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.
Last night he could not make it
He tried hard but could not make it
Last night he could not make it
On a holiday, for many miles
Looking for a place to stay
Near some friendly star, he found this mote
And now we wonder where we are
How could this so great turn so shitty
He ended up in army crates
And photographs in files, his tiny boat
Sparked as he turned to grazed our city
I started driving on the motorway
I was feeling down
Last night he could not make it
Last night he could not make it
He tried hard but could not make it
Last night he could not make it
On a holiday, for many miles
Looking for a place to stay
Near some friendly star, he found this mote
And now we wonder
How could this so great turn so shitty
Ended up in army crates
And photographs in files, his tiny boat
Sparked as he grazed it
Last night he could not make it
He tried hard but could not make it
Last night he could not make it
He tried hard but could not make it
He started heading for the motorway and he came right now
He started heading for the motorway and he came right now
He started heading for the motorway and he came right now
...
He tried hard but could not make it
Last night he could not make it
On a holiday, for many miles
Looking for a place to stay
Near some friendly star, he found this mote
And now we wonder where we are
How could this so great turn so shitty
He ended up in army crates
And photographs in files, his tiny boat
Sparked as he turned to grazed our city
I started driving on the motorway
I was feeling down
Last night he could not make it
Last night he could not make it
He tried hard but could not make it
Last night he could not make it
On a holiday, for many miles
Looking for a place to stay
Near some friendly star, he found this mote
And now we wonder
How could this so great turn so shitty
Ended up in army crates
And photographs in files, his tiny boat
Sparked as he grazed it
Last night he could not make it
He tried hard but could not make it
Last night he could not make it
He tried hard but could not make it
He started heading for the motorway and he came right now
He started heading for the motorway and he came right now
He started heading for the motorway and he came right now
...
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This song is very, very sad. It's sort of a reflection on how small minded we are as a race - this visitor has come across the emptiness of space to visit us and we kill him/capture him and he ends up dead in a crate in the Pentagon.
It always makes me feel like crying, especially "his tiny boat/sparked...", and the piano at the end is just heartbreaking. It has that quavering quality to its sound that makes it extra sad.
Truly the Pixies are a wonder. Frank Black/Black Francis once said that he felt that aliens/UFOs should be a romantic, mysterious subject.