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.
Cath, she stands with a well-intentioned man
But she can't relax with his hands on the small of her back
And as the flash bulbs burst
She holds a smile
Like someone would hold
A crying child
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
'Cause your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
Cath, it seems
That you live in someone else's dream
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
Where the things that could have been are oppressed
You said your vows
And you closed the door
On so many men
Who would have loved you more
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
And your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews
But if their hearts were dying that fast
They'd have done the same as you
And I'd have done the same as you
But she can't relax with his hands on the small of her back
And as the flash bulbs burst
She holds a smile
Like someone would hold
A crying child
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
'Cause your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
Cath, it seems
That you live in someone else's dream
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
Where the things that could have been are oppressed
You said your vows
And you closed the door
On so many men
Who would have loved you more
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
And your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews
But if their hearts were dying that fast
They'd have done the same as you
And I'd have done the same as you
Lyrics submitted by Si_duffers, edited by alhirzel
Cath... [Album Version] Lyrics as written by Benjamin Gibbard
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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I'm really upset that no one here has gotten the obvious reference that Ben Gibbard has ingeniously alluded to throughout this song! "Cath" does not allude to catheters, (I couldn't stop laughing when I read this) but rather to Catherine Morland. Catherine Morland is the protagonist of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, its about a girl who gets married to a dreadful man and turns her back on so many men that would have loved her more. The reference is so direct that I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet here. Its a good read, probably one of Austen's best, but then again, I am a guy and Victorian novels are brutal. To really understand all the undertones and allusions of the lyrics you should at least give the wikipedia page of Northanger Abbey a look. And for goodness sake, don't mix up Victorian heroines with catheters!