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.
He's got arms like legs
He's got hands on his feet
He's got a nose like a doughnut
He's got a tendency to over eat
He don't use tools or weapons
He don't eat meat
He likes to stick to the bushes
Tends to avoid the street
But he rides my El Dorado
When he comes to town
You know he's out there somewhere
Tryin' to track you down
Look up in the sky
Mama that's the one
See the mighty profile
Block the noonday sun
He comes from the heart of darkness
A thousand miles from here
That's the land where they understand
What a woman might like to hear
You know that he loves you baby
For what you really are
His love is a burning hot
As a big old ten cent cigar
Now most of y'all
Have seen a gorilla
In a cage at the local zoo
He mostly sits around contemplating
All the things that he'd prefer to do
He dreams about the world outside
From behind those bars of steel
And no one seems to understand
About the heartache the man can feel
The people stop and stare
But nobody seems to care
It don't seem right somehow
It just don't seem fair
He's still a gorilla
He's got hands on his feet
He's got a nose like a doughnut
He's got a tendency to over eat
He don't use tools or weapons
He don't eat meat
He likes to stick to the bushes
Tends to avoid the street
But he rides my El Dorado
When he comes to town
You know he's out there somewhere
Tryin' to track you down
Look up in the sky
Mama that's the one
See the mighty profile
Block the noonday sun
He comes from the heart of darkness
A thousand miles from here
That's the land where they understand
What a woman might like to hear
You know that he loves you baby
For what you really are
His love is a burning hot
As a big old ten cent cigar
Now most of y'all
Have seen a gorilla
In a cage at the local zoo
He mostly sits around contemplating
All the things that he'd prefer to do
He dreams about the world outside
From behind those bars of steel
And no one seems to understand
About the heartache the man can feel
The people stop and stare
But nobody seems to care
It don't seem right somehow
It just don't seem fair
He's still a gorilla
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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The best part about James Taylor is the chord voicings he uses. Kind of like John Mayer. He's not your standard G D C guitarist.