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 follow through the atmosphere as the guitar's feedback climbed
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You'll never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright
Just like I keep my exits wide
Because I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
And the dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real, it's the only true
It's the only real reply
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You'll never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright
Just like I keep my exits wide
Because I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
And the dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real, it's the only true
It's the only real reply
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Favorite song off Cassadaga