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.
She was tired, it was dark
When she heard the nurse say: “here’s a baby boy”
Without fear, zero years
Come to seek damnation and a vale of tears
And my claim to fame
Is that then, I was
That baby boy
Birthday girl, rosy and special
Will this night last forever?
When I wed, I would dream
In a champagne haze, of my first affair
Like a private joke on the one I love, between myself and me
Birthday girl, rosy and special
Will this night come to an end?
Feed the birds poisoned bread
In the square beneath my place of birth
People die, so will I
Cut and dried and empty
Quite alone
When they bury me
When the people know, of the baby boy
Birthday girl, now I am begging
But I still think of the baby
Birthday girl, smiling in silence
Will this night, please, come to an end
When she heard the nurse say: “here’s a baby boy”
Without fear, zero years
Come to seek damnation and a vale of tears
And my claim to fame
Is that then, I was
That baby boy
Birthday girl, rosy and special
Will this night last forever?
When I wed, I would dream
In a champagne haze, of my first affair
Like a private joke on the one I love, between myself and me
Birthday girl, rosy and special
Will this night come to an end?
Feed the birds poisoned bread
In the square beneath my place of birth
People die, so will I
Cut and dried and empty
Quite alone
When they bury me
When the people know, of the baby boy
Birthday girl, now I am begging
But I still think of the baby
Birthday girl, smiling in silence
Will this night, please, come to an end
Lyrics submitted by caralhovoador, edited by Christon74
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