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.
Let's get this circus on down the road
We're taking bets how far a tank of gas will go
Call up your best friend, then call two more
About to do some shit that you ain't seen before
There ain't no backdoor, there ain't no sign
Location changes almost every other night
Last time we found it, can't remember much
I thought I was a god until my lawyer woke me up and said
I'll testify that I was right out of my mind
Let the record show I did it all for rock and roll
Screamin' every night, playing twenty-five to life
So somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin
Out of San Quentin, just keep me out of San Quentin
Oh, can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Got out on bail, we hit the town
Somebody told me we should burn it to the ground
Too many favors, too much to drink
Come six AM, they had me back inside the clink
I'm gonna testify that I was right out of my mind
Let the record show I did it all for rock and roll
Screamin' every night, playing twenty-five to life
So can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Out of San Quentin, oh, just keep me out of San Quentin
Ooh, can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Tough to find a goddamn alibi
Wrong or right, it's tough to justify
Can't dismiss, too many witnesses
When insanity's the pattern, it don't matter what it is
I'm gonna testify that I was right out of my mind
Let the record show I did it all for rock and roll
Screamin' every night, playing twenty-five to life
So somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Out of San Quentin, oh, just keep me out of San Quentin
Ooh, can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
We're taking bets how far a tank of gas will go
Call up your best friend, then call two more
About to do some shit that you ain't seen before
There ain't no backdoor, there ain't no sign
Location changes almost every other night
Last time we found it, can't remember much
I thought I was a god until my lawyer woke me up and said
I'll testify that I was right out of my mind
Let the record show I did it all for rock and roll
Screamin' every night, playing twenty-five to life
So somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin
Out of San Quentin, just keep me out of San Quentin
Oh, can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Got out on bail, we hit the town
Somebody told me we should burn it to the ground
Too many favors, too much to drink
Come six AM, they had me back inside the clink
I'm gonna testify that I was right out of my mind
Let the record show I did it all for rock and roll
Screamin' every night, playing twenty-five to life
So can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Out of San Quentin, oh, just keep me out of San Quentin
Ooh, can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Tough to find a goddamn alibi
Wrong or right, it's tough to justify
Can't dismiss, too many witnesses
When insanity's the pattern, it don't matter what it is
I'm gonna testify that I was right out of my mind
Let the record show I did it all for rock and roll
Screamin' every night, playing twenty-five to life
So somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Out of San Quentin, oh, just keep me out of San Quentin
Ooh, can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin?
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
San Quentin Lyrics as written by Chad Kroeger
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song is titled "San Quentin" after the San Quentin State Prison in Northern California. Nickelback Frontman Chad Kroeger set his mind on naming a song after the prison after he met the warden at a party a few years back and spent a good amount of time conversing with him. "The entire time we were talking, I'm speaking to this guy, but in my head all I could think was, I'm gonna write a song called 'San Quentin.' That's it," the singer recalled. "I stuck it in my phone, and then once the riff was down, I think I screamed out this line: 'Can somebody please keep me the hell out of San Quentin.'" Source: Loudwire