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.
Kind of hard, hard to see
When you crawl on your hands and your knees
With your face in the trough
Wait your turn
While they finish you off
Don't know when it started
Don't know how
Should have found out
Should have happened by now
Got these lines on my face
After all this time
And I still haven't found my place
I jump from every rooftop
So high, so far to fall
I feel a million miles away
I don't feel anything at all
I wake up on the floor
Start it up again
Like it matters anymore
I don't know if it does
Is this really all
That there ever was?
Put the gun in my mouth
Close your eyes
Blow my fucking brains out
Pretty patterns on the floor
That's enough for you
But I still need more
I jump from every rooftop
So high, so far to fall
I feel a million miles away
I don't feel anything at all
I jump from every rooftop (is this really all, is it)
So high, so far to fall
I feel a million miles away
I don't feel anything at all
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything (a million miles away)
I don't feel anything (a million miles away)
I don't feel anything (a million miles away)
I don't feel anything
When you crawl on your hands and your knees
With your face in the trough
Wait your turn
While they finish you off
Don't know when it started
Don't know how
Should have found out
Should have happened by now
Got these lines on my face
After all this time
And I still haven't found my place
I jump from every rooftop
So high, so far to fall
I feel a million miles away
I don't feel anything at all
I wake up on the floor
Start it up again
Like it matters anymore
I don't know if it does
Is this really all
That there ever was?
Put the gun in my mouth
Close your eyes
Blow my fucking brains out
Pretty patterns on the floor
That's enough for you
But I still need more
I jump from every rooftop
So high, so far to fall
I feel a million miles away
I don't feel anything at all
I jump from every rooftop (is this really all, is it)
So high, so far to fall
I feel a million miles away
I don't feel anything at all
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything
I don't feel anything (a million miles away)
I don't feel anything (a million miles away)
I don't feel anything (a million miles away)
I don't feel anything
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Hm...you really couldn't find ONE good song on either The Fragile, With Teeth, or Year Zero? I, for one, think that The Downward Spiral is overrated (yet still brilliant). The Fragile is probably their best album as a whole, and Year Zero is great when digesting it song by song.
But, yeah, The Slip is a very strong ten track album, although I could have done without the instrumentals. After all, Ghosts was nothing but instrumentals. This song is great, though. It's definitely the catchiest and most rock-oriented song on the album. What is it about? I don't know, the lyrics seem like typical Trent, but he's all about the delivery. Seems to be just about exactly what scarecrow826 stated. The protagonist will not cooperate. I don't know if the album is post-Year Zero in its lyrics as they don't seem to be centered around a specific central idea like Year Zero was, but it's a cool idea nonetheless.
That chorus is perhaps the catchiest thing the band has ever done.