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.
My lips are shakin', my nails are bit off
Been a month since I heard myself talk
All the advantage this life's got on me
Picture a cup in the middle of the sea
And I fight back in my mind
Never lets me be right, oh
I got memories, I got shit
So much it don't show
I walked the line
When you held me in that night
I walked the line
When you held my hand that night
An empty shell seems so easy to crack
Got all these questions, don't know who I could even ask
So I'll just lie alone and wait for a dream
Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
And I'll stay in bed
Oh, blue eyes, I've seen him
If just once, I could feel loved
Oh, stare back at me, yeah
But I walked the line
When you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line
When you held my hand that night
Oh, I walked the line
When you held me close that night
I paid the price
Never held you in real life
My lips are shakin'
Been a month since I heard myself talk
All the advantage this life's got on me
Picture a cup in the middle of the sea
And I fight back in my mind
Never lets me be right, oh
I got memories, I got shit
So much it don't show
I walked the line
When you held me in that night
I walked the line
When you held my hand that night
An empty shell seems so easy to crack
Got all these questions, don't know who I could even ask
So I'll just lie alone and wait for a dream
Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
And I'll stay in bed
Oh, blue eyes, I've seen him
If just once, I could feel loved
Oh, stare back at me, yeah
But I walked the line
When you held me in that night
Oh, I walked the line
When you held my hand that night
Oh, I walked the line
When you held me close that night
I paid the price
Never held you in real life
My lips are shakin'
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I read a lot of the comments but not all of them so I'm not sure if this was mentioned or not. Id is the Freudian term for your inner desires. So I think he is saying he has this desire to be loved yet he can't get it for lack of confidence. In turn all day he lays in bed and feels sorry for himself and waits for that dream he has when he has respect for himself and the girl falls in love with him for who he truly is. The title of the song "I got Id (I got shit)" means he has the desire to be loved yet he can't go out and get it so he's got nothing. I love this song because I know exactly what it's like not to be able to get what you want for lack of confidence (You're scared to be yourself). And I have said the same thing to myself if I could just get her to love me than I would walk the line of life. I would work hard to keep her love, not because i like working hard but because I love her so much and would fall apart if I lost her. The only problem is it's like you don't have the love to begin with so how can you work hard enough to get it, your empty, you have no drive. It's a viscous cycle that is very hard to break, self pity is, but it's possible don't stop believing in yourself cause that is the only problem after all.
This song so embodies a specific period of my life it is almost scary. This song ca insantly take me back there and is almost comforting. even tho' the song and that time in my life are so sad.
I remember when this song first came out as a single. I taped it off the radio and listened to it for about two weeks straight on headphones, just walking about. I think I was in about sixth grade. It's the only band that really makes you feel and think. They just have that certain mystique, that pulls you in. Who agrees?
I do veds, with you all the way. That's why they're one of my all-time faves. E-Ved is a born storyteller.
Certainly they are one of the few bands that really makes you feel and think.
I think this song is about my life......Every line describes my situation to a tee....Great song...
i think this song is just about a loser who has no girlfriend or life and he obsesses about being with one girl. He then starts to realize that he'll never be with her that he's been wasting his time and life. I think this song must relate with a lot of ppl.
they both have amazing, depressing lyrics
im going through this right now. it fucking kills. i cant think about anything else but her. ive listened to songs like this [i.e. creep, so,ething i can never have] and it doesnt make me feel better but it numbs the pain
"I don't want to ruin any interpretations of this song that you may have." -Eddie We all have our own interpretations and that's how it should be. Here's mine I agree with the the freudian "ID" theory and the Johnny Cash reference. If youve seen the movie "walk the line" you might agree. Your ID is instinctual and uncontrollable urges. "Shit" is your vice cocaine, heroine, whatever. Her love allowed him to walk the line and kept him clean. but your ID is enevitable and he reverted back to his addiction and ultimately lost her. he now beleives he can't be clean without her love. He's left in a state of addiction and depression dreaming of her. If he felt her love her love again he could overcome it.
hes so sad and lonely
A man dealing dealing with the depression he has amassed having never really gotten the girl of his dreams. He hopes to one day get her; 'hope for the dream' but all for nought. He has realised that dreaming about getting her doesn't amount to anything; in reality 'he's got shit'.