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.
Growin' up you don't see the writing on the wall
Passin' by, movin' straight ahead you knew it all
But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You'll find you're all alone everything has changed
Play the game you know you can't quit until it's won
Soldier on, only you can do what must be done
You know, in some ways you're a lot like me
You're just a prisoner, and you're tryin' to break free
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire, ooh
Burning up don't know just how far that I can go
Soon be home, only just a few miles down the road
I can make it, I know I can
You broke the boy in me, but you won't break the man
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me, burning in me
Just once in his life, a man has his time
And my time is now I'm comin' alive
I can hear the music playin' I can see the banners fly
Feel like a man again
I'll hold my head high
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me
Burning, burning in me
I can feel it burning, ooh burning inside of me
Passin' by, movin' straight ahead you knew it all
But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You'll find you're all alone everything has changed
Play the game you know you can't quit until it's won
Soldier on, only you can do what must be done
You know, in some ways you're a lot like me
You're just a prisoner, and you're tryin' to break free
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire, ooh
Burning up don't know just how far that I can go
Soon be home, only just a few miles down the road
I can make it, I know I can
You broke the boy in me, but you won't break the man
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me, burning in me
Just once in his life, a man has his time
And my time is now I'm comin' alive
I can hear the music playin' I can see the banners fly
Feel like a man again
I'll hold my head high
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me
Burning, burning in me
I can feel it burning, ooh burning inside of me
Lyrics submitted by Boonechic_21, edited by alpineinc
St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) Lyrics as written by John Stephen Parr David Foster
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I just watched an interview with Rick Hansen (the man who wheeled himself across the world) that aired in Canada, and the story seems to be that he contacted David Foster (a composer/lyricist), who, at the time, was working on the theme song for St. Elmo's Fire. Hansen sent him a video of himself on the Man in Motion Tour, as Hansen wanted to ask Foster to write a song to celebrate the Man in Motion tour. David Foster apparently had trouble writing the song for St. Elmo's Fire that he was working on, and took a break, watched the Man in Motion tour video, and got the inspiration he needed to write this song, both used for St. Elmo's Fire and the Man in Motion tour.