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.
It's like I'm under cover, and gotta get away
For now I'm unnoticed, so I don't have to face the rules of this game
It's called one or the other
I refuse play today
So I'm like a renegade
Soon they will surround me and say
Here is a box for you to fit inside
We have one more you could try but you must choose
You must choose, 'cause
That is the rules
It's a game of intentions, you could never know
Yet you claim you see through me?
I really don't think so
'Cause how could you know, what it's like
To live everyday with a fight for your right to your life
You feel more real
But they say you're fake
And when you don't conform they will say
Here is a box for you to fit inside
We have one more you could try but you must choose
You must choose, 'cause
That is the rules
I think it's your turn to listen to what we have to say
'Cause it's you who are insisting and persisting that the world is a certain way
When it's clearly not
But I guess you're too invested in your fantasy to hear me out
It's only too easy for you to ignore
You must choose 'cause that is the rules
You must choose
you must choose
You must choose or we'll make your life a living hell
For now I'm unnoticed, so I don't have to face the rules of this game
It's called one or the other
I refuse play today
So I'm like a renegade
Soon they will surround me and say
Here is a box for you to fit inside
We have one more you could try but you must choose
You must choose, 'cause
That is the rules
It's a game of intentions, you could never know
Yet you claim you see through me?
I really don't think so
'Cause how could you know, what it's like
To live everyday with a fight for your right to your life
You feel more real
But they say you're fake
And when you don't conform they will say
Here is a box for you to fit inside
We have one more you could try but you must choose
You must choose, 'cause
That is the rules
I think it's your turn to listen to what we have to say
'Cause it's you who are insisting and persisting that the world is a certain way
When it's clearly not
But I guess you're too invested in your fantasy to hear me out
It's only too easy for you to ignore
You must choose 'cause that is the rules
You must choose
you must choose
You must choose or we'll make your life a living hell
Lyrics submitted by BleedorBreathe
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