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.
On the winnow fields
They beheld the gate
Trembling with fear
And afraid to forfeit
Anxiously
They clinged to table scraps
As if to aver
Their deprivation
And the swine crowed round
The shining lot of pearls
With empty hands
The high king reigns
Nothing but light
The raven flies
A fool is the slave
Who fears not his fetters
But watches over them with jealousy
On the winnow fields
They beheld their lives
Paralysed with fear
In the presence of the Vergobret
So they cherished
Doctrines of denial
And wallowed
In poor men's tales
And the swine crowed round
The shining lot of pearls
Just like the vultures
Crave cadaveric flesh
With empty hands
The high king reigns
Nothing but light
The raven flies
With empty hands
The high king reigns
Nothing but light
The raven flies
They beheld the gate
Trembling with fear
And afraid to forfeit
Anxiously
They clinged to table scraps
As if to aver
Their deprivation
And the swine crowed round
The shining lot of pearls
With empty hands
The high king reigns
Nothing but light
The raven flies
A fool is the slave
Who fears not his fetters
But watches over them with jealousy
On the winnow fields
They beheld their lives
Paralysed with fear
In the presence of the Vergobret
So they cherished
Doctrines of denial
And wallowed
In poor men's tales
And the swine crowed round
The shining lot of pearls
Just like the vultures
Crave cadaveric flesh
With empty hands
The high king reigns
Nothing but light
The raven flies
With empty hands
The high king reigns
Nothing but light
The raven flies
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow, edited by LyricPoliceman
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