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.
We were on the Russian border
When the news began to break
Of a nuclear reactor melting down
Sending deadly clouds of dust
Into the atmosphere
Falling down like rain upon the ground
We were laying in the sun
Listening to the radio
When someone said you'd better get inside
We didn't know how serious
The situation was
That many people to the North had died
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in my head
There's something I'm not sure of going down
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in the night
That fallout seems to follow me around
We made out way to Hungary
Got ready for the show
Thinking we were safe there
From the storm
But the deadly cloud was high above
Taken by the wind
Spreading like a plague across the land
A threat you couldn't see
Nothing you could feel
Something evil floating in the air
Look towards the East
For the danger yet to come
For the Earth
We make a silent prayer
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in my head
There's something I'm not sure of going down
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in the night
That fallout seems to follow me around
We were on the Russian border
When the news began to break
Of a nuclear reactor melting down
Sending deadly clouds of dust
Into the atmosphere
Falling down like rain upon the ground
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in my head
There's something I'm not sure of going down
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in the night
That fallout seems to follow me around
When the news began to break
Of a nuclear reactor melting down
Sending deadly clouds of dust
Into the atmosphere
Falling down like rain upon the ground
We were laying in the sun
Listening to the radio
When someone said you'd better get inside
We didn't know how serious
The situation was
That many people to the North had died
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in my head
There's something I'm not sure of going down
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in the night
That fallout seems to follow me around
We made out way to Hungary
Got ready for the show
Thinking we were safe there
From the storm
But the deadly cloud was high above
Taken by the wind
Spreading like a plague across the land
A threat you couldn't see
Nothing you could feel
Something evil floating in the air
Look towards the East
For the danger yet to come
For the Earth
We make a silent prayer
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in my head
There's something I'm not sure of going down
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in the night
That fallout seems to follow me around
We were on the Russian border
When the news began to break
Of a nuclear reactor melting down
Sending deadly clouds of dust
Into the atmosphere
Falling down like rain upon the ground
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in my head
There's something I'm not sure of going down
Red alert, red alert
Screaming in the night
That fallout seems to follow me around
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In an interview, lead vocalist Biff Byford explained the inspiration for this song by paraphrasing its first line: "We were on the Russian border the day Chernobyl blew up." Pretty simply put, the song is about Chernobyl and depicts the terrifying moments after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The band was on tour in Eastern Europe near the Russian border at the time when they then heard the news of the nuclear reactor meltdown. It describes the fear and confusion that ensued, as people scrambled to find shelter and protect themselves from the deadly fallout that was spreading across the land.