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.
So move your ass, we’re cutting class today to live a story.
Discover what the future holds, to find the guts for glory.
Oh, I’m sick of all who pretend to be
Kings of the desert, locked in a cage
When other people hold the key.
We’re only children of the sea.
The dancing lady looked at me and tried to hold my hand.
But then she came closer still, tried to pull the way I stand.
And the man who schooled the vagabond
He started to laugh and gave me the eye,
But sang no evil for my soul.
“Don’t take your body as the whole”.
Cause we are not afraid to go astray,
We are the rebels anyway,
Wondering if there is a price to pay…
All my heroes underground they don’t show their face around.
Move your ass, we are cutting class today
Let’s try being a part of a story!
I don’t know much, we don’t live for the past
Don’t belong in the same category.
No more!
Discover what the future holds, to find the guts for glory.
Oh, I’m sick of all who pretend to be
Kings of the desert, locked in a cage
When other people hold the key.
We’re only children of the sea.
The dancing lady looked at me and tried to hold my hand.
But then she came closer still, tried to pull the way I stand.
And the man who schooled the vagabond
He started to laugh and gave me the eye,
But sang no evil for my soul.
“Don’t take your body as the whole”.
Cause we are not afraid to go astray,
We are the rebels anyway,
Wondering if there is a price to pay…
All my heroes underground they don’t show their face around.
Move your ass, we are cutting class today
Let’s try being a part of a story!
I don’t know much, we don’t live for the past
Don’t belong in the same category.
No more!
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
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I think this song is about being a nonconformist & not living by anybody else's rules but your own.