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.
You can sell your soul
But you can't buy it back
I've spent my whole life
Working to give you
Everything you lack
I would gladly trade
All of my sympathy
For sorrow
If I could have you
Here with me tomorrow
So many wasted days
The past is so hard to get out from under
So many words that I wish I could say
The future rattles my bones weak like thunder
I wish you were here
So we could walk and talk
In the soft rain
Now all that's left of us
Is a picture sitting in a frame
Everything I wish for
Is everything I see
I remember when your kisses were for me
But you can't buy it back
I've spent my whole life
Working to give you
Everything you lack
I would gladly trade
All of my sympathy
For sorrow
If I could have you
Here with me tomorrow
So many wasted days
The past is so hard to get out from under
So many words that I wish I could say
The future rattles my bones weak like thunder
I wish you were here
So we could walk and talk
In the soft rain
Now all that's left of us
Is a picture sitting in a frame
Everything I wish for
Is everything I see
I remember when your kisses were for me
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Heartfelt sorrow. Missing what you had.