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.
We're barriers against the tide
We're wonders that refuse to shine
Blinded by eternal dark
Like shadows on a shooting star
There's a fallen anchor on a distant shore
Where the boiling angels listen to the ocean roar
Today I never saw the sun
Today your shadow was the only one
Did I go too far?
Soaring higher and higher
If I touch the sun will I shine forever?
Did I cut too far?
Digging deeper and deeper
If I pass the shore will I slip away?
Today I never saw the sun
Today your shadow was the only one
Today I never saw the sun
Today your shadow was the only one
We're barriers against the tide
We're wonders that refuse to shine
We're blinded by eternal dark
We're anchored to the evening star
We're deafened by the tolling bell
We're dragging through the endless swell
We're phantoms to the borderfire
Like stallions to the wretched mile
We're barriers against the tide
We're wonders that refuse to shine
We're blinded by eternal dark
Anchored to the evening star
We're deafened by the tolling bell
Dragging through the endless swell
We're phantoms to the borderfire
Like stallions to the wretched mile
We're wonders that refuse to shine
Blinded by eternal dark
Like shadows on a shooting star
There's a fallen anchor on a distant shore
Where the boiling angels listen to the ocean roar
Today I never saw the sun
Today your shadow was the only one
Did I go too far?
Soaring higher and higher
If I touch the sun will I shine forever?
Did I cut too far?
Digging deeper and deeper
If I pass the shore will I slip away?
Today I never saw the sun
Today your shadow was the only one
Today I never saw the sun
Today your shadow was the only one
We're barriers against the tide
We're wonders that refuse to shine
We're blinded by eternal dark
We're anchored to the evening star
We're deafened by the tolling bell
We're dragging through the endless swell
We're phantoms to the borderfire
Like stallions to the wretched mile
We're barriers against the tide
We're wonders that refuse to shine
We're blinded by eternal dark
Anchored to the evening star
We're deafened by the tolling bell
Dragging through the endless swell
We're phantoms to the borderfire
Like stallions to the wretched mile
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow, edited by BreezyDragon
Shine Lyrics as written by Jr. John Dyer Baizley
Lyrics © Word Collections Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this is about how some have put themselves so far out there, or gone out too far on a limb to find what they're looking for, not knowing where the edge of madness exists.