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.
They think were fools sitting on the corner,
Older you get the more like your father,
The more I drink the more like my brother,
Seem to have picked up on a callus trait,
Hate people who think there life is a drama,
Making in jokes about Americana,
Amusing myself is worth it for the karma,
Obama sounds like Osama to me.
Well my bedroom's watched by an Intafada,
Kids with bricks or strips in Gaza,
Point at me in my pajamas,
Laugh and scream get out of bed,
I say I am I got plans I'm meeting up with Maltha,
I'm a shoulder she's Robert Palma,
Acts like a twat but she's a top banana,
Might as well admit she's addicted to love.
Caught in a spiders web,
It's' not the first time playing dead,
I see I saw lovers undercover,
No one found out until we left,
Caught in a spiders web,
It's not the first time playing dead,
They know something oh well we're running,
I know they'll catch up in the end.
You walked in last with a dirty barber,
Found me at the bar in fits of laughter,
Said you've been seen out digging the past,
With Arthur you'd rather just walk in the rain,
At a party with ash as they smash a pinata,
Can I leave some stuff here for you to look after,
I'll be back around probably in the mid summer,
New York New York man I love the city.
Caught in a spiders web,
It's' not the first time playing dead,
I see I saw lovers undercover,
No one found out until we left,
Caught in a spiders web,
It's not the first time playing dead,
They know something oh well we're running,
I know they'll catch up in the end.
In the hustle and the bustle I feel
I'm in trouble and I trip and then I stumble
I feel myself fall in the hustle and the bustle
It's too rough I tumble in the gravel and the rubble can you hear me call
Well with a wheezing chest and a leaking ceiling,
Baby next door screaming all evening,
The beatings we got and the ones we're seeking,
We're stubborn as fuck and I'm proud to say,
That me and Ben Skeleton mixed our own medicine,
Never let a critic affect our direction,
Barricade doors with out pale complexion,
Program a beat bones I'll just keep telling them,
How selling them a brand is a band complication,
A man in a room with a survey for the station,
Trying to get it on air no care tor creation,
I guess it's all part of indoctrination.
In the hustle and the bustle I feel
I'm in trouble and I trip and then I stumble
I feel myself fall in the hustle and the bustle
It's too rough I tumble in the gravel and the rubble can you hear me call
Caught in a spiders web,
It's' not the first time playing dead,
I see I saw lovers undercover,
No one found out until we left,
Caught in a spiders web,
It's not the first time playing dead,
They know something oh well we're running,
I know they'll catch up in the end.
In the hustle and the bustle I feel
I'm in trouble and I trip and then I stumble
I feel myself fall in the hustle and the bustle
It's too rough I tumble in the gravel and the rubble can you hear me cal
Older you get the more like your father,
The more I drink the more like my brother,
Seem to have picked up on a callus trait,
Hate people who think there life is a drama,
Making in jokes about Americana,
Amusing myself is worth it for the karma,
Obama sounds like Osama to me.
Well my bedroom's watched by an Intafada,
Kids with bricks or strips in Gaza,
Point at me in my pajamas,
Laugh and scream get out of bed,
I say I am I got plans I'm meeting up with Maltha,
I'm a shoulder she's Robert Palma,
Acts like a twat but she's a top banana,
Might as well admit she's addicted to love.
Caught in a spiders web,
It's' not the first time playing dead,
I see I saw lovers undercover,
No one found out until we left,
Caught in a spiders web,
It's not the first time playing dead,
They know something oh well we're running,
I know they'll catch up in the end.
You walked in last with a dirty barber,
Found me at the bar in fits of laughter,
Said you've been seen out digging the past,
With Arthur you'd rather just walk in the rain,
At a party with ash as they smash a pinata,
Can I leave some stuff here for you to look after,
I'll be back around probably in the mid summer,
New York New York man I love the city.
Caught in a spiders web,
It's' not the first time playing dead,
I see I saw lovers undercover,
No one found out until we left,
Caught in a spiders web,
It's not the first time playing dead,
They know something oh well we're running,
I know they'll catch up in the end.
In the hustle and the bustle I feel
I'm in trouble and I trip and then I stumble
I feel myself fall in the hustle and the bustle
It's too rough I tumble in the gravel and the rubble can you hear me call
Well with a wheezing chest and a leaking ceiling,
Baby next door screaming all evening,
The beatings we got and the ones we're seeking,
We're stubborn as fuck and I'm proud to say,
That me and Ben Skeleton mixed our own medicine,
Never let a critic affect our direction,
Barricade doors with out pale complexion,
Program a beat bones I'll just keep telling them,
How selling them a brand is a band complication,
A man in a room with a survey for the station,
Trying to get it on air no care tor creation,
I guess it's all part of indoctrination.
In the hustle and the bustle I feel
I'm in trouble and I trip and then I stumble
I feel myself fall in the hustle and the bustle
It's too rough I tumble in the gravel and the rubble can you hear me call
Caught in a spiders web,
It's' not the first time playing dead,
I see I saw lovers undercover,
No one found out until we left,
Caught in a spiders web,
It's not the first time playing dead,
They know something oh well we're running,
I know they'll catch up in the end.
In the hustle and the bustle I feel
I'm in trouble and I trip and then I stumble
I feel myself fall in the hustle and the bustle
It's too rough I tumble in the gravel and the rubble can you hear me cal
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I just LOVE the fact that he is one of the few artists who dares to speak his mind. I mean "Obama sounds like Osama to me" ?
He's not saying that at all. He's satirizing the [probably Fox] news reporter he saw saying that and the subtle racism expressed by some right-wing Americans during the presidential campaign. He even does a cheesy American accent for that line.
Hey, at least it wasn't the blatant racism of Obama's church and the media (with the exception of Fox) not hiding the story ;) The most intolerant and least diverse people are those to the far left and far right; there is little difference between flaming liberals (CNN; NBC types) and those who believe Fox News is a god. I LOVE that some musician pushing his political views through his fame and fortune is misunderstood. WONDERFUL!