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 came in on the red eye to Dallas-Ft. Worth
All the way from sunny Taipei
Skin the color of a walnut shell
And a baseball cap holding down her black hair
And she came here after midnight
The hot weather made her feel right at home
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks
Drink some of this, it'll put color in your cheeks
He drove in from Mexicali, no worse for wear
Money to burn, time to kill
But five minutes looking in his eyes and we all knew
He was broken pretty bad so we gave him what we had
We cleared a space for him to sleep in
And we let the silence that's our trademark make its presence felt
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks
Drink some of this, it'll put color in your cheeks
They came in by the dozens, walking or crawling
Some were bright-eyed, some were dead on their feet
And they came from Zimbabwe or from Soviet Georgia
East St. Louis or from Paris or they lived across the street
But they came, and when they finally made it here
It was the least we could do to make our welcome clear
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks
Drink some of this, it'll put color in your cheeks
All the way from sunny Taipei
Skin the color of a walnut shell
And a baseball cap holding down her black hair
And she came here after midnight
The hot weather made her feel right at home
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks
Drink some of this, it'll put color in your cheeks
He drove in from Mexicali, no worse for wear
Money to burn, time to kill
But five minutes looking in his eyes and we all knew
He was broken pretty bad so we gave him what we had
We cleared a space for him to sleep in
And we let the silence that's our trademark make its presence felt
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks
Drink some of this, it'll put color in your cheeks
They came in by the dozens, walking or crawling
Some were bright-eyed, some were dead on their feet
And they came from Zimbabwe or from Soviet Georgia
East St. Louis or from Paris or they lived across the street
But they came, and when they finally made it here
It was the least we could do to make our welcome clear
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks
Drink some of this, it'll put color in your cheeks
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I think its about a drug house and how drugs can bring people together who normally wouldn't associate.
@xcats - I've thought it was about rehab, for the same reason.