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.
I've never sailed on a sea
I would not challenge a giant
I could not take on the church
Time will crawl
'Til the 21st century lose
I know a government man
He was as blind as the moon
He saw the sun in the night
He took a top-gun pilot
He made him fly through a hole
'Til he grew real old
And he never came down
He just flew 'til he burst
Time will crawl 'til our mouths run dry
Time will crawl 'til our feet grow small
Time will crawl 'til our tails fall off
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
I saw a black black stream
Full of white eyed fish
And a drowning man
With no eyes at all
I felt a warm warm breeze
That melted metal and steel
I got a bad migraine
That lasted three long years
And the pills that I took
Made my fingers disappear
Time will crawl, time will crawl
Time will crawl
'Til the 21st century lose
You were a talented child
You came to live in our town
We never bothered to scream
When your mask came off
We only smelt the gas
As we lay down to sleep
Time will crawl and our heads bowed down
Time will crawl and our eyes fall out
Time will crawl and the streets run red
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
Time will crawl and our mouths run dry
Time will crawl and our feet grow small
Time will crawl and our tails fall off
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
Time will crawl and our heads bowed down
Time will crawl and our eyes fall out
Time will crawl and the streets run red
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
For the crazy child
We'll give every life
For the crackpot notion
I would not challenge a giant
I could not take on the church
Time will crawl
'Til the 21st century lose
I know a government man
He was as blind as the moon
He saw the sun in the night
He took a top-gun pilot
He made him fly through a hole
'Til he grew real old
And he never came down
He just flew 'til he burst
Time will crawl 'til our mouths run dry
Time will crawl 'til our feet grow small
Time will crawl 'til our tails fall off
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
I saw a black black stream
Full of white eyed fish
And a drowning man
With no eyes at all
I felt a warm warm breeze
That melted metal and steel
I got a bad migraine
That lasted three long years
And the pills that I took
Made my fingers disappear
Time will crawl, time will crawl
Time will crawl
'Til the 21st century lose
You were a talented child
You came to live in our town
We never bothered to scream
When your mask came off
We only smelt the gas
As we lay down to sleep
Time will crawl and our heads bowed down
Time will crawl and our eyes fall out
Time will crawl and the streets run red
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
Time will crawl and our mouths run dry
Time will crawl and our feet grow small
Time will crawl and our tails fall off
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
Time will crawl and our heads bowed down
Time will crawl and our eyes fall out
Time will crawl and the streets run red
Time will crawl 'til the 21st century lose
For the crazy child
We'll give every life
For the crackpot notion
Lyrics submitted by dragonkat72
Time Will Crawl Lyrics as written by David Bowie
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this is about a man imagining the aftermath of nuclear war and life in a postnuclear society and environment