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.
Three thousand miles of wilderness overcome by the flow
A lonely restitution of pavement, pomp and show
I seek a thousand answers, I find but one or two
I maintain no discomfiture, my path again renewed
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
Here labeled as a lunatic, sequestered and content
There ignored and defeated by the government
There's an oriented public whose magnetic force will pull
But away from the potential of the individual
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
The flow is getting stronger with small increments of time
And eddies of new ideas are increasingly hard to find
You need all that the other has, it's your right to seize the day
But in all your acquisitions you will soon be swept away
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
There's a common consensus and an uncomfortable cheer
A reverberating chorus that anyone can hear
It sings 'leave your cares behind you, just grab tenaciously'
This lulling sense of purpose will destroy us rapidly
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
Against the grain, against the grain
Against the grain
A lonely restitution of pavement, pomp and show
I seek a thousand answers, I find but one or two
I maintain no discomfiture, my path again renewed
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
Here labeled as a lunatic, sequestered and content
There ignored and defeated by the government
There's an oriented public whose magnetic force will pull
But away from the potential of the individual
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
The flow is getting stronger with small increments of time
And eddies of new ideas are increasingly hard to find
You need all that the other has, it's your right to seize the day
But in all your acquisitions you will soon be swept away
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
There's a common consensus and an uncomfortable cheer
A reverberating chorus that anyone can hear
It sings 'leave your cares behind you, just grab tenaciously'
This lulling sense of purpose will destroy us rapidly
Against the grain, that's where I'll stay
Swimming upstream, I maintain against the grain
Against the grain, against the grain
Against the grain
Lyrics submitted by M4R5, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Against the Grain Lyrics as written by Greg Graffin
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I agree with all of you, but its also anthem that encourages free thinking. It's a great song, while on one end it provides some social commentary, on the other end it inspires listeners to think for themselves.
Always question popular beliefs.