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.
Bang, bang, shoot 'em up destiny (bang, bang)
Bang, bang, shoot 'em up to the moon (bang, bang)
Bang, bang, shoot 'em up one, two, three (one, two, three, four)
I wanted to be a spaceman, that's what I wanted to be
But now that I am a spaceman
Nobody cares about me
Hey, Mother Earth, won't'cha bring me back down safely to the sea?
Around and around and around and around is all she ever say to me
I wanted to make a good run, I wanted to go to the moon
I knew that it had to be fun
I told 'em to send me real soon
I wanted to be a spaceman, I wanted to be it so bad
But now that I am a spaceman I'd rather be back on the pad
Hey, Mother Earth, won't'cha bring me back down safely to the sea?
Around and around and around and around is just a lot of lunacy (yeah)
(Yeah)
'Round and around and around and around and around (so bring me back down)
'Round and around and around and around and around, safe on the ground
Hey, Mother Earth, better bring me back down safely to the sea
But around and around and around and around is all she ever say to me, yeah
You know I wanted to be a spaceman
That's awhat I wanted to be
But now that I am a spaceman nobody cares about me
Say hey, you Mother Earth, you better bring me back down
I've taken just as much as I can
Around and around and around and around is the problem of a spaceman
Bang, bang, shoot 'em up to the moon (bang, bang)
Bang, bang, shoot 'em up one, two, three (one, two, three, four)
I wanted to be a spaceman, that's what I wanted to be
But now that I am a spaceman
Nobody cares about me
Hey, Mother Earth, won't'cha bring me back down safely to the sea?
Around and around and around and around is all she ever say to me
I wanted to make a good run, I wanted to go to the moon
I knew that it had to be fun
I told 'em to send me real soon
I wanted to be a spaceman, I wanted to be it so bad
But now that I am a spaceman I'd rather be back on the pad
Hey, Mother Earth, won't'cha bring me back down safely to the sea?
Around and around and around and around is just a lot of lunacy (yeah)
(Yeah)
'Round and around and around and around and around (so bring me back down)
'Round and around and around and around and around, safe on the ground
Hey, Mother Earth, better bring me back down safely to the sea
But around and around and around and around is all she ever say to me, yeah
You know I wanted to be a spaceman
That's awhat I wanted to be
But now that I am a spaceman nobody cares about me
Say hey, you Mother Earth, you better bring me back down
I've taken just as much as I can
Around and around and around and around is the problem of a spaceman
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i love this song...im really in to fairly hard rock/metal.. but Nilsson is a genius and this is his best song.....................fly away and know one will care. LOVE IT
I have listened to this song SO many times in the past month (along with "Gotta Get Up", and "Down". Nilsson had such a great voice, and a witty sense of humor that played out in his lyrics.
I s'pose this could be a metaphor for when you actually get to be with a person you had a huge crush on and finding it to be more than you can handle, or boring, or what have you (A la Sam and Cindy from "Freaks and Geeks").
Or it could just be about wanting to be a spaceman.
I think the song is about the monotony of floating around the earth at high speeds.
No matter the message, It's a catchy, memorable song!
I don't want to be that guy that says every 70s song is about drugs but, for this one I think its about "shooting up" to the moon, taking drugs to get high etc (shoot up heroin etc). Shoot em up to the moon. He wanted to have a good run, heard itd be fun, but he had taken enough and didn't want the drugs anymore.
A space-themed allegory of disillusionment, perhaps.