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.
You always were the one that knew
They sold us for the likes of you
I always wanted new surroundings
A room to rent while the lizards lay crying in the heat
Trying to remember who to meet
I would take a foxy kind of stand
While tens of thousands found me in demand
When you rock and roll with me
No one else I'd rather be
Nobody here can do it for me
I'm in tears again
When you rock and roll with me
Gentle hearts are counted down
The queue is out of sight and out of sounds
Me, I'm out of breath, but not quite doubting
I've found a door which lets me out
When you rock and roll with me
No one else I'd rather be
Nobody down here can do it for me
I'm in tears again
When you rock and roll with me
Oh, when you rock and roll with me
There's no one else I'd rather be
Nobody down here can do it for me
When you rock and roll with me
When you rock and roll, rock and roll with me
No one else I'd rather be
Nobody down here can do it for me
I'm in tears, I'm in tears
When you rock and roll with me
They sold us for the likes of you
I always wanted new surroundings
A room to rent while the lizards lay crying in the heat
Trying to remember who to meet
I would take a foxy kind of stand
While tens of thousands found me in demand
When you rock and roll with me
No one else I'd rather be
Nobody here can do it for me
I'm in tears again
When you rock and roll with me
Gentle hearts are counted down
The queue is out of sight and out of sounds
Me, I'm out of breath, but not quite doubting
I've found a door which lets me out
When you rock and roll with me
No one else I'd rather be
Nobody down here can do it for me
I'm in tears again
When you rock and roll with me
Oh, when you rock and roll with me
There's no one else I'd rather be
Nobody down here can do it for me
When you rock and roll with me
When you rock and roll, rock and roll with me
No one else I'd rather be
Nobody down here can do it for me
I'm in tears, I'm in tears
When you rock and roll with me
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This is Winston and Julia's love song. The line "A room to rent while the lizards lay crying in the heat" reminds me of the room above the shop that they would meet before Big Brother busted them.