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.
You were a flash of light across a sky of total dark.
You saw their shocked and gaping jaws then it all returned to black.
There was a brief surge of panic, their eyes pressed tight.
You brought a swarm of confusion to their bleak but simple lives.
Cognitive suicide. Insular, pathetic minds
Try to cut you off at the knees so they won't be left behind.
If everything is bland and unambiguous,
Maybe they can understand how they fit into this place.
Every time they fail they seek a victim for their spite.
Some dismal need to crush someone beneath their feet.
All their acrid words can't ease their wounded hearts.
Despite their claims they have no maps, no keys to any gates.
Cognitive suicide. Insecure, regressive minds
Try to cut you off at the knees so they won't be left behind.
Petrified, frozen to imaginary times.
Pay no mind, I hope they pass you by.
Live your life and don't apologize
To the cowards of this world, they're a waste of time.
Everything's in between.
Are they terrified of unobscured and brilliant colours?
Perhaps you cracked the door to their own forbidden worlds.
Everything's in between.
Everything's in between.
Everything's in between.
You saw their shocked and gaping jaws then it all returned to black.
There was a brief surge of panic, their eyes pressed tight.
You brought a swarm of confusion to their bleak but simple lives.
Cognitive suicide. Insular, pathetic minds
Try to cut you off at the knees so they won't be left behind.
If everything is bland and unambiguous,
Maybe they can understand how they fit into this place.
Every time they fail they seek a victim for their spite.
Some dismal need to crush someone beneath their feet.
All their acrid words can't ease their wounded hearts.
Despite their claims they have no maps, no keys to any gates.
Cognitive suicide. Insecure, regressive minds
Try to cut you off at the knees so they won't be left behind.
Petrified, frozen to imaginary times.
Pay no mind, I hope they pass you by.
Live your life and don't apologize
To the cowards of this world, they're a waste of time.
Everything's in between.
Are they terrified of unobscured and brilliant colours?
Perhaps you cracked the door to their own forbidden worlds.
Everything's in between.
Everything's in between.
Everything's in between.
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Todd Kowalski: This song was inspired by Caster Semenya from South Africa, a runner who did so well in the world’s in 2009 they put her through this humiliating gender verification because they thought she had an unfair advantage because she was "too manly." It really ruined her and her spirit. There was also a South African soccer player named Eudy Simelane and she was murdered for being a lesbian. So the idea of the song is to be yourself in a dangerous world and supporting other people who are also trying to be themselves.
It’s also about this idea that people in the world are such cowards and they bite on days that they’re feeling bad about themselves. So people are insecure about someone doing something they’re afraid to do or afraid to think of, so they start to point at other people and make them out to be a misfit or freak of nature because they’re afraid of falling behind in the world.
music.cbc.ca/