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.
Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip
I heard it in the night
Words that thoughtless speak
Like vultures swooping down below
On the devil's radio
I hear it through the day
Airwaves gettin' filled
With gossip broadcast to and fro
On the devil's radio
Oh yeah, gossip
Gossip, oh yeah
He's in the clubs and bars
And never turns it down
Talking about what he don't know
On the devil's radio
He's in your TV set
Won't give it a rest
That soul betraying so and so
The devil's radio
Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip
(Oh yeah) gossip, (gossip) oh yeah
(Gossip) oh yeah, (oh yeah) gossip
It's white and black like industrial waste
Pollution of the highest degree
You wonder why I don't hang out much
I wonder how you can't see
He's in the films and songs
And on all your magazines
It's everywhere that you may go
The devil's radio
Oh yeah, gossip
Gossip, oh yeah
Runs thick and fast, no one really sees
Quite what bad it can do
As it shapes you into something cold
Like an Eskimo igloo
It's all across our lives
Like a weed it's spread
'till nothing else has space to grow
The devil's radio
Can creep up in the dark
Make us hide behind shades
And buzzing like a dynamo
The devil's radio
(Gossip) oh yeah, (gossip) oh yeah
(Gossip) gossip, (gossip) gossip
Oh yeah, gossip I heard you on the secret wireless
Gossip, oh yeah You know the devil's radio, child
Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip
I heard it in the night
Words that thoughtless speak
Like vultures swooping down below
On the devil's radio
I hear it through the day
Airwaves gettin' filled
With gossip broadcast to and fro
On the devil's radio
Oh yeah, gossip
Gossip, oh yeah
He's in the clubs and bars
And never turns it down
Talking about what he don't know
On the devil's radio
He's in your TV set
Won't give it a rest
That soul betraying so and so
The devil's radio
Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip
(Oh yeah) gossip, (gossip) oh yeah
(Gossip) oh yeah, (oh yeah) gossip
It's white and black like industrial waste
Pollution of the highest degree
You wonder why I don't hang out much
I wonder how you can't see
He's in the films and songs
And on all your magazines
It's everywhere that you may go
The devil's radio
Oh yeah, gossip
Gossip, oh yeah
Runs thick and fast, no one really sees
Quite what bad it can do
As it shapes you into something cold
Like an Eskimo igloo
It's all across our lives
Like a weed it's spread
'till nothing else has space to grow
The devil's radio
Can creep up in the dark
Make us hide behind shades
And buzzing like a dynamo
The devil's radio
(Gossip) oh yeah, (gossip) oh yeah
(Gossip) gossip, (gossip) gossip
Oh yeah, gossip I heard you on the secret wireless
Gossip, oh yeah You know the devil's radio, child
Gossip, gossip
Gossip, gossip
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I had this song stuck in my head for like 3 months. Super catchy.