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 my love in Cambridge Town
The waters they still run beside the mill
I called his name in the morning frost
The waters they still run beside the mill
“Oh where have you been, these ten days three
Why is it, you stay away from me?”
“I stay from you
(He answered me)
For my heart is no longer free”
O hush sweet love you ... frighten me
Tomorrow I must married be
Your words are daggers, that cannot be
Tomorrow I shall married be
You asked my hand, my life I gave
The love we shared binds you to me
Alas fair maid, that love is dead and tomorrow I am to be wed
I walked alone in Cambridge Town
The waters they still run beside the mill
I spied my love inside his home
The waters they still run beside the mill
I called his name in the morning frost
My true love he hid his face from me
“I shed bitter tears for the girl I had lost”
But the waters they still run beside the mill
The waters they still run beside the mill
I called his name in the morning frost
The waters they still run beside the mill
“Oh where have you been, these ten days three
Why is it, you stay away from me?”
“I stay from you
(He answered me)
For my heart is no longer free”
O hush sweet love you ... frighten me
Tomorrow I must married be
Your words are daggers, that cannot be
Tomorrow I shall married be
You asked my hand, my life I gave
The love we shared binds you to me
Alas fair maid, that love is dead and tomorrow I am to be wed
I walked alone in Cambridge Town
The waters they still run beside the mill
I spied my love inside his home
The waters they still run beside the mill
I called his name in the morning frost
My true love he hid his face from me
“I shed bitter tears for the girl I had lost”
But the waters they still run beside the mill
Lyrics submitted by almightyapplejack
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