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.
There's bound to be a ghost
At the back of your closet
No matter where you live
There'll always be a few things
Maybe several things
That you're gonna find really difficult to forgive
There's gonna come a day
When you'll feel better
You'll rise up free and easy on that day
And float from branch to branch
Lighter than the air
Just when that day is coming
Who can say
Who can say
Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party
When the wolf comes home
We're gonna commandeer
The local airwaves
To tell the neighbors what's been going on
And they will shake their heads
And wag their bony fingers
In all the wrong directions
And by daybreak we'll be gone
I'm gonna get myself in fighting trim
Scope out every angle
Of unfair advantage
I'm gonna bribe the officials
I'm gonna kill all the judges
It's gonna take you people years
To recover from all of the damage
Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party
When the wolf comes home
At the back of your closet
No matter where you live
There'll always be a few things
Maybe several things
That you're gonna find really difficult to forgive
There's gonna come a day
When you'll feel better
You'll rise up free and easy on that day
And float from branch to branch
Lighter than the air
Just when that day is coming
Who can say
Who can say
Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party
When the wolf comes home
We're gonna commandeer
The local airwaves
To tell the neighbors what's been going on
And they will shake their heads
And wag their bony fingers
In all the wrong directions
And by daybreak we'll be gone
I'm gonna get myself in fighting trim
Scope out every angle
Of unfair advantage
I'm gonna bribe the officials
I'm gonna kill all the judges
It's gonna take you people years
To recover from all of the damage
Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party
When the wolf comes home
Lyrics submitted by fuckedupdog, edited by unspecialfish, Courtway, Mellow_Harsher
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Well according to John at a show :
"I'm always trying to figure out what to say about this god *&@# song. Part of me wants to say look it's about revenge, but as soon as I say that... no, that's not quite it. Part of me wants to say it's about the satisfaction of not needing revenge... and i say no, that some new age stuff. I think it's a song about the moment in your quest for revenge when you learn to embrace the futility of it. The moment where you know the thing you want is ridiculous and pompous and a terrible thing to want anyway. The direction in which you're headed is not the direction you want to go, yet you're going to head that way a while longer cause that's just the kind of person you are."
I love John's attempts to explain his songs :)
@ninjacow7 thats need.. thank you for commenting that :D