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.
Oh classic gentlemen
Say your prayers
To the wind, of prostitution
To your faces, and Rex complexes
Riddle my breast
Full of the oppressed puss
Oh gentlemen, with your fish
The you surround, all around
And you man, will always point
Your fishes, at me
But I will always exist
Because I always exist
Damn good too
The rat race begins
The fat face stings
I hold the fresh pink baby
With a smile
I slice off those rosy cheeks
Because I feel so thirsty
And Oedipus Rex complexes
...riddle my closed bloated breast
Say your prayers
To the wind, of prostitution
To your faces, and Rex complexes
Riddle my breast
Full of the oppressed puss
Oh gentlemen, with your fish
The you surround, all around
And you man, will always point
Your fishes, at me
But I will always exist
Because I always exist
Damn good too
The rat race begins
The fat face stings
I hold the fresh pink baby
With a smile
I slice off those rosy cheeks
Because I feel so thirsty
And Oedipus Rex complexes
...riddle my closed bloated breast
Lyrics submitted by Cam-win, edited by TillKhalsen
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I can't escape the thought of this having a religious undertone either. The "fish" may also refer to Jesus, and the gentlemen pointing their fishes fits my image of religious figureheads who waive their rod of morale.
With this in mind, I see the song as displaying some anthropocentric qualities: the faces of God/Jesus/religion in general is everchanging with time ("the rat race begins") whereas man is constant (the "I will always exist" part)
However, I'd like to see some thoughts on how this relates to the other parts of the The Three Shadows-piece?