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.
Look beyond the broken bottles
Past the rotting wooden stairs
Root out the wine-dark honeyed center
Not everyone can live like millionaires
Look through the air-thin walls
Tear up the floorboards strip the paint
Go over every inch of space
With the patience of a saint
Grab your hat get your coat
The cellar door is an open throat
Look past the kitchen cabinets
Go through the chest of drawers
Scrutinize the casements
Rip the varnish off the doors
Dig up the laughing photographs
They're here somewhere or other
Take what you can carry
But let me tell you brother
Still waters go stagnant
Bodies bloat
And the cellar door is an open throat
Past the rotting wooden stairs
Root out the wine-dark honeyed center
Not everyone can live like millionaires
Look through the air-thin walls
Tear up the floorboards strip the paint
Go over every inch of space
With the patience of a saint
Grab your hat get your coat
The cellar door is an open throat
Look past the kitchen cabinets
Go through the chest of drawers
Scrutinize the casements
Rip the varnish off the doors
Dig up the laughing photographs
They're here somewhere or other
Take what you can carry
But let me tell you brother
Still waters go stagnant
Bodies bloat
And the cellar door is an open throat
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
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It sounds like the house is a metaphor for somebody's body going through an autopsy. "Go over every inch of space With the patience of a saint"
Maybe someone close to the singer was murdered (maybe a drug overdose? Maybe they were a heavy drinker? "look beyond the broken bottles" "Not everyone can live like millionaires").
That's what I've always thought of when listening to this haunting song.