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.
All things passed in the pick-up, found my brother's badge
Abraham is alive and well in the pick-up
And his wife casts no more spells in the pick-up
Found myself in the pick-up, seatbelt on my lap
And my sister with her bracelet in the pick-up
Kiss my mother on her face in the pick-up
Clapping with the human race in the pick-up
Abraham is alive and well in the pick-up
And his wife casts no more spells in the pick-up
Found myself in the pick-up, seatbelt on my lap
And my sister with her bracelet in the pick-up
Kiss my mother on her face in the pick-up
Clapping with the human race in the pick-up
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I think that this is basically just Sufjan's interpretation of a family trip they took as a kid. It's his fresh, brilliant outlook on life from the backseat of a pick-up.