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.
Murder at your every foot step
A child's toy sudden death
Sniper blazes you through your knees
Falling down, can you feel the heat burn?
Ambushed by the spray of lead
Count the bullet holes in your head
Screaming skull sent out to die
Living mandatory suicide
Suicide, suicide, suicide, suicide
Holes burn deep in your chest
Raked by machine gun fire
Screaming skull sent out to die
Living mandatory suicide
Suicide, suicide, suicide, suicide
Lying, dying, screaming in pain
Begging, pleading, bullets drop like rain
Minds explode, pain sheers to your brain
Radical amputation, this is insane
Fly swatter stakes, drive through your chest
Spikes impale you as you're forced off the crest
Soldier of misfortune
Hunting with bated breath
A vile smell, like tasting death
Dead bodies, dying and wounded
Litter the city streets
Shattered glass and bits of clothing and human deceit
Dying terror
Bloods cheap, it's everywhere
Mandatory suicide, massacre on the front line, aah
A child's toy sudden death
Sniper blazes you through your knees
Falling down, can you feel the heat burn?
Ambushed by the spray of lead
Count the bullet holes in your head
Screaming skull sent out to die
Living mandatory suicide
Suicide, suicide, suicide, suicide
Holes burn deep in your chest
Raked by machine gun fire
Screaming skull sent out to die
Living mandatory suicide
Suicide, suicide, suicide, suicide
Lying, dying, screaming in pain
Begging, pleading, bullets drop like rain
Minds explode, pain sheers to your brain
Radical amputation, this is insane
Fly swatter stakes, drive through your chest
Spikes impale you as you're forced off the crest
Soldier of misfortune
Hunting with bated breath
A vile smell, like tasting death
Dead bodies, dying and wounded
Litter the city streets
Shattered glass and bits of clothing and human deceit
Dying terror
Bloods cheap, it's everywhere
Mandatory suicide, massacre on the front line, aah
Lyrics submitted by jt, edited by MortyShorty
Mandatory Suicide [Live] Lyrics as written by Kerry King Jeffery John Hanneman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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Fight war, not wars. Destroy power, not people.