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.
Emma appeared like an angel.
Emma fell like rain
Into my lap like a heart attack.
Like lightning from her name
I'm running dry of bad excuses.
Don't want to lie or seem intrusive, but
Time hasn't told me anything,
And neither has she
A poinsettia in poison rain...
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with
One silver bullet and two vicodin
Emma woke up in darkness,
Suitcase already packed
Note on the bedstand signed in blood,
"sincerely, never coming back."
A nightmare on my street the day she arrived
A nightmarish household in which she died,
'cause it made her feel at home
Somehow made me feel at home
A poinsetta in poison rain...
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with
One wooden stake through the heart, and two vicodin
A poinsetta in poison rain...
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with
One silver bullet and two vicodin
And we watched the sun fall crown
On a city that sleeps in a world upside down
A slow ticket straight out of town
You went out with a bang when you took
With you all my dreams underground
Emma fell like rain
Into my lap like a heart attack.
Like lightning from her name
I'm running dry of bad excuses.
Don't want to lie or seem intrusive, but
Time hasn't told me anything,
And neither has she
A poinsettia in poison rain...
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with
One silver bullet and two vicodin
Emma woke up in darkness,
Suitcase already packed
Note on the bedstand signed in blood,
"sincerely, never coming back."
A nightmare on my street the day she arrived
A nightmarish household in which she died,
'cause it made her feel at home
Somehow made me feel at home
A poinsetta in poison rain...
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with
One wooden stake through the heart, and two vicodin
A poinsetta in poison rain...
Traded true love for insult and injury
We washed it down the drain with
One silver bullet and two vicodin
And we watched the sun fall crown
On a city that sleeps in a world upside down
A slow ticket straight out of town
You went out with a bang when you took
With you all my dreams underground
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but in this song emma is a girl who killed people that had dark secrets, and then killed herself..