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.
All the way home we felt we had a chance
To review the coulds before we were born
And to invite a new game of can'ts
Absorbed in the clouds a voice from afar said
"With the right device you can make a pattern grow
Or you can tune up your car"
So we stayed on the train admiring the time
As the lights of the city drew near
We drank a little wine
They were blurry and green outer space in between
With a depth and a form unclear
Then we saw it up ahead
A flickering lantern lit up on the tracks
In the rugs that had covered up the bridge
From the banks of a river to the bed
Of the valley upstream to the place we live
The glass on the lantern cast back the sight
Of a drive-in movie we drove by below
We saw where we'd been in the pictures within
Projecting all the places we would go
So we follow the scene and flowed up your steps
To a smooth wooden floor in a trance
The train whistle melody woved through the trees
And in through the door to signal the turns of a dance
To review the coulds before we were born
And to invite a new game of can'ts
Absorbed in the clouds a voice from afar said
"With the right device you can make a pattern grow
Or you can tune up your car"
So we stayed on the train admiring the time
As the lights of the city drew near
We drank a little wine
They were blurry and green outer space in between
With a depth and a form unclear
Then we saw it up ahead
A flickering lantern lit up on the tracks
In the rugs that had covered up the bridge
From the banks of a river to the bed
Of the valley upstream to the place we live
The glass on the lantern cast back the sight
Of a drive-in movie we drove by below
We saw where we'd been in the pictures within
Projecting all the places we would go
So we follow the scene and flowed up your steps
To a smooth wooden floor in a trance
The train whistle melody woved through the trees
And in through the door to signal the turns of a dance
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
Corpse I Fell In Love With
Gadjits, The
Gadjits, The
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.
Step
Ministry
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
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.
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”
Very surreal lyrics, like someone writing a poem about a dream they had. Probably only meaningful personally to the person who wrote it. I feel like if Salvador Dali had been Phish's lyricist, he might have come up with a lot of songs with lyrics like this. I'm not much of a dream interpreter, but I think a helpful approach to a song like this might be: if someone had a dream that went like this, what might that say about them and what's going on in their life?