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.
Like the falling leaves and the shifting past
Sometimes the treasured things are not the things that last.
And we know where we stand - between fear and desire:
With one fist raised in anger with one foot in the fire.
We are dust and a shadow under the naked light
We are dust and a shadow - wishing that everything stood still tonight.
We are dust and a shadow - the dream of history.
We are the hungry ghosts crying "Remember me, Remember me".
All the Pride and Shame. All the bone and glass.
These kind of fragile things were never gonna last.
Oh pretty little Boy, and you my millionaire -
When the time comes you go alone. Leave the light on at the top of the stairs...
We are dust and a shadow under the naked light
We are dust and a shadow - wishing that everything stood still tonight.
We are dust and a shadow - the dream of history.
We are the hungry ghosts crying "Remember me, Remember me".
Sometimes the treasured things are not the things that last.
And we know where we stand - between fear and desire:
With one fist raised in anger with one foot in the fire.
We are dust and a shadow under the naked light
We are dust and a shadow - wishing that everything stood still tonight.
We are dust and a shadow - the dream of history.
We are the hungry ghosts crying "Remember me, Remember me".
All the Pride and Shame. All the bone and glass.
These kind of fragile things were never gonna last.
Oh pretty little Boy, and you my millionaire -
When the time comes you go alone. Leave the light on at the top of the stairs...
We are dust and a shadow under the naked light
We are dust and a shadow - wishing that everything stood still tonight.
We are dust and a shadow - the dream of history.
We are the hungry ghosts crying "Remember me, Remember me".
Lyrics submitted by anemic_knifeprty
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Excellent lyrics. Inspired by Buddhist philosophy no doubt (or, at least for having a kin to such a way of thinking). -Impermanent beings existing within an impermanent world, but hungering for immortality, and stubbornly believing it is achievable (albeit in a indirect manner); just our egos speaking... Trying to make sense of the intangible and trying to label the forever altering landscape we find ourselves on/within... The only thing you can truly know is one's own mind, because that is our 'world' - this is how we see (but always looking outwards for meaning and a sense of belonging...)