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.
Maybe I'll just be fucked up forever
Should have figured myself out by now
And I don't want to tear myself open, no
But it's hard to care when you bleed out
So won't you break me down, break me down
Make me get better
I confess I'm a mess, some kind of error
Well, maybe I was destined to disappear
We're just a room full of strangers
Looking for something to save us
Alone together, we're dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
We're just a room full of strangers (strangers, strangers, strangers)
Well, I guess my guardian angel missed the memo
'Cause we're walking on razors again
And we swore to God we'd never let this happen, no
We've dragged ourselves through hell and we'll be damned if we go back
Break me down, break me down, make me get better
I confess that I'm a mess, some kind of error
Well, maybe I was destined to disappear
We're just a room full of strangers
Looking for something to save us
Alone together, we're dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
It never stops, can't erase this
So cross out my eyes, tear the pages
'Cause you and I we're just dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
It never stops, it don't
Where did we go?
We're all alone, all alone
No place like home
Take us back to yesterday
SOS
Save us from ourselves
We're just a room full of strangers
Looking for something to save us
Alone together, we're dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
It never stops, can't erase this
So cross out my eyes, tear the pages
'Cause you and I we're just dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
We're just a room
We're just a room
We're just a room full of strangers
Strangers
(Just wonders)
Should have figured myself out by now
And I don't want to tear myself open, no
But it's hard to care when you bleed out
So won't you break me down, break me down
Make me get better
I confess I'm a mess, some kind of error
Well, maybe I was destined to disappear
We're just a room full of strangers
Looking for something to save us
Alone together, we're dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
We're just a room full of strangers (strangers, strangers, strangers)
Well, I guess my guardian angel missed the memo
'Cause we're walking on razors again
And we swore to God we'd never let this happen, no
We've dragged ourselves through hell and we'll be damned if we go back
Break me down, break me down, make me get better
I confess that I'm a mess, some kind of error
Well, maybe I was destined to disappear
We're just a room full of strangers
Looking for something to save us
Alone together, we're dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
It never stops, can't erase this
So cross out my eyes, tear the pages
'Cause you and I we're just dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
It never stops, it don't
Where did we go?
We're all alone, all alone
No place like home
Take us back to yesterday
SOS
Save us from ourselves
We're just a room full of strangers
Looking for something to save us
Alone together, we're dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
It never stops, can't erase this
So cross out my eyes, tear the pages
'Cause you and I we're just dying to live and we're living to die
Dying to live, living to die
We're just a room
We're just a room
We're just a room full of strangers
Strangers
(Just wonders)
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
sTraNgeRs Lyrics as written by Jordan Fish Caroline Ailin
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Frontman Oli Sykes explained, "The song came out of a long writing trip in LA, and as soon as the lyric 'We're just a room full of strangers' came, it took on such a deeper double meaning – how it would feel to be performing it live as that's what it is... all strangers connecting on this mad level... and that it was like rehab..." He also added, "I'm so aware that so many people struggle daily with differing traumas, and just wanted to stress that they're not in this alone."