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.
She loves a soul that I have never been
A dog among dogs, a man among men
And every day when I come home to her
She holds a phantom, she kisses and she hugs him
And I am not averse to how she loves him
Why must I live and walk unloved as what I am ?
Why can't I be loved as what I am ?
A wolf among wolves and not as a man among men
Doo doo doo...
She craves a hole that she can go in
A sheltered cave that I have never seen
Not in my life, and not even in my dreams
Why can't I be loved as what I am ?
A wolf among wolves and not as a man among men
A dog among dogs, a man among men
And every day when I come home to her
She holds a phantom, she kisses and she hugs him
And I am not averse to how she loves him
Why must I live and walk unloved as what I am ?
Why can't I be loved as what I am ?
A wolf among wolves and not as a man among men
Doo doo doo...
She craves a hole that she can go in
A sheltered cave that I have never seen
Not in my life, and not even in my dreams
Why can't I be loved as what I am ?
A wolf among wolves and not as a man among men
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Perhaps I think too philosophically for my own good, but to me the song begs the question can one person ever truly know another let alone love them as they are? The woman "holds a phantom, she kisses and she hugs him," not because of something inherently wrong with her but because it's not possible to hold what he is so she does the next best thing. A person is more than a body with physical needs- each of us is the sum total of every experience which we've ever gone though. But we're not just this either, there is something more- limitless potential and perhaps something without words to express what it is.
Similarly, "she craves a hole that she can go in" to protect her from the harshness of reality, and this is "a sheltered cave that" the narrator has "never seen." He's never seen the sheltered cave just like she's never loved him for what he is. And in this way we are alone despite the presence of others around us.
hmm. interesting.