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.
Would you believe in a night like this
A night like this, when visions come true
Would you believe in a tale like this
A lay of bliss, a praise in the old lore
Come to the blazing fire and
See me in the shadows
See me in the shadows
Songs I will sing
Of runes and rings
Just hand me my harp
This night turns into myth
Nothing seems real
But you soon will feel
The world we live in is another skald's
Dream in the shadows
Dream in the shadows
Do you believe there is sense in it
Is it truth or myth?
They're one in my rhymes
Nobody knows the meaning behind
The weaver's line
Well nobody else but the Norns can
See through the blazing fires of time and
All things will proceed as the
child of the hallowed
Will speak to you now
See me in the shadows
See me in the shadows
Songs I will sing of tribes and kings
The carrion bird and the hall of the slain
Nothing seems real
You soon will feel
The world we live in is another skald's
Dream in the shadows
Dream in the shadows
Do not fear for my reason
There's nothing to hide
How bitter your treason
How bitter the lie
Remember the runes and remember the light
All I ever want is to be at your side
We gladden the raven now I will
Run through the blazing fires
That's my choice
Cause things shall procede as foreseen
A night like this, when visions come true
Would you believe in a tale like this
A lay of bliss, a praise in the old lore
Come to the blazing fire and
See me in the shadows
See me in the shadows
Songs I will sing
Of runes and rings
Just hand me my harp
This night turns into myth
Nothing seems real
But you soon will feel
The world we live in is another skald's
Dream in the shadows
Dream in the shadows
Do you believe there is sense in it
Is it truth or myth?
They're one in my rhymes
Nobody knows the meaning behind
The weaver's line
Well nobody else but the Norns can
See through the blazing fires of time and
All things will proceed as the
child of the hallowed
Will speak to you now
See me in the shadows
See me in the shadows
Songs I will sing of tribes and kings
The carrion bird and the hall of the slain
Nothing seems real
You soon will feel
The world we live in is another skald's
Dream in the shadows
Dream in the shadows
Do not fear for my reason
There's nothing to hide
How bitter your treason
How bitter the lie
Remember the runes and remember the light
All I ever want is to be at your side
We gladden the raven now I will
Run through the blazing fires
That's my choice
Cause things shall procede as foreseen
Lyrics submitted by Elarien, edited by VaerellisKing
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The skalds were to the Viking-age Scandinavia/Iceland area what bards were to feudal Europe. This song captures and celebrates the essence of skalds in the exact same way The Bard's Song (in the Forest) celebrated bards.