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.
In an act of desperation, he put a gun to his head
In his mind confusion, nothing but delusion,
thinking he was better off dead
No one to be his savior, from the vises he made
Voices callin' to him, left his life in ruins,
drugs have led his mind astray
God, don't you hear me? God, don't you care?
Cause if you did, my friend,
you wouldn't leave me hangin' on this way
Somebody turn on the lights, somebody give me some air
I'm in the middle of a nasty situation
that is leading me on nowhere
I gotta hear you tonight, I gotta know that you care
You got me down on my knees
and I'm praying and I gotta know you're really out there
The second hand is ticking, time moves ahead
Feel the shadows breathing,
whispering and seething, dealing inside my head
A Candle flame before me, flickers in dance
As I sit here praying,
hoping that I'm swaying the Gods of second chance
All cry to heaven, all cry for truth
And while we wait for lights and thunder,
the devil is on the loose
Somebody turn on the lights, somebody give me some air
I'm in the middle of a nasty situation
that is leading me on nowhere
I gotta hear you tonight, I gotta know that you care
You got me down on my knees and I'm praying
and I gotta know you're really out there
In his mind confusion, nothing but delusion,
thinking he was better off dead
No one to be his savior, from the vises he made
Voices callin' to him, left his life in ruins,
drugs have led his mind astray
God, don't you hear me? God, don't you care?
Cause if you did, my friend,
you wouldn't leave me hangin' on this way
Somebody turn on the lights, somebody give me some air
I'm in the middle of a nasty situation
that is leading me on nowhere
I gotta hear you tonight, I gotta know that you care
You got me down on my knees
and I'm praying and I gotta know you're really out there
The second hand is ticking, time moves ahead
Feel the shadows breathing,
whispering and seething, dealing inside my head
A Candle flame before me, flickers in dance
As I sit here praying,
hoping that I'm swaying the Gods of second chance
All cry to heaven, all cry for truth
And while we wait for lights and thunder,
the devil is on the loose
Somebody turn on the lights, somebody give me some air
I'm in the middle of a nasty situation
that is leading me on nowhere
I gotta hear you tonight, I gotta know that you care
You got me down on my knees and I'm praying
and I gotta know you're really out there
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