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.
We think we're heroes
We think we're kings
We plan all kinds of fabulous things
Oh look how great we have become
Key in the door
The moment I've been longing for
Before my bag hit the floor
My adorable children rush up
Screaming for a kiss and a story
They're a gift to this world
My only claim to glory
I surely never knew sweeter days
Blows my mind like munition
I'm amazed
So much heaven, so much hell
So much love, so much pain
So much more than I thought this world could ever contain
So much bought, so much sold
One man's loss, another man's gold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
We're just children, we're just dust
We are small, we are lost
And we're nothing
Nothing at all
One bomb
The whole block gone
Can't find my children
And dust covers the sun
Everywhere is noise, panic
And confusion
But to some another fun day in Babylon
I'm going to bury my wife
And dig up my gun
My life is done
So now I'm going to kill someone...
So much heaven, so much hell
So much love, so much pain
So much more than I thought this world could ever contain
So much bought, so much sold
One man's loss, another man's gold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much heaven, so much hell
So much love, so much pain
So much more than I thought this world could ever contain
So much bought, so much sold
One man's loss, another man's gold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
We think we're kings
We plan all kinds of fabulous things
Oh look how great we have become
Key in the door
The moment I've been longing for
Before my bag hit the floor
My adorable children rush up
Screaming for a kiss and a story
They're a gift to this world
My only claim to glory
I surely never knew sweeter days
Blows my mind like munition
I'm amazed
So much heaven, so much hell
So much love, so much pain
So much more than I thought this world could ever contain
So much bought, so much sold
One man's loss, another man's gold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
We're just children, we're just dust
We are small, we are lost
And we're nothing
Nothing at all
One bomb
The whole block gone
Can't find my children
And dust covers the sun
Everywhere is noise, panic
And confusion
But to some another fun day in Babylon
I'm going to bury my wife
And dig up my gun
My life is done
So now I'm going to kill someone...
So much heaven, so much hell
So much love, so much pain
So much more than I thought this world could ever contain
So much bought, so much sold
One man's loss, another man's gold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
So much heaven, so much hell
So much love, so much pain
So much more than I thought this world could ever contain
So much bought, so much sold
One man's loss, another man's gold
So much more than I thought this world could ever hold
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its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
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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.
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He certainly did earn that reputation.
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
I love this song, its so amazing and so true as well
I think it speaks for it's self, as well as the current state of things. Simply a chilling song. Great video, too. Bravo.
It's about having fun while everyone else dies and not really caring or doing anything to change the evil.
Reminds me of a picture angelina jolie spoke of where a couple are enjoying themselves on a beach while the body of a dead man lays only feet away.
"It has made me realize that we are all - myself included - behaving like the couple sitting under their umbrella on the beach, gazing studiously out to sea."
Great song with a powerful message about violence, war and destruction. The destruction of a blissful family can turn an otherwise peaceful man into a war machine seeking revenge.
I think the only downside to the beauty and truth of this song is that it's the first on the album and I can't really get into the rest of the album. I just get stuck listening to this over and over again knowing that nothing else could equal this one.