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.
Let the fall winds
Rattle at our door
And call us to the lunatic sea
For the pleasure games we play so easily
That never really make a soul
Details will haunt us in strange ways
Like snow and smoke and skeletal leaves
Who will resurrect us? Jive, ass, and teeth
One we've all drunk our fill of fire
A strange sadness hangs around the trees
As if our life and times were fruit
Ripen too quickly into rot
And falling on this stinking spot
Tones of history ring here like a gong
But the pitch is bent and queer
Upon a beach of bones the iron orchid stands
And casts her cobalt gaze across the years
Mrs. Amelia Underwood
Carry my heart in your hands
Jesus will shine on you brightly
Into the hollow lands
Now the sky, a find of fire
The season's tears to ancient wine
A ghostly blight from godless eyes
The howling flames of our desires
Your hair tumbles like a racehorse down
The country hails your sky now ma'am
And I'm not gonna need it like the lion needs to kill
Cause in the lion all desire and prayer is one
Used to be time was upon us
Carried our hearts on our sleeves
Wearing the joy and the sorrow
Like beautiful fall-painted leaves
Mrs. Amelia Underwood
Carry my heart in you hands
Jesus will shine on you brightly
Into the hollow lands
Rattle at our door
And call us to the lunatic sea
For the pleasure games we play so easily
That never really make a soul
Details will haunt us in strange ways
Like snow and smoke and skeletal leaves
Who will resurrect us? Jive, ass, and teeth
One we've all drunk our fill of fire
A strange sadness hangs around the trees
As if our life and times were fruit
Ripen too quickly into rot
And falling on this stinking spot
Tones of history ring here like a gong
But the pitch is bent and queer
Upon a beach of bones the iron orchid stands
And casts her cobalt gaze across the years
Mrs. Amelia Underwood
Carry my heart in your hands
Jesus will shine on you brightly
Into the hollow lands
Now the sky, a find of fire
The season's tears to ancient wine
A ghostly blight from godless eyes
The howling flames of our desires
Your hair tumbles like a racehorse down
The country hails your sky now ma'am
And I'm not gonna need it like the lion needs to kill
Cause in the lion all desire and prayer is one
Used to be time was upon us
Carried our hearts on our sleeves
Wearing the joy and the sorrow
Like beautiful fall-painted leaves
Mrs. Amelia Underwood
Carry my heart in you hands
Jesus will shine on you brightly
Into the hollow lands
Lyrics submitted by kunoichi
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it is a great song. and this band is really underrated.