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.
Didn't I see you down in San Antone on a hot and dusty night?
We were eating eggs in Sammy's when the black man there drew his knife
Aw, you drowned that Jew in Rampton as he washed his sleeveless shirt
You know, that Spanish-speaking gentlemen the one we all called Kurt
Come now, gentleman, I know there's some mistake
How forgetful I'm becoming now you fixed your business straight
I remember you in Hemlock Road in nineteen fifty-six
You're a faggy little leather boy with a smaller piece of stick
You're a lashing, smashing hunk of man your sweat shines sweet and strong
Your organs working perfectly but there's a part that's not screwed on
Weren't you at the Coke convention back on nineteen sixty-five?
You're the misbred, gray executive I've seen heavily advertised
You're the great, gray man whose daughter licks policemen's buttons clean
You're the man who squats behind the man who works the soft machine
Come now, gentleman your love is all I crave
You'll still be in the circus when I'm laughing, laughing in my grave
When the old men do the fighting and the young men all look on
And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon
Be wary of these my gentle friends of all the skins you breed
They have a tasty habit they eat the hands that bleed
So remember who you say you are and keep your noses clean
Boys will be boys and play with toys so be strong with your beast
Oh Rosie dear, don'tcha think it's queer so stop me if you please
The baby is dead, my lady said, "You gentlemen, why, you all work for me"
We were eating eggs in Sammy's when the black man there drew his knife
Aw, you drowned that Jew in Rampton as he washed his sleeveless shirt
You know, that Spanish-speaking gentlemen the one we all called Kurt
Come now, gentleman, I know there's some mistake
How forgetful I'm becoming now you fixed your business straight
I remember you in Hemlock Road in nineteen fifty-six
You're a faggy little leather boy with a smaller piece of stick
You're a lashing, smashing hunk of man your sweat shines sweet and strong
Your organs working perfectly but there's a part that's not screwed on
Weren't you at the Coke convention back on nineteen sixty-five?
You're the misbred, gray executive I've seen heavily advertised
You're the great, gray man whose daughter licks policemen's buttons clean
You're the man who squats behind the man who works the soft machine
Come now, gentleman your love is all I crave
You'll still be in the circus when I'm laughing, laughing in my grave
When the old men do the fighting and the young men all look on
And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon
Be wary of these my gentle friends of all the skins you breed
They have a tasty habit they eat the hands that bleed
So remember who you say you are and keep your noses clean
Boys will be boys and play with toys so be strong with your beast
Oh Rosie dear, don'tcha think it's queer so stop me if you please
The baby is dead, my lady said, "You gentlemen, why, you all work for me"
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it's as if queen was singing desolation row on smack. bizarre and great.