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.
Sail away, sail away with me
I don't have a ship
But we could get one easily
Drift away, drift away with me
On the raft we'll make of memories
On an ocean we can call forever more
I want to find
A piece of your mind
I want to see
Your make believe
I don't want to try so hard
I make it hard for you to breathe
[Chorus]
Jump into the ocean
Living on a notion
If you're caught up in the motion
Back track and do it again
And if you make it up
I could never get enough
Me and you together
But you've gotta tell me where to begin
Break away, break away from me
No forget that, just sit here and look at me
Summer's day
Summer every day
And we watch the sunset come back up
And somehow know it never goes back down
I want to find
A piece of your mind
I want to see
Your make believe
I don't want to try so hard
I make it hard for you to breathe
[Chorus]
I've been saving up to buy more time with you
You've been living it up with someone else
And that's okay with me
Because I know it and you know it too
[Chorus]
I don't have a ship
But we could get one easily
Drift away, drift away with me
On the raft we'll make of memories
On an ocean we can call forever more
I want to find
A piece of your mind
I want to see
Your make believe
I don't want to try so hard
I make it hard for you to breathe
[Chorus]
Jump into the ocean
Living on a notion
If you're caught up in the motion
Back track and do it again
And if you make it up
I could never get enough
Me and you together
But you've gotta tell me where to begin
Break away, break away from me
No forget that, just sit here and look at me
Summer's day
Summer every day
And we watch the sunset come back up
And somehow know it never goes back down
I want to find
A piece of your mind
I want to see
Your make believe
I don't want to try so hard
I make it hard for you to breathe
[Chorus]
I've been saving up to buy more time with you
You've been living it up with someone else
And that's okay with me
Because I know it and you know it too
[Chorus]
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I just had a weird thought today - is he actually singing about a stripper? He's been "saving up to buy more time" with her, while she's been "living it up with someone else," because that's how he can see her. He wants to see her "make believe," wants her to "back track and do it again," and he doesn't want to "try so hard it makes it hard for her to breathe" because she's distant and aloof. She can "make it up," but he can never "get enough," and he wants to know where to begin with a real relationship with her rather than paying her for dances at a club. I hope I'm wrong, because I really liked this song until I noticed that!!