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.
In a lifeless memory
You're not there
A craving in the street
I'm alive
And getting an urge to fill the void
With whatever I need
Yeah
With whatever I need
With whatever I need
I withdraw you advance
The move is complete
Are you able to see?
Cause it's getting too bright for me
Over time we'll dissolve
To a feeling we won't recall
Bring all your heroes
Down to their knees
I don't need nothing
I do as I please
Destiny
Overruled
Through distance
I'm losing
Creation
Of your mind
Through distance
I'm losing
Through distance
I'm losing
All night I've been trying to reach out
How people naturally do when they're young
An attempt to live
To feel weightless and free
In the abyss
For a time
I felt completely alive
Still without legs
We all just sink
In the past I would have tried harder
But now I know there isn't anything there
And what you, I, we were reaching for
Is something I had in me all along
For a time
I felt completely alive
Still without legs
We all just sink
We see most clear
From lowest points
We see most clear
From lowest points
We see most clear
From lowest points
Through distance we're losing
Hope for our dignity
Bring all your heroes
Down to their knees
I don't need nothing
I do as I please
You're not there
A craving in the street
I'm alive
And getting an urge to fill the void
With whatever I need
Yeah
With whatever I need
With whatever I need
I withdraw you advance
The move is complete
Are you able to see?
Cause it's getting too bright for me
Over time we'll dissolve
To a feeling we won't recall
Bring all your heroes
Down to their knees
I don't need nothing
I do as I please
Destiny
Overruled
Through distance
I'm losing
Creation
Of your mind
Through distance
I'm losing
Through distance
I'm losing
All night I've been trying to reach out
How people naturally do when they're young
An attempt to live
To feel weightless and free
In the abyss
For a time
I felt completely alive
Still without legs
We all just sink
In the past I would have tried harder
But now I know there isn't anything there
And what you, I, we were reaching for
Is something I had in me all along
For a time
I felt completely alive
Still without legs
We all just sink
We see most clear
From lowest points
We see most clear
From lowest points
We see most clear
From lowest points
Through distance we're losing
Hope for our dignity
Bring all your heroes
Down to their knees
I don't need nothing
I do as I please
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Considering my past post about the need to "dissociate" oneself from others lives ... could it possibly be related to the need for so many today to live their lives through others??
For example, there are hundreds of vloggers on Youtube who pretty much talk about their daily life. Some of these users have thousands / millions of subscribers. Is there a suggestion that perhaps we need to stop living through another's life and start living our own life ... I'd imagine a lot live others lives because they are unhappy about something in theirs. So could this album be about saying "sure life is hard / a struggle, but it has it joys and no one is going to make it better unless you work hard on it" (don't watch TV series / Youtube and escape your life ... live your life!)