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 met a lady dancer trippin' down the beach
On the tips of her toes
Silver ring inside her nose
Rose-colored glasses on her eyes
Thought I might have been fooled by a trick of the light
We played a little game where we
Counted all the homeless in Beverly Hills
All the times we had to get by on pills
All the times we made it when we thought we might
All the times we were fooled by a trick of the light
Do you know what you feel?
Are you feeling alright?
Do you know what you see?
Or do you got the blues with your head unscrewed
Are you permanently fooled
By a trick of the light
She wasn't in it for love, she wasn't in it for profit
She danced with the skeletons in my closet
One by one they fade away
Are they dancing out of sight?
Or am I fooled by a trick of the light?
So, are you turning me out?
Are you turning me in?
Am I floating in space?
Time, to make up your mind
To make up your world
Like you make up your face
And when she went away
She took a part of me like a souvenir
All the pain and all the fear
How to tell the difference from the night
And when I'm fooled by a trick of the light
On the tips of her toes
Silver ring inside her nose
Rose-colored glasses on her eyes
Thought I might have been fooled by a trick of the light
We played a little game where we
Counted all the homeless in Beverly Hills
All the times we had to get by on pills
All the times we made it when we thought we might
All the times we were fooled by a trick of the light
Do you know what you feel?
Are you feeling alright?
Do you know what you see?
Or do you got the blues with your head unscrewed
Are you permanently fooled
By a trick of the light
She wasn't in it for love, she wasn't in it for profit
She danced with the skeletons in my closet
One by one they fade away
Are they dancing out of sight?
Or am I fooled by a trick of the light?
So, are you turning me out?
Are you turning me in?
Am I floating in space?
Time, to make up your mind
To make up your world
Like you make up your face
And when she went away
She took a part of me like a souvenir
All the pain and all the fear
How to tell the difference from the night
And when I'm fooled by a trick of the light
Lyrics submitted by bananahero
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