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.
Did you find it?
Play the song
We had written
We would sit down
And start again
From the beginning
It was finally time
To stop whining
And start doing anything
Something to make them believe we were living
And we kept on bleeding
Long after the signatures
Dried on the paper I stole
From Melissa's Macbeth
And oh how I needed
So much to believe in it
Isn't it sick
How I thought that I knew you death
How romantic
Ushering in the new year
With our childish antics
Now soon after
The gullible glimmer of hope
Turned to sarcastic laughter
And we were intelligent people
With eyes in our heads
It's astonishing, is it
I thought you were just plain shy
A quiet kind of guy
With abandonment waiting
Behind every corner
A delicate sort of a loner
How lonely was I
There is still time
We could still try
It's very difficult
When no one's there
To catch you in the rye
You kept saying
That the blackouts were godsend
At least it made living
Worth bathing
You kept taking
The bad with the worse
Like some curds
That your mother was making
Oh and isn't it funny
Years later
To look at it broken
And shaking our heads
Laughing if we had known
Back then
What trouble
It would bring
To actually want
To create something beautiful
Now we've turned into
Those pitiful people
Too scared to touch
And drinking way too much
Oh it's typical
Isn't it
Say it, you cynic
We asked for it
Didn't we ask for it
Didn't we want to be
Lesser and lesser
And covered and down with it
Didn't it
Didn't it
Didn't it
No
There is still time
We could still try
It's very difficult
When no one's there
To catch you in the rye
Play the song
We had written
We would sit down
And start again
From the beginning
It was finally time
To stop whining
And start doing anything
Something to make them believe we were living
And we kept on bleeding
Long after the signatures
Dried on the paper I stole
From Melissa's Macbeth
And oh how I needed
So much to believe in it
Isn't it sick
How I thought that I knew you death
How romantic
Ushering in the new year
With our childish antics
Now soon after
The gullible glimmer of hope
Turned to sarcastic laughter
And we were intelligent people
With eyes in our heads
It's astonishing, is it
I thought you were just plain shy
A quiet kind of guy
With abandonment waiting
Behind every corner
A delicate sort of a loner
How lonely was I
There is still time
We could still try
It's very difficult
When no one's there
To catch you in the rye
You kept saying
That the blackouts were godsend
At least it made living
Worth bathing
You kept taking
The bad with the worse
Like some curds
That your mother was making
Oh and isn't it funny
Years later
To look at it broken
And shaking our heads
Laughing if we had known
Back then
What trouble
It would bring
To actually want
To create something beautiful
Now we've turned into
Those pitiful people
Too scared to touch
And drinking way too much
Oh it's typical
Isn't it
Say it, you cynic
We asked for it
Didn't we ask for it
Didn't we want to be
Lesser and lesser
And covered and down with it
Didn't it
Didn't it
Didn't it
No
There is still time
We could still try
It's very difficult
When no one's there
To catch you in the rye
Lyrics submitted by Echooo7, edited by Mellow_Harsher
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we had written we would sit down and start again from the beginning
it was finally time to stop whining and start doing anything something to make them believe we were living
and we kept on bleeding long after the signatures dried on the paper i stole from melissa's macbeth
and oh how i needed so much to believe in it isn't it sick how i thought that i knew you death
how romantic ushering in the new year with our childish antics
now soon after the gullible glimmer of hope turned to sarcastic laughter
and we were intelligent people with eyes in our heads it's astonishing is it i thought you were just plain shy a quiet kind of guy
with abandonment waiting behind every corner a delicate sort of a loner how lonely was i
there is still time we could still try it's very difficult when no one's there to catch you in the rye
you kept saying that the blackout were godsend at least it made living worth bathing
you kept taking the bad with the worse like some curds that your mother was making
oh and isn't it funny years later to look at it broken and shaking our heads
laughing if we had known back then what trouble it would bring
to actually want to create something beautiful now we've turned into those pitiful people
too scared to touch and drinking way too much
oh it's typical isn't it say it you cynic we asked for it
didn't we ask for it didn't we want to be lesser and lesser and covered and down with it
didn't it didn't it didn't it no
there is still time we could still try it's very difficult when no one's there to catch you in the rye