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.
She said, it's time to teach you the art of love
She said, we're gonna reach to the heart of love
A place you never knew, a place that lives somewhere inside of you
I know I'm on a journey I won't forget
I know I had it in me to give and yet I never could
Before I had to, if I wanted to be yours
You made me see I'd have to be a brand new man
He lives in me, so here in me is where I began
You showed the kind of lesson I can't erase
You showed a way to get from that lonely place
To where love comes alive
And you'd be waiting there when I arrived
The truth was clear,
Love's not a place you go to find
It lives in here
Just leave it space, give it time
I learned that I could stumble and maybe fall
I learned in being humble I'd have it all
A brand new way to live,
That love's not what you have but what you give
And the art of love is who you share it with
She said, we're gonna reach to the heart of love
A place you never knew, a place that lives somewhere inside of you
I know I'm on a journey I won't forget
I know I had it in me to give and yet I never could
Before I had to, if I wanted to be yours
You made me see I'd have to be a brand new man
He lives in me, so here in me is where I began
You showed the kind of lesson I can't erase
You showed a way to get from that lonely place
To where love comes alive
And you'd be waiting there when I arrived
The truth was clear,
Love's not a place you go to find
It lives in here
Just leave it space, give it time
I learned that I could stumble and maybe fall
I learned in being humble I'd have it all
A brand new way to live,
That love's not what you have but what you give
And the art of love is who you share it with
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
The Art Of Love Lyrics as written by Neil Diamond
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Neil’s a bad ass!