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.
Maybe we could break your ankle, clean and unsuspiciously.
An ER trip, a doctor's slip, and you could share your pills with me.
Won't it feel so good, though, when we're lying side by side,
when you can't move, when I'm not trying?
2000 milligrams each.
A hotel by the pharmacy with drinking straws in toothpaste tubes.
Stash them with your toiletries and I will share my pills with you.
Little Michael sleeping in the child safety seat,
lying with the windows rolled up, in the August heat.
3000 milligrams each, 4000 milligrams.
We're driving down the interstate, you're feeling great, you scratch your wrist,
and we pretend your kids, your husband, all you left does not exist.
When in some motel that night we're lying,
I can barely whisper it's like dying.
Baby, do you know what I mean? Baby, did you hear me? Baby, you fell asleep.
I know I'm weak, I won't deny we'll see our trial sometime soon.
But when we know we're fucked, I'll half the pile and share my pills with you.
Cause we've felt fully in our bodies, and we've felt totally alive,
so we're prepared to float above this dirty bed where we both lie.
Where we lie, lie, lie. Will we be fine? Not this time.
An ER trip, a doctor's slip, and you could share your pills with me.
Won't it feel so good, though, when we're lying side by side,
when you can't move, when I'm not trying?
2000 milligrams each.
A hotel by the pharmacy with drinking straws in toothpaste tubes.
Stash them with your toiletries and I will share my pills with you.
Little Michael sleeping in the child safety seat,
lying with the windows rolled up, in the August heat.
3000 milligrams each, 4000 milligrams.
We're driving down the interstate, you're feeling great, you scratch your wrist,
and we pretend your kids, your husband, all you left does not exist.
When in some motel that night we're lying,
I can barely whisper it's like dying.
Baby, do you know what I mean? Baby, did you hear me? Baby, you fell asleep.
I know I'm weak, I won't deny we'll see our trial sometime soon.
But when we know we're fucked, I'll half the pile and share my pills with you.
Cause we've felt fully in our bodies, and we've felt totally alive,
so we're prepared to float above this dirty bed where we both lie.
Where we lie, lie, lie. Will we be fine? Not this time.
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I finally made my way into an Okkervil River song. "Little Michael". Talk about your childhood nostalgia.
Great song otherwise though. OR remains true to their original musical landscape here.