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 have no fingertips
They were burned away from too many stove trips
Can't find no fingernails
I ate them off cause I was hungry as hell
Can't read, can't clear my mind
So here I go I've got to get into this lifetime
I think I'm gonna build a fence
To keep inside what little sense
The sense of taste
The sense of smell
The sense to sit here and feel like hell
To feel like hell
The sun, the moon, the stars
Is that what you're thinking that you are
As I'll disintegrate over time
If I expect my body to try and keep up with my mind
Today everything's mine
Today everything's mine
Today everything's mine
(That was fine)
They were burned away from too many stove trips
Can't find no fingernails
I ate them off cause I was hungry as hell
Can't read, can't clear my mind
So here I go I've got to get into this lifetime
I think I'm gonna build a fence
To keep inside what little sense
The sense of taste
The sense of smell
The sense to sit here and feel like hell
To feel like hell
The sun, the moon, the stars
Is that what you're thinking that you are
As I'll disintegrate over time
If I expect my body to try and keep up with my mind
Today everything's mine
Today everything's mine
Today everything's mine
(That was fine)
Lyrics submitted by bubbrock316
Hell Lyrics as written by Christopher Thorn Brad Smith
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Love in a Vacuum
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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.
Show Me a Little Shame
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
He certainly did earn that reputation.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
i once had a friend who would make fun of my rodent like apperance. he fell off a cliff some time ago screaming "hell haf no fury like a rodent scorned" they where picking bits of that mother fuckers carcass for 3 weeks and i now believe he is nestled painfully in some cramp crevace of hell. his day of redemption had come. i have since forgiven my friend for his evil devil worshipping and have devoted my life to the lord, however if i were to see another individual as scummy as my friend i would smot them along the mountain side with a bible in one hand and crucifix in the other.
Love the sinner, hate the sin, my friend.<br /> <br /> Christianity is not about smotting people along the mountain side. It is about forgiveness and love.
This song sounds to me like it was probably written about drug addiction. It sounds especially like a bad drug comdown inspired this song. Just the fact that he said "I have no fingertips...They were burned away from too many stove trips" is a reference to crack.
yeah, defintely. I can vouch for amphetamine come downs, and this songs is pretty much along those lines. The last stanza is AWESOME. For so many hours, you think you're the sky, but over time, you just disintegrate, expecting your body, which hasn't slept in days, to keep up with your tweaked-out mind. Good stuff.
mikus-fikus... HUH?? Anyway... Very very catchy song which is a bit disturbing considering what it is about! They sure had a way of turning something terrible into a catchy little tune you can't stop singing huh? So, whiffet i agree with you 100%. I've been there myself. The "I have no fingertips..stove trips" made me think of burning and blistering your fingertips on glass tubes that are still hot from the last go... And no fingernails.. well.. you're mind is not at all hungry but your body wants to eat, plus you're wired for sound so you just eat your fingernails to the nub until they almost bleed!! I agree about the disentegrate part too. It's like you just get to the point when you look back and you haven't slept in six days, your eyes are all bloodshot, and your speech is slurring. But your brain is still RACING. I don't miss that life, and I can tell by the lyrics of this song (which was one of the last that Shannon got the chance to write) that Shannon was tired of the game as well. He just couldn't get out by himself. Makes you want to scream at everyone around him to HELP HIM. Screw the Soup tour, do it later. He could've come out with so much more!!! :( RIP hoon. :(
mikus-fikus... HUH?? Anyway... Very very catchy song which is a bit disturbing considering what it is about! They sure had a way of turning something terrible into a catchy little tune you can't stop singing huh? So, whiffet i agree with you 100%. I've been there myself. The "I have no fingertips..stove trips" made me think of burning and blistering your fingertips on glass tubes that are still hot from the last go... And no fingernails.. well.. you're mind is not at all hungry but your body wants to eat, plus you're wired for sound so you just eat your fingernails to the nub until they almost bleed!! I agree about the disentegrate part too. It's like you just get to the point when you look back and you haven't slept in six days, your eyes are all bloodshot, and your speech is slurring. But your brain is still RACING. I don't miss that life, and I can tell by the lyrics of this song (which was one of the last that Shannon got the chance to write) that Shannon was tired of the game as well. He just couldn't get out by himself. Makes you want to scream at everyone around him to HELP HIM. Screw the Soup tour, do it later. He could've come out with so much more!!! :( RIP hoon. :(
Whaat? When you make tortillas on an open stove fire, you have to quickly turn them so you don't burn your fingers. Not saying that is what he was intending to mean in this song, but there are other possiblilities and isn't difinitiely about drugs. Not every song is about drugs and even if the artist is intentionally describing such a situation, the listener can take the song to mean anything and that is what art is so please be more creative.
Instead of being a worthless crack addict, he could simply be a worthless book addict. Afterall, he does say, "can't read, can't clear my mind" meaning he possibly wasted an entire day reading and contemplating such matters like "the sun, the moon, the stars" and how his body will "disentigrate over time" and eventually become them. Yes, he wasted the day away, "today everythings mine" and his body sits while his mind is everywhere. <br /> <br /> Hey, don't fork with me, do you not see the humor? Geez!