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'm a freeborn man of the travelling people
Got no fixed abode, and no one is my master
Country lanes and byways were always my ways
I never fancied being lumbered
In the open field you could stop and linger
And the small birds sang when wintertime was over
You could pack your load and be on the road
They were good old times for the rover
And sometimes we'd meet up with other people
Hear the news or else swap family information
At the country fair we'd be meeting there
All the peoples of the travelling nation
I've made willow creels and the heather besoms
And I've even done some begging and some hawkin'
And I've lain there spent wrapped up in my tent
And I've listened to the old folks talking
All you freeborn men of the travelling people
Every tinker, rolling stone and gypsy rover
Winds of change are blowing, old ways are going
Your travelling days will soon be over
I'm a freeborn man of the travelling people
Got no fixed abode, and no man is my master
Country lanes and byways were always my ways
I never fancied going faster
Got no fixed abode, and no one is my master
Country lanes and byways were always my ways
I never fancied being lumbered
In the open field you could stop and linger
And the small birds sang when wintertime was over
You could pack your load and be on the road
They were good old times for the rover
And sometimes we'd meet up with other people
Hear the news or else swap family information
At the country fair we'd be meeting there
All the peoples of the travelling nation
I've made willow creels and the heather besoms
And I've even done some begging and some hawkin'
And I've lain there spent wrapped up in my tent
And I've listened to the old folks talking
All you freeborn men of the travelling people
Every tinker, rolling stone and gypsy rover
Winds of change are blowing, old ways are going
Your travelling days will soon be over
I'm a freeborn man of the travelling people
Got no fixed abode, and no man is my master
Country lanes and byways were always my ways
I never fancied going faster
Lyrics submitted by epiwoosh
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