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.
When am I supposed to say so long?
When am I supposed to say so long?
When I fall in love 'fore dusk is dawn
When you take my hand across the lawn
With the eyes so sweet they're like a fawn
Red elephant is wet & long...
How am I supposed to wash you off?
Rungs of bad poems I've hacked & coughed
But I have to spare a breath for you
Which I'll take, before we make anew
Our hearts will take a stroll for two
Our feet will take the avenue
& Walk in unison, so cute
Red elephant is turning blue
Why am I here when you're over there?
Let's meet at the fountains
In Dundas Square
Who am I supposed to be with you?
I'll wait 'til you say & pretend I knew
Because if it's true that walls can talk
How mine would brag of tears I've sobbed
When thinking of the way we walked
Along the paths of sideway chalk
Forever under ticking clock
Where you & I are free to flock
What can I write when I know it's wrong?
Slapping my knee to my own damn song
Where can we go when the sinking stops?
To the pit of my chest
As it drops and drops...
Put your head upon my chest, it breathes
& My fingers through your hair they weave
& Your shoulders are the perfect sea
In which I get lost invariably
Oh the elephant is up to sea
If it meets the peach fish underneath
& When I am you and you are me
We are stirred as spoons in lover's tea
When am I supposed to say so long?
When I fall in love 'fore dusk is dawn
When you take my hand across the lawn
With the eyes so sweet they're like a fawn
Red elephant is wet & long...
How am I supposed to wash you off?
Rungs of bad poems I've hacked & coughed
But I have to spare a breath for you
Which I'll take, before we make anew
Our hearts will take a stroll for two
Our feet will take the avenue
& Walk in unison, so cute
Red elephant is turning blue
Why am I here when you're over there?
Let's meet at the fountains
In Dundas Square
Who am I supposed to be with you?
I'll wait 'til you say & pretend I knew
Because if it's true that walls can talk
How mine would brag of tears I've sobbed
When thinking of the way we walked
Along the paths of sideway chalk
Forever under ticking clock
Where you & I are free to flock
What can I write when I know it's wrong?
Slapping my knee to my own damn song
Where can we go when the sinking stops?
To the pit of my chest
As it drops and drops...
Put your head upon my chest, it breathes
& My fingers through your hair they weave
& Your shoulders are the perfect sea
In which I get lost invariably
Oh the elephant is up to sea
If it meets the peach fish underneath
& When I am you and you are me
We are stirred as spoons in lover's tea
Lyrics submitted by fortune500b
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"Peachfish" means vagina. The term was invented by Tom Robbins in my favorite book, Still Life With Woodpecker. I love them so much more for that allusion; I didn't even know I had the capacity to do that.