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.
My name is Leslie Anne Levine
My mother birthed me down a dry revine
My mother birthed me far too soon
Born at nine and dead at noon
Fifteen years gone now
I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattle bone
Fifteen years gone now
I still cling to the petticoats
Of the girl who died with me
On the roofs above the streets
The only love I've known's a chimney sweep
Lost and lodged inside a flue
Back in 1842
Fifteen years gone now
I still wail from these catacombs
And curse my mother's name
Fifteen years gone now
Still a wastrel mesallied
Has brought this fate on me
My name is Leslie Anne Levine
And I've got no one left to mourn for me
My body lies inside its grave
In a ditch not far away
Fifteen years gone now
I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattle bone
Fifteen years gone now
I still cling to the petticoats
Of the girl who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me, oh no, no, no, no
My mother birthed me down a dry revine
My mother birthed me far too soon
Born at nine and dead at noon
Fifteen years gone now
I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattle bone
Fifteen years gone now
I still cling to the petticoats
Of the girl who died with me
On the roofs above the streets
The only love I've known's a chimney sweep
Lost and lodged inside a flue
Back in 1842
Fifteen years gone now
I still wail from these catacombs
And curse my mother's name
Fifteen years gone now
Still a wastrel mesallied
Has brought this fate on me
My name is Leslie Anne Levine
And I've got no one left to mourn for me
My body lies inside its grave
In a ditch not far away
Fifteen years gone now
I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattle bone
Fifteen years gone now
I still cling to the petticoats
Of the girl who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me, oh no, no, no, no
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according to the oed, a "mésalliance" is anglicized french for 'a union between two people that is thought to be unsuitable or inappropriate; esp. a marriage with a person of a lower social position.'
I think that works, and it seems to be current given that the last citation was 1972.
shrug Dem Decemberists and dere obscure words!