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.
Lives opened and trashed..."Look ma, watch me crash..."
No time to question...why'd nothing last...
Grasp and hold on...hold tight and fast...
Soon be over...and I will relent...
Let the ocean swell dissolve 'way my past
Three days and maybe longer won't even know I've left
Under your tongue...I'm like a tab...
I will give you what...you're not supposed to have...
Under my breath...I swear by sin...
For better or for worse...a best we began...
Let the sun climb, oh, burn away my mask
Three days, and maybe longer, shed my skin at last...shed...shed...
Let the sun shine, burn away my mask
Three days, and maybe longer, won't ever find me here
Let the ocean dissolve away my past
Four days, and not much longer...
Let my spirit pass...
Ooh...
This is, this is...(3x)
My...last exit
No time to question...why'd nothing last...
Grasp and hold on...hold tight and fast...
Soon be over...and I will relent...
Let the ocean swell dissolve 'way my past
Three days and maybe longer won't even know I've left
Under your tongue...I'm like a tab...
I will give you what...you're not supposed to have...
Under my breath...I swear by sin...
For better or for worse...a best we began...
Let the sun climb, oh, burn away my mask
Three days, and maybe longer, shed my skin at last...shed...shed...
Let the sun shine, burn away my mask
Three days, and maybe longer, won't ever find me here
Let the ocean dissolve away my past
Four days, and not much longer...
Let my spirit pass...
Ooh...
This is, this is...(3x)
My...last exit
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This song is about how fame open lives and ruins them by turning them into marketing. Fame can be fleeting & after a little time, no one will remember your existence. During the song, lots of metaphores lead to the understanding of running away and letting natural things destroy what's left of the person, just like the sun and the oceans (references vocalist Eddie Vedders surf passion). Closing the song, Eddie insists that his existence remains now under a strong decision of being depersonalized because, out of desperation, this is his last exit for survival.