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 don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I don't know what it's like to land and
Not race to your door
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I'm not sure that I really ever could
Hold on to your hotel key
And your bedroom neighborhood
And be sleepwalking in Hollywood
I'm going to steer clear
Or burn up in your atmosphere
I'm going to steer clear
'Cause I'd die if I saw you
I'd die if I didn't see you there
So I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I'd get lost on the boulevard at night
Without your voice to tell me
"I love you, take a right"
The ten and the two is the loneliest sight, oh yeah
Oh oh ooh
I'm going to steer clear
Or burn up in your atmosphere
I'm going to steer clear
'Cause I'd die if I saw you
I'd die if I didn't see you
I'm going to steer clear, oh yeah
Or burn up in your atmosphere
I'm going to steer clear
'Cause I'd die if I saw you
I'd die if I didn't see you there
See you there
I think I'm going to stay, going to stay in the gray
Think I'm going to stay
And all the street lights say "Never mind, never mind"
And the canyon lines say "Never mind"
The sunset says "We see this all the time"
Never mind
Never you mind
Wherever I go
Whatever I do
I wonder where I am in my relationship to you
Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch your life play out in pictures from afar
Wherever I go
Whatever I do, oh
I wonder where I am in my relationship to you
Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch that pretty life play out in pictures from afar
Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I don't know what it's like to land and
Not race to your door
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I'm not sure that I really ever could
Hold on to your hotel key
And your bedroom neighborhood
And be sleepwalking in Hollywood
I'm going to steer clear
Or burn up in your atmosphere
I'm going to steer clear
'Cause I'd die if I saw you
I'd die if I didn't see you there
So I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I don't think I'm going to go to L.A. Anymore
I'd get lost on the boulevard at night
Without your voice to tell me
"I love you, take a right"
The ten and the two is the loneliest sight, oh yeah
Oh oh ooh
I'm going to steer clear
Or burn up in your atmosphere
I'm going to steer clear
'Cause I'd die if I saw you
I'd die if I didn't see you
I'm going to steer clear, oh yeah
Or burn up in your atmosphere
I'm going to steer clear
'Cause I'd die if I saw you
I'd die if I didn't see you there
See you there
I think I'm going to stay, going to stay in the gray
Think I'm going to stay
And all the street lights say "Never mind, never mind"
And the canyon lines say "Never mind"
The sunset says "We see this all the time"
Never mind
Never you mind
Wherever I go
Whatever I do
I wonder where I am in my relationship to you
Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch your life play out in pictures from afar
Wherever I go
Whatever I do, oh
I wonder where I am in my relationship to you
Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch that pretty life play out in pictures from afar
Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Lyrics submitted by inyouratmosphere
In Your Atmosphere [Live at the Nokia Theatre] Lyrics as written by John Clayton Mayer
Lyrics © REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING
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"Cause I’d die if I saw you Die if I didn’t see you"
Man, that's the truth. It's like, either way, you'd go home feeling awful if you went around there, because part of you doesn't want to face that person, and part of you does. Man, this is an amazing song.