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.
Egoism dictates human relation
A world where fashion outshines morality
Here success is written in blood-red colors
Designed by the thirst for power
Gather the faithful and propose a toast
To the epoch of indifference
An all to ordinary story
With aftertaste so bitter
Forced to be someone I don´t want to be
I´m losing myself, sinking deeper down
I´m caught in the world wound web
A time represented by the void
An excuse without content
Stuck in the abyss of existence
With a content void of excuse
An all to ordinary story
This is my story
With an aftertaste so bitter
Sinking deeper down
I´m caught - I´m cage
I´m gone
A world where fashion outshines morality
Here success is written in blood-red colors
Designed by the thirst for power
Gather the faithful and propose a toast
To the epoch of indifference
An all to ordinary story
With aftertaste so bitter
Forced to be someone I don´t want to be
I´m losing myself, sinking deeper down
I´m caught in the world wound web
A time represented by the void
An excuse without content
Stuck in the abyss of existence
With a content void of excuse
An all to ordinary story
This is my story
With an aftertaste so bitter
Sinking deeper down
I´m caught - I´m cage
I´m gone
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He certainly did earn that reputation.
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Dreamwalker
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Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
You can argue that it is about religion--not the type we usually think about, but the religion of modern competition, conformity, lack of moral concern, the worship of power and success above all else.
I can think of specific examples of what this song is saying, such as the wearing of fur or sweatshop-made clothes ("fashion outshines morality"), the way the giant Coca-Cola will murder people to prevent unionization of its mistreated workers ("Here success is written in blood-red colours / designed by the thirst for power").
People will do whatever they think they must to get on top, and they are completely indifferent to the harm they cause to get there. In the end they fail to see what's truly important. And living among these people, drowning in this society, feels horrible to anyone who is aware of the situation.