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.
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
'Cause when we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the war of love is for
It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way that you mean it
When you tell me what will be
And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true
That all the love you've been giving
Has all been meant for you
I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me through
Between the silence of the mountains
And the crashing of the sea
There lies a land I once lived in
And she's waiting there for me
But in the grey of the morning
My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping
And the road that I must choose
I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me to
The land that I once knew
To learn as we grow old
The secrets of our soul
It's not the way that you say it when you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it when you tell me what will be
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
When we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
'Cause when we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the war of love is for
It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way that you mean it
When you tell me what will be
And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true
That all the love you've been giving
Has all been meant for you
I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me through
Between the silence of the mountains
And the crashing of the sea
There lies a land I once lived in
And she's waiting there for me
But in the grey of the morning
My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping
And the road that I must choose
I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me to
The land that I once knew
To learn as we grow old
The secrets of our soul
It's not the way that you say it when you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it when you tell me what will be
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
When we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed
Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Question Lyrics as written by Justin Hayward
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
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Love in a Vacuum
'Til Tuesday
'Til Tuesday
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.
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Sometimes, I find it difficult to know the true intentions of the writer. But I think, whether intended or not, one of the greater spiritual truths has been clearly laid bare here.
Note the reference to "secrets of our soul". Apply this to the message: "all the love you've been giving has all been meant for you".
The true power of love is staggering. We acknowledge God's desire that we love one another, but the ultimate goals achieved through this love is more abstract and hidden. It is impossible to truly love someone with first seeking to understand them. Anything less is really a "selfish love". True love is the pursuit of eternity and for our own personal benefit--it reflects God's designated path for our spiritual enlighenment.
if a song is titled "the question," it sure stands without the requirement of an answer.<br /> There may be many answers, the answers may change over time... an eternal question?<br /> <br /> <br /> Why do we never get an answer <br /> When we're knocking at the door <br /> With a thousand million questions <br /> About hate and death and war? <br /> 'Cos when we stop and look around us, <br /> There is nothing that we need, <br /> In a world of persecution that is burning in its greed. <br /> Why do we never get an answer <br /> When we're knocking at the door <br /> Because the truth is hard to swallow <br /> That's what the war of love is for. <br /> <br /> the truth is hard to swallow but it is the truth that sets you free and allows universal love for its eternity, beyond individual, materialistic reality... there is the war for love, perpetual, beyond time or singular, individuals' experience. This is shared, even for a moment, but it is hard to be in this awareness all the time... but it is a shared moment for those who have glimpsed the "truth"... it is nevertheless a struggle...<br /> <br /> It's not the way that you say it <br /> When you say those things to me <br /> It's more the way that you mean it <br /> When you tell me what will be. <br /> <br /> the "way" alleged, "caring" style of how things are said may be nearly obsolete, maybe a cliche...<br /> it is "more", not necessarily exactly, the way you mean it since it is a conversation between two souls, <br /> and that in this realm, it is not of this world but of a world to be, dreamed and perhaps realised...if possible... <br /> BUT:<br /> And when you stop and think about it <br /> You won't believe it's true <br /> -- if, out of the conversation, as a single person's hindsight, the dream is... well, ungrounded and void.<br /> the realm is a shared deal only available to two souls dwelling in the same shared awareness beyond <br /> logic and public/commonality...<br /> <br /> <br /> That all the love you've been giving <br /> Has all been meant for you. <br /> <br /> a mutual thing... an each other state... tha's luv...<br /> <br /> I'm looking for someone to change my life, <br /> I'm looking for a miracle in my life, <br /> And if you could see what it's done to me, <br /> To lose the love I knew <br /> Could safely lead me through. <br /> <br /> multiple interpretations open here, but one i may dwell on is that, having arrived at an understanding,<br /> with a sentient soul, the mission now is to radiate the "higher love" as a spreading of sharing that love to an otherwise, unfamiliar world... maybe...<br /> like grasping that truth, now is the thing that must be the device that reveals to more sentients that it is this war of love that must endure... blablabla let's move on...<br /> <br /> To learn as we grow old, <br /> The secrets of our soul. <br /> <br /> let's keep the line open and ponder what we, united have learned (not a break up song) time, immaterial... only aging...<br /> <br /> Between the silence of the mountains, <br /> And the crashing of the sea, <br /> There lies a land I once lived in, <br /> And she's waiting there for me, <br /> But in the grey of the morning, <br /> My mind becomes confused, <br /> Between the dead and the sleeping, <br /> And the road that I must chose. <br /> <br /> In solitary awareness is the open line for communion despite vast space time distance... with faith <br /> that she is there ... where "they" started...<br /> but waking alone, empirical reality is... a test for the mind and options are with those that may not respond and those that may wake up to... his voice... and the road continues to lead to that miracle he may find... you?<br /> <br />
<br /> 1 hr 1 min ago <br /> <br /> Rated 0 if a song is titled "the question," it sure stands without the requirement of an answer.<br /> There may be many answers, the answers may change over time... an eternal question?<br /> <br /> <br /> Why do we never get an answer <br /> When we're knocking at the door <br /> With a thousand million questions <br /> About hate and death and war? <br /> 'Cos when we stop and look around us, <br /> There is nothing that we need, <br /> In a world of persecution that is burning in its greed. <br /> Why do we never get an answer <br /> When we're knocking at the door <br /> Because the truth is hard to swallow <br /> That's what the war of love is for. <br /> <br /> the truth is hard to swallow but it is the truth that sets you free and allows universal love for its eternity, beyond individual, materialistic reality... there is the war for love, perpetual, beyond time or singular, individuals' experience. This is shared, even for a moment, but it is hard to be in this awareness all the time... but it is a shared moment for those who have glimpsed the "truth"... it is nevertheless a struggle...<br /> <br /> It's not the way that you say it <br /> When you say those things to me <br /> It's more the way that you mean it <br /> When you tell me what will be. <br /> <br /> the "way" alleged, "caring" style of how things are said may be nearly obsolete, maybe a cliche...<br /> it is "more", not necessarily exactly, the way you mean it since it is a conversation between two souls, <br /> and that in this realm, it is not of this world but of a world to be, dreamed and perhaps realised...if possible... <br /> BUT:<br /> And when you stop and think about it <br /> You won't believe it's true <br /> -- if, out of the conversation, as a single person's hindsight, the dream is... well, ungrounded and void.<br /> the realm is a shared deal only available to two souls dwelling in the same shared awareness beyond <br /> logic and public/commonality...<br /> <br /> <br /> That all the love you've been giving <br /> Has all been meant for you. <br /> <br /> a mutual thing... an each other state... tha's luv...<br /> <br /> I'm looking for someone to change my life, <br /> I'm looking for a miracle in my life, <br /> And if you could see what it's done to me, <br /> To lose the love I knew <br /> Could safely lead me through. <br /> <br /> multiple interpretations open here, but one i may dwell on is that, having arrived at an understanding,<br /> with a sentient soul, the mission now is to radiate the "higher love" as a spreading of sharing that love to an otherwise, unfamiliar world... maybe...<br /> like grasping that truth, now is the thing that must be the device that reveals to more sentients that it is this war of love that must endure... blablabla let's move on...<br /> <br /> To learn as we grow old, <br /> The secrets of our soul. <br /> <br /> let's keep the line open and ponder what we, united have learned (not a break up song) time, immaterial... only aging...<br /> <br /> Between the silence of the mountains, <br /> And the crashing of the sea, <br /> There lies a land I once lived in, <br /> And she's waiting there for me, <br /> But in the grey of the morning, <br /> My mind becomes confused, <br /> Between the dead and the sleeping, <br /> And the road that I must chose. <br /> <br /> In solitary awareness is the open line for communion despite vast space time distance... with faith <br /> that she is there ... where "they" started...<br /> but waking alone, empirical reality is... a test for the mind and options are with those that may not respond and those that may wake up to... his voice... and the road continues to lead to that miracle he may find... you?
sorry rodan5, I cluttered up your reply space, could you delete if you can?