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.
Violins and tambourines
This is what we think they mean
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you
When the mystique varies thus
You can send a man to bury us
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you
The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems
This is what we think they mean
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you
When the mystique varies thus
You can send a man to bury us
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you
The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
The Last of the Unplucked Gems Lyrics as written by Gordon Sinclair Gordon Downie
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
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It's about how people suck the magic and mystery out of songs by defining their meanings: violins and tambourines, and this is what we think they mean.
What's the point in creating art if people are just going to come along and say, "it means this?" Might as well send a man to bury us.
The last of the unplucked gems? It was, until I came along and said, "it means this."