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.
No-fly list. No-drive list. No-walk list. No-talk list.
No muckraking journalist left to take stock of
the wholesale omission of outside perspectives.
How does it make you feel to know that you voted for this?
So much for your hopes and your dreams and your children.
You just sat there believing in this bullshit system.
Just wishing the mob would magically come to its senses.
How does it make you feel to know you just stood by and watched it?
Dazed. Numb. Powerless. Stunned.
While we frantically click our heels, already home.
The bands. The sports. The booze.
It's all that's left of you.
When the cops and the courts refuse
To confess the sins of the few,
What is there left to do?
The answer's there right before your eyes: rise.
No muckraking journalist left to take stock of
the wholesale omission of outside perspectives.
How does it make you feel to know that you voted for this?
So much for your hopes and your dreams and your children.
You just sat there believing in this bullshit system.
Just wishing the mob would magically come to its senses.
How does it make you feel to know you just stood by and watched it?
Dazed. Numb. Powerless. Stunned.
While we frantically click our heels, already home.
The bands. The sports. The booze.
It's all that's left of you.
When the cops and the courts refuse
To confess the sins of the few,
What is there left to do?
The answer's there right before your eyes: rise.
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Todd Kowalski: This song is written by Chris [and] is about your own laziness and personal conformity and a yearning to rise out of a preoccupation with yourself. You’re watching TV or sports or, in my case it’d be excessive [time spent] listening to Razor. It’s about trying to get out and do something to make the world better rather than marinating in your juices at home. So many people spend too much time getting wasted and doing things that aren’t really helping anybody. They’re not creative, they’re not doing anything for themselves or anybody else. It’s just a note to self to go and do something.
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