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.
I was walkin' real fast, I was too scared to run
Past this lonesome graveyard where the highway meets the sun
Well that old graveyard's been around since the civil war
I had a feelin' that I'd been here before
I heard a voice, it was talkin' real slow
She said it's time to make a choice, is it yes or is it no
I said ok, do what you want to do
Then she took me to a world I never knew
Where we danced so close, we were teenage ghosts
We were doin' that graveyard waltz
After all is said and done we were just too young
To be doin' that graveyard waltz
Next thing I knew the first dance was done
But this magic carpet ride had just begun
Heaven only knows where she learned to drive
Between the tombstones and the ones still left alive
And then that old soul band began to play
In triple time, she was begging me to stay
And when the masquerade had started up again
She said this is the night that never ends
Where we danced so close, we were teenage ghosts
We were doin' that graveyard waltz
After all is said and done we were just too young
To be doin' that graveyard waltz
I was walkin' real fast, I was too scared to run
Past this lonesome graveyard where the highway meets the sun
Well that old graveyard's been around since the civil war
I had a feelin' that I'd been here before
I heard a voice, it was talkin' real slow
She said it's time to make a choice, is it yes or is it no
I said ok, do what you want to do
Then she took me to a world I never knew
Where we danced so close, we were teenage ghosts
We were doin' that graveyard waltz
After all is said and done we were just too young
To be doin' that graveyard waltz
Next thing I knew the first dance was done
But this magic carpet ride had just begun
Heaven only knows where she learned to drive
Between the tombstones and the ones still left alive
And then that old soul band began to play
In triple time, she was begging me to stay
And when the masquerade had started up again
She said this is the night that never ends
Where we danced so close, we were teenage ghosts
We were doin' that graveyard waltz
After all is said and done we were just too young
To be doin' that graveyard waltz
I was walkin' real fast, I was too scared to run
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Graveyard Waltz Lyrics as written by Eric M Bazilian Rob Hyman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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The Centerpiece of One Way Home, hard rocker Graveyard Waltz evokes haunted memories of America's bloodiest chapter in its history-100 miles along the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Philadelphia to Gettysburg-along pathways and graveyards-"where the highway meets the sun"-the landscape is extremely beautiful and bleak in the land of William Penn, Ben Franklin and Andrew Wyeth. Many generations later, the Hooters write the song about America's history and when Rob and Eric do their Hammond/Fender hopscotch game-look out-they do it in the name of rock