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.
If you had looked, you might have just seen them
Stretched in the background
You'd see the oceans swell
And the mountains shook
You'd see a million colors
If you really looked
Now quick the night draws near
Her curtain spreads quicker
The safety's off
But the gun has no trigger
If you had looked, you'd be no one's coward
Distance, justice, power
You'd glimpse the password
You wouldn't need the book
You'd own both slave and master
If you just had looked
But now the banks all closed
And nothing gets bigger
The crowd will yell
But the gun has no trigger
If you had looked, you might reconsider
Or just maybe you already have
They watch you sleeping
You watch their garbage cook
You'd weep a bowl of tears
If you had looked
But now the gate comes down
The pangs are growing dimmer
You hold a gun to your head
But the gun has no trigger
Stretched in the background
You'd see the oceans swell
And the mountains shook
You'd see a million colors
If you really looked
Now quick the night draws near
Her curtain spreads quicker
The safety's off
But the gun has no trigger
If you had looked, you'd be no one's coward
Distance, justice, power
You'd glimpse the password
You wouldn't need the book
You'd own both slave and master
If you just had looked
But now the banks all closed
And nothing gets bigger
The crowd will yell
But the gun has no trigger
If you had looked, you might reconsider
Or just maybe you already have
They watch you sleeping
You watch their garbage cook
You'd weep a bowl of tears
If you had looked
But now the gate comes down
The pangs are growing dimmer
You hold a gun to your head
But the gun has no trigger
Lyrics submitted by blahblah123123, edited by hnavarro
Gun Has No Trigger Lyrics as written by David Donnell Longstreth
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
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Infertility and waiting too long to have kids:
"Her curtain spreads quicker // The safety's off, // But the gun has no trigger" "But now the banks all close // And nothing gets bigger"
This also comes right after "Offspring are Blank" and "About to Die" on the album. Fits in pretty well thematically.