer is winter and you always knew
Going up when coming down
Scratch away
It's the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh little little little
Little little little
Little little little
I touch your mouth my will is food
Addicted to love I'm addicted to bull-shit
I kill you once I kill you again
We're starving and crude
Welcome my friends to
To the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh that little little little
Little little little
Here it comes that little things
Here it comes that little ah ah ah ah little, little
Every night
Loaded on wrong
And further from right
Spinning around
Two howling moons
'Cause they're always there
Whatever I do
The river is loaded
I've been there today
Took it some questions
She does me again
I'd die in your arms
If you were dead too
Here comes a lie
We will always be true
Going up when coming down
Scratch away, away, away, away
It's the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh the little things that kill
That little thing that kill
The bigger you give bigger you get
We're boss at denial
But best at forget
Cupboard is empty we really need food
Summer is winter and you always knew
Going up when coming down
Scratch away
It's the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh little little little
Little little little
Little little little
I touch your mouth my will is food
Addicted to love I'm addicted to bull-shit
I kill you once I kill you again
We're starving and crude
Welcome my friends to
To the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh the little things that kill
Tearing at my brains again
Oh that little little little
Little little little
Here it comes that little things
Here it comes that little ah ah ah ah little, little
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Little Things Lyrics as written by Gavin Rossdale
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Round Hill Music Big Loud Songs
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Cajun Girl
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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”
I really do think that this song is about drugs, it also could be about just having little things (problems) eat at your brain. Not literally of course.