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.
Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Lo! a strange town, lying alone
Death has reared himself a throne
Far down in the west
Where the good, bad, worst, and the best have gone to their eternal rest
There, shrine and towers:
Death has reared himself a throne
Time eaten-towers that tremble not
Resemble nothing, nothing that is ours
Down, down in that town, shall settle hence:
Hell, rising from its throne, no earthly moans,
Shall do it reverence
No rays from heaven coming down
On the long night-time of that town
But light from the lurid sea
Streams up the turrets silently
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free
Up domes, up spires, up kingly halls,
Up fanes, up Babylon-like walls
No swellings tell that winds may be
Upon some far-off happy seas
No heavings hint that winds have been
On seas less hideously serene
But lo, a stir is in the air!
The wave - there is a movement there!
As if the towes had thrust aside,
In slightly sinking, the dull tide;
Aquiescently beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie
The waves have now a redder glow
The hours are breathing faint and low
And when, amid no earthly moans
Down, down in the town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence
Down, down in that town, shall settle hence:
Hell, rising from its throne, no earthly moans,
Shall do it reverence
Three opens fanes and gaping graves
Yawn level with the luminous waves
But not the riches there that lie
In each idol's diamond eye
Not the gaily-jewelled dead
Tempt the waters from their bed
So blend the turrets, shadows there
That all seem pendulous in air
While from a tower in the town
Death looks down
But lo, a stir is in the air!
The waves have now a redder glow
The hours are breathing faint and low
And when amid no earthly moans,
Down, down in that town shall settle hence:
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence
Far down within the dim West
Where the good and the band and
The worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest
Waves have now
A red glow
Hours breathe low
No men moan
In a strange city lying alone
Lo! a strange town, lying alone
Death has reared himself a throne
Far down in the west
Where the good, bad, worst, and the best have gone to their eternal rest
There, shrine and towers:
Death has reared himself a throne
Time eaten-towers that tremble not
Resemble nothing, nothing that is ours
Down, down in that town, shall settle hence:
Hell, rising from its throne, no earthly moans,
Shall do it reverence
No rays from heaven coming down
On the long night-time of that town
But light from the lurid sea
Streams up the turrets silently
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free
Up domes, up spires, up kingly halls,
Up fanes, up Babylon-like walls
No swellings tell that winds may be
Upon some far-off happy seas
No heavings hint that winds have been
On seas less hideously serene
But lo, a stir is in the air!
The wave - there is a movement there!
As if the towes had thrust aside,
In slightly sinking, the dull tide;
Aquiescently beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie
The waves have now a redder glow
The hours are breathing faint and low
And when, amid no earthly moans
Down, down in the town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence
Down, down in that town, shall settle hence:
Hell, rising from its throne, no earthly moans,
Shall do it reverence
Three opens fanes and gaping graves
Yawn level with the luminous waves
But not the riches there that lie
In each idol's diamond eye
Not the gaily-jewelled dead
Tempt the waters from their bed
So blend the turrets, shadows there
That all seem pendulous in air
While from a tower in the town
Death looks down
But lo, a stir is in the air!
The waves have now a redder glow
The hours are breathing faint and low
And when amid no earthly moans,
Down, down in that town shall settle hence:
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence
Far down within the dim West
Where the good and the band and
The worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest
Waves have now
A red glow
Hours breathe low
No men moan
Lyrics submitted by TheImpalerTMX
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As @heyitsmike commented this is a rearrangement of Edgar Allen Poe's "The City in the Sea" poem. The poem tells the story of a city ruled by a personification of Death using common elements from Gothic fiction.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_in_the_Sea