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.
The shoulder that I leaned on was carved out of stone
But when I'm done freezing I want to be alone
Never want my hand cut off
Never want a hacking cough
Never need a cliffside push
Never turn my brain to mush
Always give me what I lack
Always take the best parts back
Always recognize your fate
Always just a moment late
Left is where I always turn
Left is how I'm forced to learn
Left the route my walking takes
Left alone with my mistakes
Up against the person who
Up 'til now I never knew
Up from hell the answer blew
Up or down it's up to you
Drop me off the Chinese wall
And peel my fingers off the rim
I come unglued while in midair and land to reform
Limb by limb
And I am taken far away
Lingering slowly melting away
Tossed with the salad and baled with the hay
Pooling the water that drips from above
Trampled by lambs pecked by the dove
But when I'm done freezing I want to be alone
Never want my hand cut off
Never want a hacking cough
Never need a cliffside push
Never turn my brain to mush
Always give me what I lack
Always take the best parts back
Always recognize your fate
Always just a moment late
Left is where I always turn
Left is how I'm forced to learn
Left the route my walking takes
Left alone with my mistakes
Up against the person who
Up 'til now I never knew
Up from hell the answer blew
Up or down it's up to you
Drop me off the Chinese wall
And peel my fingers off the rim
I come unglued while in midair and land to reform
Limb by limb
And I am taken far away
Lingering slowly melting away
Tossed with the salad and baled with the hay
Pooling the water that drips from above
Trampled by lambs pecked by the dove
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I don't do this often cuz I'm good at this but I have to retract my earlier statements.
It's not suicide. It's metaphorical euthanasia is that the right word no
But it's people who fucking throw you off the Chineese wall and you hold on.