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.
Every time I think I'm gonna wake up
Back in the jungle
Every minute I stay in this room
I get weaker
Each time I looked around
The walls moved in a little tighter
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
They say my name is death
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
But I'm alive, I am alive
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
I am born ten thousand times
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
Ten thousand ways, I'm alive I am the shadow
I am the evening come
I am your greatest fear
Your greatest love
Born in ten thousand ways
For each and every day
I am alive
I am the victim of lying morality
And so, I am beyond caring
I am born ten thousand times
In ten thousand ways
My head swims in spoiled mothers milk
I am too alive
There are too many of me,
Too many to kill
They're in my head
They know my name
My name is death but I am alive,
I am alive
Back in the jungle
Every minute I stay in this room
I get weaker
Each time I looked around
The walls moved in a little tighter
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
They say my name is death
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
But I'm alive, I am alive
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
I am born ten thousand times
I've never seen a man so broken up
Ripped apart
Ten thousand ways, I'm alive I am the shadow
I am the evening come
I am your greatest fear
Your greatest love
Born in ten thousand ways
For each and every day
I am alive
I am the victim of lying morality
And so, I am beyond caring
I am born ten thousand times
In ten thousand ways
My head swims in spoiled mothers milk
I am too alive
There are too many of me,
Too many to kill
They're in my head
They know my name
My name is death but I am alive,
I am alive
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Just incase no-one knows, the lyrics are heavily lifted from "Apocalypse Now", with the opening being Martin Sheens character at the beginning, and the latter bit being the monologue Brando gives towards the end.
Note: How can music be lyrically poor? It's music. Seems a rather pointless addition to this song.