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.
We have a cure for your isolation - it's called PWEI-zation
It's far above your expectation - it's called PWEI-zation
We stay up late 'cos it helps us lose weight
We use the phone when there's no-one home
We call long distance but there's no-one there
It's due to the fact that we know nobody out there
[CHORUS]
Beaming out a message across the nation
Are you tuned in to our radio station?
Sending out a signal to cure isolation - it's called PWEI-zation
Number twelve looks just like you
A nervous man in a four dollar room
On Thursday, we leave for home
But first a word from our sponsors out there in the ozone
[CHORUS]
[s]"I bring you a warning
Tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are
Watch the skies
Keep looking, keep watching the skies"
[s]"Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one"
[CHORUS]
Graffiti City is a home from home
For paranoia, bubble heads and clones
It's a refuge from the thought police of Dementia 13, Dementia 13
[CHORUS]
Beaming out a message across the nation
Tune into our radio station
It's far above your expectation - it's called PWEI-zation
We stay up late 'cos it helps us lose weight
We use the phone when there's no-one home
We call long distance but there's no-one there
It's due to the fact that we know nobody out there
[CHORUS]
Beaming out a message across the nation
Are you tuned in to our radio station?
Sending out a signal to cure isolation - it's called PWEI-zation
Number twelve looks just like you
A nervous man in a four dollar room
On Thursday, we leave for home
But first a word from our sponsors out there in the ozone
[CHORUS]
[s]"I bring you a warning
Tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are
Watch the skies
Keep looking, keep watching the skies"
[s]"Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one"
[CHORUS]
Graffiti City is a home from home
For paranoia, bubble heads and clones
It's a refuge from the thought police of Dementia 13, Dementia 13
[CHORUS]
Beaming out a message across the nation
Tune into our radio station
Lyrics submitted by gothic_hobbit
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The song is mostly about all the good stuff you'd catch on commercial TV during the low-rent hours in the 1980s.
"Number Twelve Looks Just Like You", "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room", and "On Thursday We Leave for Home" are all Twilight Zone episodes.
"I bring you a warning…" is from The Thing—the 1951 original, not the John Carpenter 80s remake.
In the last verse, "thought police" are from 1984, and Dementia 13 is Francis Ford Coppola's first (real) movie. I'm not sure about the rest of it—the first line sounds like a Judge Dredd/Halo Jones mashup; maybe he was reading 2000AD while something boring was on telly, until 1984 came on?