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.
Shapes still melt into the snow
Looking down at scattered bones
I used to keep a slender hope
Until they spread above the stone
Until they spread above the stone
I pulled the trigger by mistake
Floundering at the aftermath
Slowly recognize the scale
We will be ephemeral
We will be ephemeral
Fact isn't what you see
Not anymore, then what it used to be
Fact isn't what you see
Not anymore, then what it used to be
Fact isn't what you see
Not what it used to be
I'm flowing like black water
To us, insurgency
To us, insurgency
Looking down at scattered bones
I used to keep a slender hope
Until they spread above the stone
Until they spread above the stone
I pulled the trigger by mistake
Floundering at the aftermath
Slowly recognize the scale
We will be ephemeral
We will be ephemeral
Fact isn't what you see
Not anymore, then what it used to be
Fact isn't what you see
Not anymore, then what it used to be
Fact isn't what you see
Not what it used to be
I'm flowing like black water
To us, insurgency
To us, insurgency
Lyrics submitted by Ferrisybuga, edited by darknshine
Black Water Lyrics as written by Patrick Christensen Alfredo Carlos Nogueira
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Downtown Music Publishing
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these lyrics are all wrong. this is important, vastly so, for the context, symbology, and meaning of the song.
corrected:
Shapes still melt into the smoke 
Looking down at scattered bones 
I used to keep a slender hope 
'Til they spread above the stone 
'Til they spread above the stone


I pulled the trigger by mistake 
Floundering at the aftermath 
Slowly recognize the scale
 We will be ephemeral 
We will be ephemeral


Fact Isn't what you see Not anymore
, what it used to be

, Fact isn't what you see Not what it used to be
I'm flowing with black water 
Into a loss of surgency 
Into a loss of surgency
oops, it's supposed to be "'Til they spread ABOVE the stone"
you're more right then the original, but still wrong, the last part is: <br /> <br /> "I'm flowing in blackwater,<br /> to another surging sea"