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 been lost, alone in a crowd
Can't remember when the silence got so loud
We believe, but what do we know?
All the things we bottle up
Will one day start to overflow
Where do I shelter when it's raining inside?
No peace and quiet from the noise in my mind
I don't bend, I break, I can't go on this way
It kills to hear you say
"I can't stand to see you like this"
We took a chance (a chance, chance)
A shot in the dark (the dark)
Let it echo like the rattle of a hollow heart
I thought I had everything that meant something to me
I wasn't ready to face what I want, what I need
Now I need to escape
The grass is greener, they told me, if you wait
I feel the lifeblood freezing in my veins
The antidote is just the poison by another name
Where do I shelter when it's raining inside?
No peace and quiet from the noise in my mind
I don't bend, I break, I can't go on this way
It kills to hear you say
"I can't stand to see you like this
'Cause it's more than I can take"
The earth is spinning much too fast for me
The air is thick and it makes me sick to breathe
I never had the clarity of mind
To recognize that time was never on my side
(I am not what I think, I am not what I feel)
I'm addicted, afflicted and I'm dying to heal, I said
I lost years to future fears
(This can't happen again, it cannot happen again)
Now I'm fearing the worst
I'll break my habits if they don't break me first
But still I just can't seem to catch my breath
And the things I love, I hold so tight, I strangle them to death
Where do I shelter when it's raining inside? (Raining inside)
No peace and quiet from the noise in my mind
I don't bend, I break, I can't go on this way
It kills to hear you say
"I can't stand to see you like this
'Cause it's more than I can take"
Can't remember when the silence got so loud
We believe, but what do we know?
All the things we bottle up
Will one day start to overflow
Where do I shelter when it's raining inside?
No peace and quiet from the noise in my mind
I don't bend, I break, I can't go on this way
It kills to hear you say
"I can't stand to see you like this"
We took a chance (a chance, chance)
A shot in the dark (the dark)
Let it echo like the rattle of a hollow heart
I thought I had everything that meant something to me
I wasn't ready to face what I want, what I need
Now I need to escape
The grass is greener, they told me, if you wait
I feel the lifeblood freezing in my veins
The antidote is just the poison by another name
Where do I shelter when it's raining inside?
No peace and quiet from the noise in my mind
I don't bend, I break, I can't go on this way
It kills to hear you say
"I can't stand to see you like this
'Cause it's more than I can take"
The earth is spinning much too fast for me
The air is thick and it makes me sick to breathe
I never had the clarity of mind
To recognize that time was never on my side
(I am not what I think, I am not what I feel)
I'm addicted, afflicted and I'm dying to heal, I said
I lost years to future fears
(This can't happen again, it cannot happen again)
Now I'm fearing the worst
I'll break my habits if they don't break me first
But still I just can't seem to catch my breath
And the things I love, I hold so tight, I strangle them to death
Where do I shelter when it's raining inside? (Raining inside)
No peace and quiet from the noise in my mind
I don't bend, I break, I can't go on this way
It kills to hear you say
"I can't stand to see you like this
'Cause it's more than I can take"
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
Overflow Lyrics as written by Daniel Furnari Rick Schneider
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this is about when your mind is in a state of such chaos it can no longer even comprehend it's own toxicity.