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 lift you off the earth mundane and glum
Out the solar system, way past the sun
Till all the fear in your heart is gone, and so on
Walking through the world with no pressure
Inner peace beyond measure
I was leaving wherever I came in
When a man said, stop
I wanna have what you have
And get what you got
I got it sleeping rough on the streets in the rain
I got it learning to share my people's pain
I got it making flowers grow in hearts of stone
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
I've been walking trough the world with no pressure
Air's fresher, full of vigour, life becomes my mirror
The further I go the more I know
Oh yeah, wherever the wind blow I'll be there
Turned up in places that I never intended to go
And so ended my youth, I once depended on proof
Now I'm in the flow, there I things I know beyond knowing
I've never seen a seed growing, I was going back home
When a man said, stop
I wanna have what you have
And get what you got
I got it sleeping rough on the streets in the rain
I got it learning to share my people's pain
I got it making flowers grow in hearts of stone
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
Out the solar system, way past the sun
Till all the fear in your heart is gone, and so on
Walking through the world with no pressure
Inner peace beyond measure
I was leaving wherever I came in
When a man said, stop
I wanna have what you have
And get what you got
I got it sleeping rough on the streets in the rain
I got it learning to share my people's pain
I got it making flowers grow in hearts of stone
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
I've been walking trough the world with no pressure
Air's fresher, full of vigour, life becomes my mirror
The further I go the more I know
Oh yeah, wherever the wind blow I'll be there
Turned up in places that I never intended to go
And so ended my youth, I once depended on proof
Now I'm in the flow, there I things I know beyond knowing
I've never seen a seed growing, I was going back home
When a man said, stop
I wanna have what you have
And get what you got
I got it sleeping rough on the streets in the rain
I got it learning to share my people's pain
I got it making flowers grow in hearts of stone
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
I got it 'cos I always took the long way home
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
this is a song, simply enough, about experience. somebody approached the narrator and wondered what made his knowledge so worldly. answer: EXPERIENCE.
one of my favourite Faithless choons!
he's found contentment with life, the universe, and everything. he's sharing what he's learned and how he learned to be that way- through being humble, compassionate, loving, and admiring the surroundings. he used to want proof for everything, now he accepts things for what they are.