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.
Pack up
I'm straight
Enough
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Made off
Don't stray
Well, my kind's your kind
I'll stay the same
Pack up
Don't stray
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
I'm straight
Enough
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Made off
Don't stray
Well, my kind's your kind
I'll stay the same
Pack up
Don't stray
Oh say, say, say
Oh say, say, say
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
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The song is about the lead singer, Karen O, going on tour and the insecurities she had with her then boyfriend Angus Andrew from Liars.
"Maps" refers to her fans in the different places around the world that they are going, and the whole "they don't love you like love you" means that them adoring her isn't like the love from her boyfriend.
The interesting bit is that all this, the chorus, is what she wants her boyfriend to SAY TO HER as she is leaving him. She wants her boyfriend to basically beg her not to go on tour, or to come back from tour, to tell her that he loves her more than her fans ever could, more than her adoring public, more than the crowds at every gig (the "Maps", the places they are visiting).
While on tour she missed her boyfriend terribly and this song is about he insecurity that he wasn't missing her as much as she was missing him.