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.
It's the disease of the age
It's the disease that we crave
Alone at the end of the rave
We catch the last bus home
Corporate America wakes
Coffee republic in case
We open the latch on the gate
Of the hole that we call our home
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Maybe we're victims of fate
Remember when we'd celebrate
We'd drink and get high until late
And now we're all alone
Wedding bells ain't gonna chime
With both of us guilty of crime
And both of us sentenced to time
And now we're all alone
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
It's the disease that we crave
Alone at the end of the rave
We catch the last bus home
Corporate America wakes
Coffee republic in case
We open the latch on the gate
Of the hole that we call our home
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Maybe we're victims of fate
Remember when we'd celebrate
We'd drink and get high until late
And now we're all alone
Wedding bells ain't gonna chime
With both of us guilty of crime
And both of us sentenced to time
And now we're all alone
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
Protect me from what I want,
Protect me protect me
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Could be unplanned pregnancy after a big night out. "protect me from what i want" could mean use a condom, but he didnt, and now the girl is pregnant and is claiming child support from the man because they don't want to get married "wedding bells aint gonna chime/with both of us guilty of crime/and both of use sentenced to time/and now we're all alone"