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.
Oh god
I think they’re all dead
I felt an otherworldly bang and then it all went black
Dear god
What will waiting for me
I have been fighting for my life
Lights out
White smoke everywhere
It filled my lungs and suddenly I couldn’t see or hear
Overwhelming all of my senses
Incendiary intravenous extensions
White hot creeping through all my extremities
I fear that I’ve lost control
I am no longer in control of my body or mind
Something else is pulling at all of my strings
I seem to have lost all control over sensations now invading my body
Something has awoken in me, rising upward, spreading out, ever taking hold of me
I am becoming something semi human
Something taking hold of all my senses
I scream until my lungs burst
I tear at my throat until the blood flows forth
There must be some way to stop this awful pain that I feel over every inch of my existence
Blades dance across my skin as I carve away at the layers of agony
Ripping flaying get it off me oh god
I will not persist under the weight of all of this
As I can feel my bones splintering
My body is shaking
My muscles are aching
I swear I can feel the hands on my neck
I don’t know what is happening to me
Why can’t anyone help me
I think I’ve lost control over sensations now invading my body
Something has awoken in me, spreading out ever taking hold of me
I have become something that is not human
Something unknown takes hold of my senses
I think they’re all dead
I felt an otherworldly bang and then it all went black
Dear god
What will waiting for me
I have been fighting for my life
Lights out
White smoke everywhere
It filled my lungs and suddenly I couldn’t see or hear
Overwhelming all of my senses
Incendiary intravenous extensions
White hot creeping through all my extremities
I fear that I’ve lost control
I am no longer in control of my body or mind
Something else is pulling at all of my strings
I seem to have lost all control over sensations now invading my body
Something has awoken in me, rising upward, spreading out, ever taking hold of me
I am becoming something semi human
Something taking hold of all my senses
I scream until my lungs burst
I tear at my throat until the blood flows forth
There must be some way to stop this awful pain that I feel over every inch of my existence
Blades dance across my skin as I carve away at the layers of agony
Ripping flaying get it off me oh god
I will not persist under the weight of all of this
As I can feel my bones splintering
My body is shaking
My muscles are aching
I swear I can feel the hands on my neck
I don’t know what is happening to me
Why can’t anyone help me
I think I’ve lost control over sensations now invading my body
Something has awoken in me, spreading out ever taking hold of me
I have become something that is not human
Something unknown takes hold of my senses
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
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I think this is about being completely overburdened by the at times darkness & atrophy of this life. Feeling as though you can't get out from under, while knowing if you don't it will in fact slowly destroy you.