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.
Reign of love
I can't let go
To the sea I offer
This heavy load
Locusts will
Lift me up
I'm just a prisoner
In a reign of love
Locusts will
Let us stop
I wish I'd spoken
To the reign of love
Reign of love
By the church, we're waiting
Reign of love
My knees go praying
How I wish
I'd spoken up
Or we'd be carried
In the reign of love.
I can't let go
To the sea I offer
This heavy load
Locusts will
Lift me up
I'm just a prisoner
In a reign of love
Locusts will
Let us stop
I wish I'd spoken
To the reign of love
Reign of love
By the church, we're waiting
Reign of love
My knees go praying
How I wish
I'd spoken up
Or we'd be carried
In the reign of love.
Lyrics submitted by Outrune, edited by Mellow_Harsher, AnUser
Reign Of Love Lyrics as written by Jonathan Mark Buckland Guy Rupert Berryman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
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.
The Spy
Doors, The
Doors, The
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?
Battle Royale
Word Alive, The
Word Alive, The
This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
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Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
This was my brother's wedding song this year. Its short, but the two of them love Coldplay and they started dating when my brother lent her Viva La Vida. They say this song sums them up, thats why I love it, because this and Strawberry Swing brought them together.
This song is beautiful, yes, but the lyrics are far more sinister than the gentle music and muted vocals imply. I can sort of see a story unfold in the lyrics.
--Reign of love, I can't let go To the sea I offer this heavy load--
This makes me think of a man who is hopelessly in love with the girl of his dreams, but she's getting married to his best friend. He's kept quiet about his feelings for so, so long, but now there's nothing he can do. He's depressed beyond all belief, so he goes to a secluded part of the beach. (Yes, in my story, the chapel is near a beach.)
--Locust wind, lift me up I'm just a prisoner in a reign of love--
I had no idea what a "locus wind" was, so I googled it. The first site that came up was a Bible verse, Exodus 10:19 - "And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea." So I believe this was during the time that Moses was trying to free the Hebrew people from Egypt and there were curses put on Egypt cuz the Pharaoh wasn't cooperating or something. So I interpret "locusts" as the man's problems, all the things he could've done weighing on his mind. As for "reign of love," "reign" could be a play-on of "rain." In a Rain of Love, you'd be happy because you have all the love you could ever hope for or want. In a Reign of Love, you'd feel controlled by love, an emotion that's supposed to bring happiness but is only ruling (and potentially destroying) your life.
-- Locust wind, here I stop How I wish I'd spoken to a reign of love --
Again with the locust wind. So the guy is remembering all the things he could've or should've done, but didn't and because he didn't do them, he's miserable. He's done. He can go no further. "How I wish I'd spoken to a reign of love" probably infers the girl he's in love with. If only he told her sooner, he wouldn't be in this predicament.
--Reign of love, by the church we're waiting Reign of love, on my knees, I'm praying -- I imagine that the wedding is soon to take place and our leading man is some sort of attendant at the wedding, like a groomsman or something. He's still at the beach, looking out to the ocean, but he's praying now. He feels as though there's no life left for him without his dream girl, his one true love. He can't just confess his feelings to her, especially on her wedding day! Because this problem seems unresolvable to him, our guy is just going to take himself out of the picture.
-- How I wish I'd spoken up Away, get carried on a reign of love... --
The grand finale, our leading man walks into the ocean and drowns himself, being carried on a reign of love.
I am confused about hear "Locusts will" or "Locusts wind" but, it make much sense the part of Exodus 10:19 if it is "locusts wind"
Lovely interpretation!
seriously one of the better songs off viva la vida. it really is great for falling asleep! with beautiful lyrics of course. god bless chris martin
i love this soft ballad...........so brilliant. i hate the person on youtube who put a comment on the live peformance as 'this song is fundamentally gay ass sex' and to him i say his life is fundamentally composed of gay ass sex. hehe. clever
one of the most underrated songs on the album. pure.
This was my brother's wedding song this year. Its short, but the two of them love Coldplay and they started dating when my brother lent her Viva La Vida. They say this song sums them up, thats why I love it, because this and Strawberry Swing brought them together.
Fantastic lyrics and beautiful piano
this song is easily the best on the viva la vida album.
this is such a beautiful song
I don't see the lyrics to Reign of Love as being sinister at all. I see them as an expression of guilt, and sadness over holding on to guilt for a long period of time. "Reign of love, I can't let go, to the sea I offer this heavy load. Locusts will lift me up, I'm just a prisoner in the reign of love." The reign of love is all around him, but he can't participate in it because because he is a "prisoner" to this "heavy load", the guilt that he carries. Locusts cause devastation to crops, sometimes causing famine. So I think the lyricist sees himself as someone who has caused some great devastation, perhaps by not speaking up, "how I wish I'd spoken up, or be carried away in the reign of love". In other words, if he had spoken up, the devastation wouldn't have happened, and he wouldn't have to carry this guilt, and then he could be carried away in the reign of love. When locusts fly, they first jump really high, then spread their wings, then they fly really closely together so that they look like one large mass, sometimes,"blackening the sky" because of the large number of them. "Locusts will let us stop", I think is about his desire to be carried away from this horrible guilt that he can't let go of. He goes on to say, "How I wish I'd spoken up to the reign of love". "Reign of Love", I interpret as the love of God here. How else could you speak up to the "reign of love", except through prayer? He goes on to say, "reign of love, by the church wey're waiting, reign of love, on our knees go praying. How I wish I'd spoken up, or we'd get carried away by the reign of love." The Reference to a "church" as apposed to a temple, mosc, or synogogue seems to point toward Christanity, in which Christ is referred to as"King", Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit all being one through the Holy Trinity. I.e. God the King, or Christ the King, one in the same. So the "Reign" of the King seems perfectly appropriate. I also think of it as the "joy of life", because a person cannot participate in the joy of life when they are so weighed down by guilt. I believe in the end he realizes he will have to "speak up to the Reign of Love", by praying for forgiveness. And I think there is remorse for not having done it sooner. Also, I never did find a reference to a "locust wind" in the lyrics!