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.
Break the soil, its now your home with the rest of us down here.
Tell the world what you told me so they know how it feels.
You're on and you're off but you're up to something, it's a cry for help.
Was it worth it to be part of something if you can't control yourself.
And I told myself I wouldn't lie.
You'll lie in his sheets and you hear how he speaks at the altar,
Yet his toiletry bag is still lit with other girls hair.
Who takes the place of your beautiful face if he loves her?
You'll be glad its over. [Repeat: x3]
Paper trails don't always lead you home. Lock the door because I'm leaving you tomorrow.
Do you always do just what you're told?
Get the shovel and we'll bury you,
We'll bury me.
And I told myself I wouldn't lie.
You'll lie in his sheets and you hear how he speaks at the altar,
Yet his toiletry bag is still lit with other girls hair.
Who takes the place of your beautiful face if he loves her?
You'll be glad its over. [Repeat: x3]
So don't waste my time
And tell that everything I want is unfair.
Perhaps in another life we'll be together up there.
Matters of heartbreak and time, spirits in tandem with mine.
Smear on your rouge and your favorite blues tonight.
You lie in his sheets and you hear how he speaks at the altar,
Yet his toiletry bag is still lit with other girls hair.
I'm cutting through streets like cars at breakneck speeds with no purpose.
I'm so glad it's over. [Repeat]
Tell the world what you told me so they know how it feels.
You're on and you're off but you're up to something, it's a cry for help.
Was it worth it to be part of something if you can't control yourself.
And I told myself I wouldn't lie.
You'll lie in his sheets and you hear how he speaks at the altar,
Yet his toiletry bag is still lit with other girls hair.
Who takes the place of your beautiful face if he loves her?
You'll be glad its over. [Repeat: x3]
Paper trails don't always lead you home. Lock the door because I'm leaving you tomorrow.
Do you always do just what you're told?
Get the shovel and we'll bury you,
We'll bury me.
And I told myself I wouldn't lie.
You'll lie in his sheets and you hear how he speaks at the altar,
Yet his toiletry bag is still lit with other girls hair.
Who takes the place of your beautiful face if he loves her?
You'll be glad its over. [Repeat: x3]
So don't waste my time
And tell that everything I want is unfair.
Perhaps in another life we'll be together up there.
Matters of heartbreak and time, spirits in tandem with mine.
Smear on your rouge and your favorite blues tonight.
You lie in his sheets and you hear how he speaks at the altar,
Yet his toiletry bag is still lit with other girls hair.
I'm cutting through streets like cars at breakneck speeds with no purpose.
I'm so glad it's over. [Repeat]
Lyrics submitted by vintage_me
Cars at Break-Neck Speeds Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
LOL i m seriously such a FREAK. i listened to the song like 56768 more times and read over my analysis and realized i have NO idea what i was saying!!!. this song is actually about a girl who is married to some man who is considered an 'upstanding citizen' (as religious leaders usually are hence the whole alter thing) but she begins to suspect that he's sleeping with someone else. as indicated by the 'paper-trail line' she begins to look around and finds out that it's true and more (hence the hair in in this toiletry bag). she finds out that the girl he's sleeping with is more than some prostitute, he actually loves her. so in reality his wife has become the whore:
"Who takes the place of your beautiful face if he loves her?"
And the guy who is singing the song? well he loves the girl he's singing about but she refuses to have an affair with him because she's devoted to her husband. so he's using the evidence of her husband sleeping with another girl to convince her to divorce him. i think that makes more sense sry about that huge thing up there!