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.
As I aim for that bright white day
Conflict serum is my aura
It seems that life's so fragile
I guess I'll fly some other time
I lack from superhighway thoughts
Won't live as long as the city lights
Soaked by underwater times
Electric splash on a midnight drive
Wish I could rape the day,
Just something radical
Lost the sense of sweet things
Who's gonna take me widely?
Guided by the pinball map
The driver, still unknown to me
Who was sent to glorify?
Before we injected this common pride
Sometimes I don't belong
Release me from your world
Pacified by the small things in life
I wait for earthquakes to rearrange
Never been able to use the force
I only have it read to me
Despite all the misguided faith
(Maybe) I'll find a place in this mess
Early morning moments
A glimpse of joy
But soon it's over and I return to dust
As I try to be
Everything and everyone
I waste away
Conflict serum is my aura
It seems that life's so fragile
I guess I'll fly some other time
I lack from superhighway thoughts
Won't live as long as the city lights
Soaked by underwater times
Electric splash on a midnight drive
Wish I could rape the day,
Just something radical
Lost the sense of sweet things
Who's gonna take me widely?
Guided by the pinball map
The driver, still unknown to me
Who was sent to glorify?
Before we injected this common pride
Sometimes I don't belong
Release me from your world
Pacified by the small things in life
I wait for earthquakes to rearrange
Never been able to use the force
I only have it read to me
Despite all the misguided faith
(Maybe) I'll find a place in this mess
Early morning moments
A glimpse of joy
But soon it's over and I return to dust
As I try to be
Everything and everyone
I waste away
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It seems to me this is about the human spirit and self worth. trying to figure out what we are. Pinball Map is everything effecting everything else.