Tuesday, April 9All That Matters

A Perfect Circle – Orestes (Live)

by nathanr1889


A Perfect Circle – Orestes (Live)




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6 Comments

  • OhighOent

    Metaphor for a missing moment

    Pull me into your perfect circle

    One womb, one shame, one resolve

    Liberate this will to release us all

    Gotta cut away, clear away

    Snip away and sever this umbilical residue

    Keeping me from killing you

    And from pulling you down with me in here

    I can almost hear you scream

    One more medicated, peaceful moment

    Give me one more medicated, peaceful moment

    And I don’t wanna feel this overwhelming hostility

    I don’t wanna feel this overwhelming hostility

    Gotta cut away, clear away

    Snip away and sever this umbilical residue

    Gotta cut away, clear away

    Snip away and sever this umbilical residue

    Keeping me from killing you

    Snip away and sever this

    Keeping me from killing you

    Reply
  • Mecxs

    Orestes is a famous figure in Greek Mythology.

    He was the son of Agamemnon – the Mycenaean king who conquered Troy. Before he sailed for Troy, Agamemnon had pissed off the god Artemis, who responded by withholding all the wind that Agamemnon needed to go beat up the Trojans who stole his brother’s wife. So he sacrificed one of his daughters, Iphigenia, to Artemis, allowing him to cross the sea and sack Troy.

    He returned to Mycenae, to find his wife, Clytemnestra, waiting for him. Clytemnestra was pretty upset at him re: the whole Iphigenia thing. He had also taken a new mistress in Troy, which just added insult to injury. So she stabbed him to death in the bathtub because they didn’t have proper couples counseling back then.

    While this is happening, Orestes – the couple’s only son – is away on exchange (some stories say that he was snuck out of the country by one of his other sisters, or similar, but he wasn’t around is the main point). He hears about his father’s death, and Apollo (god of the sun and brother to Artemis) tells him he has to go and make things right – which is Old Greek for “commit matricide”.

    So Orestes sneaks back into the palace in Argos and turns a corner and BAM, walks right into his mum. She doesn’t recognise him, so he makes up some lie about how he’s a messenger and he’s here to tell her that Orestes died while on exchange. She believes him, and he uses the distraction to murder her new hubby.

    As he’s standing over his step dad’s body, he knows what he has to do next, but he hesitates. Apollo has told him that he has to do this, and he knows he can’t disobey a god. But he also knows that matricide is a sin and he will be punished for it. It’s basically Hamlet but with his mum instead of uncle.

    Clytemnestra enters the room and recognises him standing over the body of her lover. She pleads with him, initially, ripping her shirt open and reminding him of the breast he suckled at as a child. Interesting strategy – it doesn’t work for some reason. So she starts calling him a snake. He finds his resolve, and leads her into the palace and kills her.

    This damns him, and he is pursued and tormented by the Erinyes, who are basically BDSM demons. Presumably Orestes isn’t into that sort of thing, because he asks the gods for help. They give him a trial, and Athena ends up pardoning him.

    Great song.

    Reply

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