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've gotta break this crutch of mine
And let it sink for what it's worth
But every bone moves out of time
When we believe we're
Tied to a past, running lines
A kinship to shame, a "loving" spite
Bow down, recite
All the words that keep this hurt alive
Consigned to strive
A slave to the grind
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
Bound like the flock who falls inline
Constrained by the ones who gave you life
Write your side
Feel the heat as you start to see the sky
Open with each eye
And leave this behind
As you feel my spirit recede
Know that I had found
A real sense of trust in you
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
Turn it around, see the black clouds cover
Show 'em the face of a hope discovered
Yet the past pulls hard and fast to be
Our present scene
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
And let it sink for what it's worth
But every bone moves out of time
When we believe we're
Tied to a past, running lines
A kinship to shame, a "loving" spite
Bow down, recite
All the words that keep this hurt alive
Consigned to strive
A slave to the grind
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
Bound like the flock who falls inline
Constrained by the ones who gave you life
Write your side
Feel the heat as you start to see the sky
Open with each eye
And leave this behind
As you feel my spirit recede
Know that I had found
A real sense of trust in you
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
Turn it around, see the black clouds cover
Show 'em the face of a hope discovered
Yet the past pulls hard and fast to be
Our present scene
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
No cadence
No reason
No saving what's been beaten
Look closer and you'll find
A bitter covenant resides
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
Covenant Lyrics as written by Dominic Dalenberg Dante Romeo
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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A covenant by definition is an agreement. I think how it applies in this song is that this arrangement was a bitter one that became so toxic it was beyond salvaging.