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.
Sweet is the sight of her room
window open by candle light
how would you know
cold winter on the shore chills the dress she wore
it's on the floor
still it feels so warm today
and that's why i'm wondering why
you had to tell me what's going on in your head
what's wrong
come around to another time when you don't have to run
and when she says she wants somebody else
i hope you know she doesn't mean you
and when she breaks down and makes a sound
you'll never hear her the way that i do
and when she says she wants someone to love
i hope you know that she doesn't mean you
and when she breaks down and lets you down
i hope you know that she doesn't mean you
swing into flight
over hills, over her hills it's twilight
yeah, i guess that's right now
while we're here tell me why it's so funny that you're so funny when you're mad
cause it's mad, so mad
window open by candle light
how would you know
cold winter on the shore chills the dress she wore
it's on the floor
still it feels so warm today
and that's why i'm wondering why
you had to tell me what's going on in your head
what's wrong
come around to another time when you don't have to run
and when she says she wants somebody else
i hope you know she doesn't mean you
and when she breaks down and makes a sound
you'll never hear her the way that i do
and when she says she wants someone to love
i hope you know that she doesn't mean you
and when she breaks down and lets you down
i hope you know that she doesn't mean you
swing into flight
over hills, over her hills it's twilight
yeah, i guess that's right now
while we're here tell me why it's so funny that you're so funny when you're mad
cause it's mad, so mad
Lyrics submitted by Hunter
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The Night We Met
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Lord Huron
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"
I see it slightly different than most the commenters. Instead of a jealous guy who's just hung up on his ex, it's more about how they both are hung up on each other. Hence, "When she says she wants someone to love, I hope you know, she doesn't mean you."
The two were meant to be together, but for some reason estranged/broken up. The guy is saying how he's the one who reallly loves her and knows her ("how would you know"), and he's the one she really loves and wants.
I'm thinking maybe the lines next lines are about how the guy she's with isn't around a lot and never took the time to get to know her. "Sweet is the sight of her room window open by candle light how would you know
and that's why i'm wondering why you had to tell me what's going on in your head what's wrong come around to another time when you don't have to run"
I also like what DancinTina wrote: That's a great way of looking at the song. I was thinking about that, but I think it could also be about a guy whose best friend is a girl and he is singing this song to her boyfriend because he feels that their friendship and his love for her is so much stronger than the existing bond between her and her boyfriend.
Also pretty sure the lyrics are:
"and when she breaks down and lets you down i hope you know that she doesn't mean to"
Instead of:
"and when she breaks down and lets you down i hope you know that she doesn't mean you"
I could be wrong about that though.