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.
I'm passing sleeping cities
Fading by degrees
And believing all I see to be so
I'm flyin' over backyards
Country homes and ranches
Watching life between the branches below
And it's hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
I'm moving on alone
Over ground that no one owns
Past statues that atone for my sins
And there's a guard on every door
And a drink on every floor
Overflowing with a thousand amens
And it's hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
Don't you baby?
You're rolling up the carpet
Of your father's two-room mansion
No headroom for expansion no more
And there's a corner of the floor
They're telling you is yours
You're confident but not really sure
And it's hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
Don't you baby
Fading by degrees
And believing all I see to be so
I'm flyin' over backyards
Country homes and ranches
Watching life between the branches below
And it's hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
I'm moving on alone
Over ground that no one owns
Past statues that atone for my sins
And there's a guard on every door
And a drink on every floor
Overflowing with a thousand amens
And it's hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
Don't you baby?
You're rolling up the carpet
Of your father's two-room mansion
No headroom for expansion no more
And there's a corner of the floor
They're telling you is yours
You're confident but not really sure
And it's hard to say
Who you are these days
But you run on anyway
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
Don't you baby?
You keep running for another place
To find that saving grace
Don't you baby
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I don't think Petty ever wrote a song more acerbic than this one.
"and there's a guard on every door / and a drink on every floor / overflowing with a thousand amens"
Just the way he delivers the hook "don't you baby?" seems to drip with sarcasm.