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.
Lies won't save you from the bomb that you just dropped
I'm standing shellshocked but I'm still here
And this to you is what I'm saying
All that's false will
Fade away
You run away from what you know will surely come
I will remember everything that you have done
And this to you is what I'm saying
All that's false will
Fade away
I'll say it again because
Who are you
To say to me
That I'm not all right
You don't know it's like
I'm shellshocked
And ripped apart inside
No I'm not all right
You don't know what it's like
Well yeah a change in character is great
And if it's what you need to say
It's probably what I need to hear
But never again in that way
I don't care what I'm doing that turning you off of me
It's my care for pursuing our friendship responsibly
That's why I need to reconstruct what happens subconsciously
So we don't continue to treat our silence so obnoxiously
Lies won't save you from the bomb that you just dropped
I'm standing shellshocked but I'm still here
And this to you is what I'm saying
All that's false will
Fade away
I'm standing shellshocked but I'm still here
And this to you is what I'm saying
All that's false will
Fade away
You run away from what you know will surely come
I will remember everything that you have done
And this to you is what I'm saying
All that's false will
Fade away
I'll say it again because
Who are you
To say to me
That I'm not all right
You don't know it's like
I'm shellshocked
And ripped apart inside
No I'm not all right
You don't know what it's like
Well yeah a change in character is great
And if it's what you need to say
It's probably what I need to hear
But never again in that way
I don't care what I'm doing that turning you off of me
It's my care for pursuing our friendship responsibly
That's why I need to reconstruct what happens subconsciously
So we don't continue to treat our silence so obnoxiously
Lies won't save you from the bomb that you just dropped
I'm standing shellshocked but I'm still here
And this to you is what I'm saying
All that's false will
Fade away
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I see what you mean but i think what he's feeling is worse than shellshock and that is what he's comparing it too. having gone through this for the past three days i would know. when you lose the one you love, you're ripped apart inside and it kinda feels like you've had a bomb dropped on you