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.
I'm going back to the land of the blind
Back to the land where the sun never shines
I'm going back there and I'm hoping to find
Everything just as it was before I left it all behind
I slept at nights there hysterically
Twisted and turned but I just couldn't get free
I opened my eyes, I still couldn't see
But I could feel her, China white girl
So I get down on the floor, like I am worshiping God
Burning like a monkey
Ya, I lay down on the floor, like I am praying to the Lord
Burning like a monkey, oh
Ooh, that was a Japanese dream alright
The sound of the storm and the flickering light
And the way that her scent used to fill up the night like
Like her scent used to fill up the night
So I get down on the floor, like I am worshiping God
Burning like a monkey
Ya, I lay down on the floor, like I am praying to the Lord
Burning like a monkey
Just look at me now, just look at me this way
It looks like I am quite insane
It looks like I am trying to eat off my face
Looks like I'm going to the land of the blind anyway
Back where the sun never shines
Back to the land of the blind
Back in a Japanese dream
In a Japanese dream
Back to the land where the sun never shines
I'm going back there and I'm hoping to find
Everything just as it was before I left it all behind
I slept at nights there hysterically
Twisted and turned but I just couldn't get free
I opened my eyes, I still couldn't see
But I could feel her, China white girl
So I get down on the floor, like I am worshiping God
Burning like a monkey
Ya, I lay down on the floor, like I am praying to the Lord
Burning like a monkey, oh
Ooh, that was a Japanese dream alright
The sound of the storm and the flickering light
And the way that her scent used to fill up the night like
Like her scent used to fill up the night
So I get down on the floor, like I am worshiping God
Burning like a monkey
Ya, I lay down on the floor, like I am praying to the Lord
Burning like a monkey
Just look at me now, just look at me this way
It looks like I am quite insane
It looks like I am trying to eat off my face
Looks like I'm going to the land of the blind anyway
Back where the sun never shines
Back to the land of the blind
Back in a Japanese dream
In a Japanese dream
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actually, to me it sounds like a heroin addiction...the "japenese dream" is the high...and when he come out he goes back to the "land of the blind" anyhow...and the "china white" reference