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.
Do you still say your prayers little darlin'
Do you go to bed at night
Prayin' that tomorrow, everything will be alright
But tomorrow's fall in number
In number one by one
You wake up and you're dying
You don't even know what from
Well they shot you point blank
You been shot in the back
Baby point blank you been fooled this time
Little girl that's a fact
Right between the eyes, baby, point blank
Right between the pretty lies that they tell
Little girl you fell
You grew up where young girls they grow up fast
You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked
But what they asked baby wasn't right
You didn't have to live that life
I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
These days you don't wait on Romeos
You wait on that welfare check
And on all the pretty things that you can't ever have
And on all the promises
That always end up point blank
Shot between the eyes
Oh, point blank
Like little white lies you tell to ease the pain
You're walkin' in the sights, girl of point blank
And it's one false move and baby the lights go out
Once I dreamed we were together again
Baby you and me
Back home in those old clubs the way we used to be
We were standin' at the bar
It was hard to hear
The band was playin' loud and you were shoutin' somethin' in my ear
You pulled my jacket off and as the drummer counted four
You grabbed my hand and pulled me out on the floor
You just stood there and held me, then you started dancin' slow
And as I pulled you tighter I swore I'd never let you go
Well I saw you last night down on the avenue
Your face was in the shadows but I knew that it was you
You were standin' in the doorway out of the rain
You didn't answer when I called out your name
You just turned, and then you looked away
Like just another stranger waitin' to get blown away
Point blank
Right between the eyes
Oh, point blank
Right between the pretty lies you fell
Point blank
Shot straight through the heart
Yeah point blank
You've been twisted up 'til you've become just another part of it
Point blank, you're walkin' in the sights
Point blank
Livin' one false move just one false move away
Point blank
They caught you in their sights
Point blank
Did you forget how to love
Girl, did you forget how to fight
Point blank
They must have shot you in the head
'Cause point blank
Bang bang baby you're dead
Do you go to bed at night
Prayin' that tomorrow, everything will be alright
But tomorrow's fall in number
In number one by one
You wake up and you're dying
You don't even know what from
Well they shot you point blank
You been shot in the back
Baby point blank you been fooled this time
Little girl that's a fact
Right between the eyes, baby, point blank
Right between the pretty lies that they tell
Little girl you fell
You grew up where young girls they grow up fast
You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked
But what they asked baby wasn't right
You didn't have to live that life
I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
These days you don't wait on Romeos
You wait on that welfare check
And on all the pretty things that you can't ever have
And on all the promises
That always end up point blank
Shot between the eyes
Oh, point blank
Like little white lies you tell to ease the pain
You're walkin' in the sights, girl of point blank
And it's one false move and baby the lights go out
Once I dreamed we were together again
Baby you and me
Back home in those old clubs the way we used to be
We were standin' at the bar
It was hard to hear
The band was playin' loud and you were shoutin' somethin' in my ear
You pulled my jacket off and as the drummer counted four
You grabbed my hand and pulled me out on the floor
You just stood there and held me, then you started dancin' slow
And as I pulled you tighter I swore I'd never let you go
Well I saw you last night down on the avenue
Your face was in the shadows but I knew that it was you
You were standin' in the doorway out of the rain
You didn't answer when I called out your name
You just turned, and then you looked away
Like just another stranger waitin' to get blown away
Point blank
Right between the eyes
Oh, point blank
Right between the pretty lies you fell
Point blank
Shot straight through the heart
Yeah point blank
You've been twisted up 'til you've become just another part of it
Point blank, you're walkin' in the sights
Point blank
Livin' one false move just one false move away
Point blank
They caught you in their sights
Point blank
Did you forget how to love
Girl, did you forget how to fight
Point blank
They must have shot you in the head
'Cause point blank
Bang bang baby you're dead
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What a song!
From the very first time I heard it and everytime since I have been amazed how overlooked this incredibly powerful song has been. Maybe too depressing for many peoples taste, but it instantly touched me deeply.
It simply tells that gut wrenching story of seeing a past love, who didn't get close to what she wanted from life or what you would have wished for her. Is there any other artist who could have told this story?
This song just breaks. my. heart.
I'm a huuuge Springsteen fan, got this album in 7th grade, and out of all the amazing Bruce songs, this one still stuns me after all these years.
One of the most powerful, devastating songs ever. I can't get enough of it!
I saw this song on Youtube connected to clips from De Niros Taxi Driver which in my opinion is a perfect match.
I love this song, its earthiness, its honesty, its rage.
Seeing a woman he cared about so deeply trapped in a life of a junkie turning tricks to make it pay. (You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked)
And worst of all being so trapped in that life not even wanting to find a way out.
Just WOW!
"Do you still say your prayers, little darlin' do you go to bed at night Prayin' that tomorrow, everything will be alright But tomorrow's fall in number in number one by one You wake up and you're dying you don't even know what from"
That statement is just incredible. The whole song is amazing.
<Bang bang, baby you're dead.> How touching is this? Every word in this song is just perfect, I do love it. It deeply and really expresses what love is. What life is.
one of the most, if not the most, beautifully depressing songs I know. I think it is overlooked because it's a little different in style and tones from what he usually writes, and also because it makes everybody feel like crap.
My int. is that his long loved girl has gone and become a heroin addict, but maybe thats too obvious to mention. The way he moves from past to present to dreams is perfect, like everything else about the song.
In his concert "Live at the Roxy" on the 7th of July 1978, Bruce introduced this (new) song: "..it’s a song about being trapped. Some friends of mine are working two jobs a day, her husband working two jobs a day, and they’re trying to take her house away, and it’s a song about being trapped and not able to get out." I'm not sure how this relates directly to the lyrics, but I guess they are describing the lives of a couple strugling with making ends meet, and that effects their relationship. The question is, who are "they"?
The Boss at his most brutal.
It gets play less, probably, because it is perhaps his most unflinching song - utterly bleak it its depiction of the abandoned working classes. It hards, and it doesn't let you off with the slightest hint of hope.
"did you forget how to love, girl, did you forget how to fight"
Pure suicide music.
What. A. Song.
I saw this song on Youtube connected to clips from De Niros Taxi Driver which in my opinion is a perfect match.
I love this song, its earthiness, its honesty, its rage.
Seeing a woman he cared about so deeply trapped in a life of a junkie turning tricks to make it pay. (You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked)
And worst of all being so trapped in that life not even wanting to find a way out.
Just WOW!