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.
Falling through pages of Martens on angels
Feeling my heart pull west
I saw the future dressed as a stranger
Love in a space-dye vest
Love is an act of blood and I'm bleeding
A pool in the shape of a heart
Beauty projection in the reflection
Always the worst way to start
"But he's the sort who can't know
Anyone intimately, least of all a
Woman,
He doesn't know what a woman
Is,
He wants you for a possession,
Something to look at like a painting or an ivory box.
Something to own and to display.
He doesn't want you to be real,
Or to think or to live.
He doesn't love you, but I love you.
I want you to have your own thoughts and ideas and
Feelings, even when
I hold you in my arms.
It's our last chance
It's our
Last chance"
Now that you're gone I'm trying to take it
Learning to swallow the rage
Found a new girl I think we can make it
As long as she stays on the page
This is not how I want it to end
And I'll never be open again
"I was gonna move out, get,
Get a job, get my own place,
But, I go into the mall where I
Want to work and they tell me, I'm,
I was too young"
"Some people, gave advice before,
About facing the facts, about
Facing reality. And this is, this
Without a doubt, is his biggest
Challenge ever. He's going to have to face it.
You're gonna have to try, he's gonna to have to try and,
Uh, and, and, and get some help here. I mean no one can
Say they know how he feels."
"That, so they say that, in ya know
Like, Houston or something, you'd
Say it's a hundred and eighty degrees,
But it's a dry heat.
In Houston they say that?
Oh, maybe not. I'm all mixed up.
Dry until they hit the swimming pool."
"I get up with the sun, listen.
You have your own room to sleep in,
I don't care what you do. I don't
Care when. That door gets locked,
That door gets locked at night by nine o'clock.
If you're not in this house by nine o'clock, then you'd
Better find some
Place to sleep. Because you're not going to be a bum in
This house.
Supper is ready"
There's no one to take my blame
If they wanted to
There's nothing to keep me sane
And it's all the same to you
There's nowhere to set my aim
So I'm everywhere
Never come near me again
Do you really think I need you
I'll never be open again, I could never be open again.
I'll never be open again, I could never be open again.
And I'll smile and I'll learn to pretend
And I'll never be open again
And I'll have no more dreams to defend
And I'll never be open again
Feeling my heart pull west
I saw the future dressed as a stranger
Love in a space-dye vest
Love is an act of blood and I'm bleeding
A pool in the shape of a heart
Beauty projection in the reflection
Always the worst way to start
"But he's the sort who can't know
Anyone intimately, least of all a
Woman,
He doesn't know what a woman
Is,
He wants you for a possession,
Something to look at like a painting or an ivory box.
Something to own and to display.
He doesn't want you to be real,
Or to think or to live.
He doesn't love you, but I love you.
I want you to have your own thoughts and ideas and
Feelings, even when
I hold you in my arms.
It's our last chance
It's our
Last chance"
Now that you're gone I'm trying to take it
Learning to swallow the rage
Found a new girl I think we can make it
As long as she stays on the page
This is not how I want it to end
And I'll never be open again
"I was gonna move out, get,
Get a job, get my own place,
But, I go into the mall where I
Want to work and they tell me, I'm,
I was too young"
"Some people, gave advice before,
About facing the facts, about
Facing reality. And this is, this
Without a doubt, is his biggest
Challenge ever. He's going to have to face it.
You're gonna have to try, he's gonna to have to try and,
Uh, and, and, and get some help here. I mean no one can
Say they know how he feels."
"That, so they say that, in ya know
Like, Houston or something, you'd
Say it's a hundred and eighty degrees,
But it's a dry heat.
In Houston they say that?
Oh, maybe not. I'm all mixed up.
Dry until they hit the swimming pool."
"I get up with the sun, listen.
You have your own room to sleep in,
I don't care what you do. I don't
Care when. That door gets locked,
That door gets locked at night by nine o'clock.
If you're not in this house by nine o'clock, then you'd
Better find some
Place to sleep. Because you're not going to be a bum in
This house.
Supper is ready"
There's no one to take my blame
If they wanted to
There's nothing to keep me sane
And it's all the same to you
There's nowhere to set my aim
So I'm everywhere
Never come near me again
Do you really think I need you
I'll never be open again, I could never be open again.
I'll never be open again, I could never be open again.
And I'll smile and I'll learn to pretend
And I'll never be open again
And I'll have no more dreams to defend
And I'll never be open again
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