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.
Unchain the colors before my eyes
Yesterday's sorrows, tomorrow's white lies
Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher
I shall return from out of the
Oh
Tears for remembrance, and tears for joy
Tears for somebody and this lonely boy
Out in the madness, the all seeing eye
Flickers above us, to light up the sky
Unchain the colours before my eyes
Yesterday's sorrows, tomorrow's white lies
Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher
I shall return from out of the
Fire, oh
Oh-oh, yeah
Oh-oh, yeah
Oh-oh
Oh, oh-oh
Oh
Yesterday's sorrows, tomorrow's white lies
Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher
I shall return from out of the
Oh
Tears for remembrance, and tears for joy
Tears for somebody and this lonely boy
Out in the madness, the all seeing eye
Flickers above us, to light up the sky
Unchain the colours before my eyes
Yesterday's sorrows, tomorrow's white lies
Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher
I shall return from out of the
Fire, oh
Oh-oh, yeah
Oh-oh, yeah
Oh-oh
Oh, oh-oh
Oh
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"The band Opeth covered it and they have a much better singer."
no they dont, Bruce Dickinson is one og the best singers ever. But the Opeth cover is a great cover, one of the best covers I've heard