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 the men take me to the devil tree
I will be free and shining like before
Papa don't tell me what I should've done
She's the one who begged me
"Take me home"
When the wind wraps me like the reaper's hand
I will swing free until they cut me down
Papa don't tell me what I could've done
She's the one who begged me
"Take me home"
When the sea takes me like my mother's arms
I will breathe free as any word of God
Papa don't tell me what you would've done
She's the one who begged me
"Take me home"
I will be free and shining like before
Papa don't tell me what I should've done
She's the one who begged me
"Take me home"
When the wind wraps me like the reaper's hand
I will swing free until they cut me down
Papa don't tell me what I could've done
She's the one who begged me
"Take me home"
When the sea takes me like my mother's arms
I will breathe free as any word of God
Papa don't tell me what you would've done
She's the one who begged me
"Take me home"
Lyrics submitted by feverdream
Free Until They Cut Me Down Lyrics as written by Samuel Ervin Beam
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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I agree with most of this, but the freedom the singer is talking about is freedom of the soul. I'm not sure if it's a black man here, here's the story in a nutshell (as I see it):
Consider that if this were a lynching of a black man, he wouldn't say "when the men take me..." They would just take him on the spot. He seems to be talking from jail here. Despite this, he has a very calm and cool "I know something you don't know" attitude. What he knows is that "the men" can kill him, but not take his "word of God" freedom.