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.
I wish that I had known
In that first minute we met
The unpayable debt that I owed you
'Cause you'd been abused
By the bone that refused you
And you hired me To make up for that
Walking in that room
When you had tubes in your arms
Those singing morphine alarms
Out of tune
They had you sleeping and eating
And I didn't believe them
When they called you a hurricane thunderclap
When I was checking vitals
I suggested a smile
You didn't talk for a while
You were freezing
You said you hated my tone
It made you feel so alone
So you told me
I ought to be leaving
But something kept me standing
By that hospital bed
I should have quit but instead
I took care of you
You made me sleep and uneven
And I didn't believe them
When they told me that there Was no saving you
In that first minute we met
The unpayable debt that I owed you
'Cause you'd been abused
By the bone that refused you
And you hired me To make up for that
Walking in that room
When you had tubes in your arms
Those singing morphine alarms
Out of tune
They had you sleeping and eating
And I didn't believe them
When they called you a hurricane thunderclap
When I was checking vitals
I suggested a smile
You didn't talk for a while
You were freezing
You said you hated my tone
It made you feel so alone
So you told me
I ought to be leaving
But something kept me standing
By that hospital bed
I should have quit but instead
I took care of you
You made me sleep and uneven
And I didn't believe them
When they told me that there Was no saving you
Lyrics submitted by squo, edited by Proodesta, Alconaut, PORKCHOP975
Kettering Lyrics as written by Peter Joseph Silberman
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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.
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When I first heard this song, I didn't look up the lyrics and just enjoyed it superficially, because I liked the sound and quiet vibe and I found it relaxing. Then on the third or fourth time, some words caught my interest while I was actually paying attention to them. I looked up the lyrics, and my entire relationship with the song shifted.
I hadn't even realized the reference that the title was making until I read the lyrics and realized they were about someone terminally ill (presumably with cancer), and the person who has to be besides them through it all, watching them. Only then did I realize that "Kettering" was referring to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Center, a cancer center in New York where I spent every weekend of this past summer while my fifteen-year old cousin did her chemotherapy.
After that, I went out for a night walk and just played the song on repeat and let myself cry to it. It's so beautiful, in the heartbreaking and plaintive way that it is, and it speaks with the humanity of pain, the simplicity of suffering. I've listened to the whole album since then and I know it's created on a foundation of metaphors, interpretations and fluctuating depictions that each song somehow plays into. But even though ever other song in 'Hospice' is just as brilliant, 'Kettering' has become something entirely different to me than just a song. Because my cousin is a hurricane thundercloud girl, and so were all the other children and young adults I got to meet frequently in her ward. So thank you, to The Antlers, for writing this piece.
Chords are a simple rotation of Am, C/G, Em.
I dunno if it's cool to post chords here but I figured someone could use them. Posted them for wake too. Beautiful, beautiful, haunting songs.
This song means more to me now than i ever. recently over a dating site, i met a girl that i really like in every way, and we are really hitting it off. After a hours of talking she opened up to me, and admitted that she had terminal brain cancer, i just felt let crying, because of my person i was only more attracted to the idea of meeting her for real, and being with her. But now i know it's doomed to fail before it even started, and i know it's gonna hurt so much when the inevitable comes around, but i refuse to simply let go and forget about her, i cant.
@axelerator3000 <br /> Hey how are you now? I'm really sorry about your circumstances.
i really want to know how people are supposed to deal with this album. i don't know if that a question, or a rhetorical question, or if i'm not asking. it's so brilliant, so achingly painful.
The album, to me, seems either
A.) told (sung) from various viewpoints, like a modernist novel, or
B.) purposely blurry in its character relationships so as to make its themes more universal.
There's really no way to definitively decide exactly what's going on; if Pitchfork's correct and the patient is a child, how could she have had an abortion (as heard in "Bear")? And if she's the patient of the speaker (singer), how come he knew her before she got sick (as heard in "Two")? It's impossible to pinpoint specifics and better just to take in the emotions and themes of the album as a whole,in my opinion.
It gave me chills and I absolutely love it.
The title 'Kettering' refers to the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New Jersey, which is likely where the cancer patient is located.
I tend to think the "sleeping uneven" bit is about sleeping in a hospital chair next to her bed.
Having bone cancer myself, I think it makes sense that the song is about a friend/family member of him dying of it. Not every patient with bone cancer will die, but it is certainly possible. Elsewhere on the album he talks about femur (upper bone of a leg towards the knee), a common place for bone cancer. The "tubes in your arm" could be about the chemo or a sedative that is given to him.
They had you sleeping and eating And I didn't believe them When they called you A hurricane thundercloud
Oh my god. That line makes me cry every time. It's like...how could someone go downward so fast? How could someone be fine, stable one minute, and then just crash?