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.
You shatter me, your grip on me
A hold on me so dull it kills
You stifle me
Infectious sense of Hopelessness and prayers for rain
I suffocate, I breathe in dirt
And nowhere shines but desolate
And drab the hours all spent on killing time
Again all waiting for the rain
You fracture me, your hands on me
A touch so plain, so stale it kills
You strangle me, entangle me
In hopelessness and prayers for rain
I deteriorate, I live in dirt, and nowhere glows but
Drearily and tired the hours all spent on killing
Time again all waiting for the rain
You fracture me, your hands on me
A touch so plain, so stale it kills
You strangle me, entangle me
In hopelessness and prayers for rain
Prayers for rain
Prayers for rain
Prayers for rain
A hold on me so dull it kills
You stifle me
Infectious sense of Hopelessness and prayers for rain
I suffocate, I breathe in dirt
And nowhere shines but desolate
And drab the hours all spent on killing time
Again all waiting for the rain
You fracture me, your hands on me
A touch so plain, so stale it kills
You strangle me, entangle me
In hopelessness and prayers for rain
I deteriorate, I live in dirt, and nowhere glows but
Drearily and tired the hours all spent on killing
Time again all waiting for the rain
You fracture me, your hands on me
A touch so plain, so stale it kills
You strangle me, entangle me
In hopelessness and prayers for rain
Prayers for rain
Prayers for rain
Prayers for rain
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Prayers for Rain Lyrics as written by Laurence Andrew Tolhurst Boris Williams
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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When I was an adolescent, I used to think this song perfectly described my feelings towards school!