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.
Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity
Calculate what we will or will not tolerate
Desperate to control all and everything
Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Justify denials and grip 'em to the lonesome end
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Terrified of being wrong, ultimatum prison cell
Saturn ascends
Choose one or ten
Hang on or be humbled again
Humbled again
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Justify denials and grip 'em to the lonesome end
Saturn ascends, comes round again
Saturn ascends, the one, the ten
Ignorant to the damage done
Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity
Calculate what we will or will not tolerate
Desperate to control all and everything
Unable to forgive these scarlet lettermen
Wear the grudge like a crown
Desperate to control
Unable to forgive and sinking deeper
Defining
Confining
And sinking deeper
Controlling
Defining
And we're sinking deeper
Saturn comes back around to show you everything
Let's you choose what you will and will not see and then
Drags you down like a stone or lifts you up again
Spits you out like a child, light and innocent
Saturn comes back around
Lifts you up like a child
or drags you down like a stone
To consume you till you choose to let this go
Choose to let this go
Give away the stone
Let the oceans take and trans mutate this cold and fated anchor
Give away the stone
Let the waters kiss and trans mutate these leaden grudges into gold
Let go
Calculate what we will or will not tolerate
Desperate to control all and everything
Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Justify denials and grip 'em to the lonesome end
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Terrified of being wrong, ultimatum prison cell
Saturn ascends
Choose one or ten
Hang on or be humbled again
Humbled again
Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down
Justify denials and grip 'em to the lonesome end
Saturn ascends, comes round again
Saturn ascends, the one, the ten
Ignorant to the damage done
Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity
Calculate what we will or will not tolerate
Desperate to control all and everything
Unable to forgive these scarlet lettermen
Wear the grudge like a crown
Desperate to control
Unable to forgive and sinking deeper
Defining
Confining
And sinking deeper
Controlling
Defining
And we're sinking deeper
Saturn comes back around to show you everything
Let's you choose what you will and will not see and then
Drags you down like a stone or lifts you up again
Spits you out like a child, light and innocent
Saturn comes back around
Lifts you up like a child
or drags you down like a stone
To consume you till you choose to let this go
Choose to let this go
Give away the stone
Let the oceans take and trans mutate this cold and fated anchor
Give away the stone
Let the waters kiss and trans mutate these leaden grudges into gold
Let go
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joshthack, i totally agree with you. so much information is avaliable to us today about the damage we are doing our bodies and spirits by abusing them. we do have to stop, we cant plead ignorance as our excuse anymore. as for the song, u guys are so amazing, u tell me everythign i could possibly need to know about the meaning of all of tool's songs! i love reading what you write cos there is no way i'd come up with this stuff myself!