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.
Well I wake up in the morning
Look at my clock
Its way past noon time
Now Im late for work.
Tell me, tell me
What have I done wrong?
Aint nothing go right with me
Must be Ive been smoking too long.
Well I go to find me some breakfast
But I aint got no food
Take me a shower
But the water dont feel no good.
Tell me
Ive got opium in my chimney
No other life to choose
Nightmare made of hash dreams.
Got the devil in my shoes
Tell me
Well when Im smoking
Put my worries on a shelf
Dont think about nothin
Try not to see myself.
Tell me
Well in this blues Im singin
Theres a lesson to be learned
Dont go around smokin
Unless you want to get burned.
Tell me
Look at my clock
Its way past noon time
Now Im late for work.
Tell me, tell me
What have I done wrong?
Aint nothing go right with me
Must be Ive been smoking too long.
Well I go to find me some breakfast
But I aint got no food
Take me a shower
But the water dont feel no good.
Tell me
Ive got opium in my chimney
No other life to choose
Nightmare made of hash dreams.
Got the devil in my shoes
Tell me
Well when Im smoking
Put my worries on a shelf
Dont think about nothin
Try not to see myself.
Tell me
Well in this blues Im singin
Theres a lesson to be learned
Dont go around smokin
Unless you want to get burned.
Tell me
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Personally I've always found Drakes lyrics a little too self indulgent with the juvenile longing for martydom, but I must say this song sounds to me painfully honest, much like the depths of Black eyed dog. It sounds like he's coming to the realization that he is finally in the hole he's always romanticized about. It's no secret that he drove himself into psychosis and unfulfilled dreams of grandeur with excessive amounts of cannabis. I don't think you need to search fro the opium link when his weed habbit is all the trouble he needed to align himself with these sentiments.