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 dewy-eyed Disney bride, what has tried
Swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
Monsters?
Whisky-plied voices cried fratricide!
Jesus don't you know that you could've died
(You should've died)
With the monsters that talk, monsters that walk the earth
And she's got red lipstick and a bright pair of shoes
And she's got knee high socks, what to cover a bruise
She's got an old death kit she's been meaning to use
She's got blood in her eyes, in her eyes for you
She's got blood in her eyes for you
Certain fads, stripes and plaids, singles ads
They run you hot and cold like a rheostat, I mean a thermostat
So you bite on a towel
Hope it won't hurt too bad
My dewy-eyed Disney bride, what has tried
Swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
What monsters that talk, monsters that walk the earth
And she says I like long walks and sci-fi movies
If you're six foot tall and east coast bred
Some lonely night we can get together
And I'm gonna tie your wrists with leather
And drill a tiny hole into your head
Swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
Monsters?
Whisky-plied voices cried fratricide!
Jesus don't you know that you could've died
(You should've died)
With the monsters that talk, monsters that walk the earth
And she's got red lipstick and a bright pair of shoes
And she's got knee high socks, what to cover a bruise
She's got an old death kit she's been meaning to use
She's got blood in her eyes, in her eyes for you
She's got blood in her eyes for you
Certain fads, stripes and plaids, singles ads
They run you hot and cold like a rheostat, I mean a thermostat
So you bite on a towel
Hope it won't hurt too bad
My dewy-eyed Disney bride, what has tried
Swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
What monsters that talk, monsters that walk the earth
And she says I like long walks and sci-fi movies
If you're six foot tall and east coast bred
Some lonely night we can get together
And I'm gonna tie your wrists with leather
And drill a tiny hole into your head
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discorsage, you are right in general but in this case I don't agree. sulphur and formaldehyde aren't overly foreign stuff, and the rheostat/thermostat line is probably meant to sound forced, as if he was actually mistaking one for the other.