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.
When you run, digger, runner
Listener, thief, you carry it all with you
Today I woke up uncertain
And you know that gives me the fits
So I left this land of fungible convictions
Because it seemed like the pits
And when I say, "conviction" I mean it's something to abjure
And when I say "uncertain" I mean to doubt I'll not turn out a caricature
So I set off in search of my forebears
Coz my forbearance was in need
But the only job I could get in dear old blighty
Was working on the railway between selby and leeds
So I took a ferry to belfast, where I had cause to think:
They wanted none of my arm-chair convictions
But nobody seemed to mind when I was putting on the drinks!
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, and they hate you 'coz you're guilty
So...I stayed out all night in Ibixa
By way of San Sebastian, where they said
'Yanque, you better watch what you're saying, unless you're sayin'
It in Basque or in Catalan!"
So all the way east to novi-sad
Where narry a bridge was to be seen
But mother Russia, she laid her pontoons on down
So I crossed over, if you know what I mean...
Then on the road to damascus, yes
The scales, they fell from my eyes
And the simplest lesson I learned at the mount of olices: everybody lies
And the french foreign legion
You know they did their best - but I never believed in t.e.
Lawrence, so how the hell could I believe in beau gest?
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didnt think they could hate you, now did you?
You didnt think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, and they hate you 'coz you're guilty
So...I spent a night in Kigali in a five diamond hotel
Where maybe someday, they'll do the wa-tutsi down in hutu hell
And I fell in with a merchant marine who promised to take me home
But when I woke up beaten and bloodied
I couldn't tell if it was Jersey or Sierra Leone!
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could have you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, and they hate you coz you're guilty...
And the knocking in my head, just like the knocking at my door
And maybe it was me or maybe it was my brother
But either me or me and him went down to the bar
Where I got seven powersin me for to give me the cure
But when seven powers failed to spin me
I had to get me seven more
And when I say, "me" I mean my brain
And when I say "give me the cure" I mean to kill the pain
And when I say "kill the pain" I meant to get the devil out
And when I say "devil" I mean the manifestation of doubt!
And you didnt think they could hate you
Now did you you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, make no mistake - they hate you...
Listener, thief, you carry it all with you
Today I woke up uncertain
And you know that gives me the fits
So I left this land of fungible convictions
Because it seemed like the pits
And when I say, "conviction" I mean it's something to abjure
And when I say "uncertain" I mean to doubt I'll not turn out a caricature
So I set off in search of my forebears
Coz my forbearance was in need
But the only job I could get in dear old blighty
Was working on the railway between selby and leeds
So I took a ferry to belfast, where I had cause to think:
They wanted none of my arm-chair convictions
But nobody seemed to mind when I was putting on the drinks!
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, and they hate you 'coz you're guilty
So...I stayed out all night in Ibixa
By way of San Sebastian, where they said
'Yanque, you better watch what you're saying, unless you're sayin'
It in Basque or in Catalan!"
So all the way east to novi-sad
Where narry a bridge was to be seen
But mother Russia, she laid her pontoons on down
So I crossed over, if you know what I mean...
Then on the road to damascus, yes
The scales, they fell from my eyes
And the simplest lesson I learned at the mount of olices: everybody lies
And the french foreign legion
You know they did their best - but I never believed in t.e.
Lawrence, so how the hell could I believe in beau gest?
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didnt think they could hate you, now did you?
You didnt think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, and they hate you 'coz you're guilty
So...I spent a night in Kigali in a five diamond hotel
Where maybe someday, they'll do the wa-tutsi down in hutu hell
And I fell in with a merchant marine who promised to take me home
But when I woke up beaten and bloodied
I couldn't tell if it was Jersey or Sierra Leone!
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could have you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, and they hate you coz you're guilty...
And the knocking in my head, just like the knocking at my door
And maybe it was me or maybe it was my brother
But either me or me and him went down to the bar
Where I got seven powersin me for to give me the cure
But when seven powers failed to spin me
I had to get me seven more
And when I say, "me" I mean my brain
And when I say "give me the cure" I mean to kill the pain
And when I say "kill the pain" I meant to get the devil out
And when I say "devil" I mean the manifestation of doubt!
And you didnt think they could hate you
Now did you you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, make no mistake - they hate you...
Lyrics submitted by knifefight
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This is one of those songs with way too much packed in for me to try to find all the meaning here. A couple of things: A sin-eater is someone who symbollically takes on the sins of a dead person so their soul can rest, besides the Sin Eaters being Ted's old band, the name of a Spider-Man villain, and the name of several pieces of literature. I think the part about Belfast is a reference to the strong reaction you get in Ireland (mainly the North) by expressing your armchair convictions about the Troubles, though people don't mind you so much if you're paying for the drinks. I'm not familiar with everywhere mentioned in this song, but all of the ones I know about are fiercely independent or nationalistic kinds of places/organisations.