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.
You took a silver train all the way to Maine
On the way to everything
Railroad wings
There's things you don't know you know
I thought anger told me what to do
With emptiness chasing me
On the border, I found you
You should've heard her sing
Railroad wings
This emptiness has followed me like a cold blue sky
And it has not been easy for you
There's things I'll never tell you till the day I die
Things I've done I can never undo
Hiding everything
Railroad wings
All these years along, the lights are growing dim
I hear you sing your song in the next room
And as far as I can tell, most everything means nothing
Except some things that mean everything
Railroad wings
On the way to everything
Railroad wings
There's things you don't know you know
I thought anger told me what to do
With emptiness chasing me
On the border, I found you
You should've heard her sing
Railroad wings
This emptiness has followed me like a cold blue sky
And it has not been easy for you
There's things I'll never tell you till the day I die
Things I've done I can never undo
Hiding everything
Railroad wings
All these years along, the lights are growing dim
I hear you sing your song in the next room
And as far as I can tell, most everything means nothing
Except some things that mean everything
Railroad wings
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"...most everything means nothing, except some things, that mean everything"
The song always had a haunting feel to me; like we're haunted by the shadows of our own dreams and longings. It's a travelling song; she's travelling away from the past and towards the future; away from herself, but she can't ever outrun who she is; not even on railroad wings. There's a lot we dismiss as unimportant, they come and go, but some things really do mean everything and it's those things we find most difficult to display or speak of, when that is just what we should do: take the train to ourselves on railroad wings....not a literal interpretation of the song, just some impressions....it has a dreamy feel, like we're almost carried along in this dream with just those things which mean everything holding it together...