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.
Hi, there
I'm on my way, I'm making it
I've got to make it show, yeah
So much larger than life
I'm gonna watch it growing, ohh
The place where I come from is a small town
They think so small
They use small words
But not me
I'm smarter than that
I worked it out
I've been stretching my mouth
To let those big words come right out
I've had enough, I'm getting out
To the city, the big, big city
I'll be a big noise with all the big boys
So much stuff I will own
And I will pray to a big god
As I kneel in the big church
Big time
I'm on my way, I'm making it
Big time (oh, yes)
Big time
I've got to make it show, yeah
Big time
Big time
So much larger than life
Big time
I'm going to watch it growing
Big time
Ohh, ohh
My parties have all the big names
And I greet them with the widest smile
Tell them how my life is one big adventure
And always, they're amazed
When I show them 'round my house to my bed
I had it made like a mountain range
With a snow-white pillow for my big fat head
And my heaven will be a big heaven
And I will walk through the front door
Big time
I'm on my way, I'm making it
Big time
Big time
I've got to make it show, yeah
Big time
Big time
So much larger than life
Big time
I'm going to watch it growing
Big time
Big time
My car is getting bigger
Big time
My house getting bigger
Big time
My eyes getting bigger
Big time
And my mouth
Big time
My belly is getting bigger
Big time
And my bank account
Big time
Look at my circumstance
Big time
And the bulge in my big, big, big, big, big, big
Big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big
I'm on my way, I'm making it
I've got to make it show, yeah
So much larger than life
I'm gonna watch it growing, ohh
The place where I come from is a small town
They think so small
They use small words
But not me
I'm smarter than that
I worked it out
I've been stretching my mouth
To let those big words come right out
I've had enough, I'm getting out
To the city, the big, big city
I'll be a big noise with all the big boys
So much stuff I will own
And I will pray to a big god
As I kneel in the big church
Big time
I'm on my way, I'm making it
Big time (oh, yes)
Big time
I've got to make it show, yeah
Big time
Big time
So much larger than life
Big time
I'm going to watch it growing
Big time
Ohh, ohh
My parties have all the big names
And I greet them with the widest smile
Tell them how my life is one big adventure
And always, they're amazed
When I show them 'round my house to my bed
I had it made like a mountain range
With a snow-white pillow for my big fat head
And my heaven will be a big heaven
And I will walk through the front door
Big time
I'm on my way, I'm making it
Big time
Big time
I've got to make it show, yeah
Big time
Big time
So much larger than life
Big time
I'm going to watch it growing
Big time
Big time
My car is getting bigger
Big time
My house getting bigger
Big time
My eyes getting bigger
Big time
And my mouth
Big time
My belly is getting bigger
Big time
And my bank account
Big time
Look at my circumstance
Big time
And the bulge in my big, big, big, big, big, big
Big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Ave Grave
Thee More Shallows
Thee More Shallows
The Spy
Doors, The
Doors, The
Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
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.
This is a great song. I think there is no mystery as to its meaning. It's clearly a hugely negative commentary on commercialism and materialism which we are taught to worship at the expense of substance, value, and humanity. My favorite lines?
1) my heaven will be a big heaven and I will walk through the front door 2) I will pray to a big god as I kneel in the big church 3) I show them round my house, to my bed...I had it made like a mountain range with a snow-white pillow for my big fat head
Peter Gabriel is brilliant and unafraid. Gotta love that!
I always thought he was saying "Higher" and not "Hi There" meaning he's taking it higher. And when he sings this song it sounds like he says "My heaven will be a big hell" but I guess I got those two things wrong. ha ha But anyway, I think he was pretty obvious with his intentions of the song, specially with the 80s being thought of as the materialistic decade (the me decade)... you know, "shop til' you drop" and all that. Though I think the last 20 years has been very materialistic compared to the 80s and has gotten worse... well until the economy started to implode the last 5+ years. I like Peter's newer music but I miss his 80s youthfulness and spunk, stuff like Shock the Monkey and Red Rain. Awesome music.
I've never paid attention to the last line in the song...
Haha... Yeah, his big bulge, lol
Wow, I am shocked everyone missed the biggest thing about this song. Didn't anybody notice the irony that a song about being "Big" and "great" uses no polysyllabic words?
"The place that I come from is a small town. They think so small, they use small words. but not me." Except he describes his greatness almost completely in monosyllabic words.
One of the most fervently ironic (and self-mocking) songs ever written.
To me, this song is about, quite literally, a man's ambitions as he moves from the small town life to the "Big Time". The way it's presented kind of evokes a certain naivete, with the singer expecting to be so great and so happy in his new life. It suggests that reality may come crashing down around him soon.
I too have felt this way. As a child, I moved from a rural area in North Carolina to Raleigh, the capital city. I was on my way up, and I was excited. I wasn't ready for reality, and I got a dose of it. But this song isn't about reality - it's about anticipation, and that's something we can all empathize with.
Like that p.o.v.
@asutbone Reality is overrated.
The theme song for this year's WWE WrestleMania 22 in Chicago!
I think that this is sarcasticaly making fun of cocky celebrities.
Sure, it's about ambition, and about the way ambition changes your image of yourself - the video has a great time playing around with the clichés of stardom, with Peter multiplied by twenty screens.
Beautiful guitar playing too. I love the funky, flexible riff that Robert Fripp pushes out on top of the track.
Everyone says it's about 80's narcissism, yuppies and such. I don't doubt it.
What is it that Peter says at the beginning? It sounds to me like "Hi there," but the lyrics in "So's" booklet say "Suc cess." What is it?
i just find that weeeeeird...why did he agree to that?...anyhow..he says hi there..i think the suc cess thing is just a precurser to the song or whatever..
yes people i guess you've all got it! anyway this song is like a perfect party song along with kate bush's "big sky", both BIG SONGS ;D