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 wrote this novel just for you
It sounds pretentious but it's true
I wrote this novel just for you
That's why it's vulgar
That's why it's blue
And I say, thank you
And I say, thank you
I wrote this novel just for Mom
For all the mommy things she's done
For all the times she showed me wrong
For all the time she sang god's song
And I say thank you Mom
Hello Mom
Thank you Mom
Hi Mom
I read a book about Uncle Tom
Where a whitey bastard made a bomb
But now Ebonics rule our song
Those motherfuckers got it wrong
And I ask
Who is uncle Tom?
Who is uncle Tom?
Who is uncle Tom?
You are
I read a book about the self
Said I should get expensive help
Go fix my head
Create some wealth
Put my neurosis on the shelf
But I don't care for myself
I don't care for myself
I don't care for myself
I don't care
I wrote this novel just for you
I'm so pretentious, yes it's true
I wrote this novel just for you
Just for you
Just for you
It sounds pretentious but it's true
I wrote this novel just for you
That's why it's vulgar
That's why it's blue
And I say, thank you
And I say, thank you
I wrote this novel just for Mom
For all the mommy things she's done
For all the times she showed me wrong
For all the time she sang god's song
And I say thank you Mom
Hello Mom
Thank you Mom
Hi Mom
I read a book about Uncle Tom
Where a whitey bastard made a bomb
But now Ebonics rule our song
Those motherfuckers got it wrong
And I ask
Who is uncle Tom?
Who is uncle Tom?
Who is uncle Tom?
You are
I read a book about the self
Said I should get expensive help
Go fix my head
Create some wealth
Put my neurosis on the shelf
But I don't care for myself
I don't care for myself
I don't care for myself
I don't care
I wrote this novel just for you
I'm so pretentious, yes it's true
I wrote this novel just for you
Just for you
Just for you
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Uncle Toms Cabin is a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Surely worth the read.