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.
The house was like a tomb
I was hiding in my room
As my brother made his way on down the hall
I didn't want to say goodbye
And I was trying to deny there was a war
And that he got the call
I watched him from my window
Walking down the drive
Then I ran down the stairway
Through the front door and I cried
You come back you hear?
And I let him see my tears
I said, "I'll give you my rookie of DiMaggio
I'll do anything you want
Clean your room, or wash your car
I'll do anything so long as you don't go"
But he said, "This is what brothers are for"
Well I have my heroes
But the one I love the most
Taught me how to hunt and swing a bat
And I wrote him every night
I said, I miss our pillow fights
But lately I just wonder where you're at
Sometimes freedom makes it hard to live
When it takes things from you that you don't want to give
I said, "You come back you hear?
I miss you being near
We'll laugh and fish down in the maple grove"
I'll do anything you want
There must be someone I can call
And just maybe they would let you come back home
But he wrote, this is what brothers are for
I may never have to face the anger of those guns
Or lie cold and wounded in my blood
Or know the sacrifice and what it must of cost
For him to love me that much
Well, it had been two years
And I held back my tears
When I saw him in that wheel chair on the shore
And as I ran and held him tight
That's when he looked me in the eye
And said, "I'm sorry that you have to push me home"
And I said, "Hey, this is what brothers are for"
I was hiding in my room
As my brother made his way on down the hall
I didn't want to say goodbye
And I was trying to deny there was a war
And that he got the call
I watched him from my window
Walking down the drive
Then I ran down the stairway
Through the front door and I cried
You come back you hear?
And I let him see my tears
I said, "I'll give you my rookie of DiMaggio
I'll do anything you want
Clean your room, or wash your car
I'll do anything so long as you don't go"
But he said, "This is what brothers are for"
Well I have my heroes
But the one I love the most
Taught me how to hunt and swing a bat
And I wrote him every night
I said, I miss our pillow fights
But lately I just wonder where you're at
Sometimes freedom makes it hard to live
When it takes things from you that you don't want to give
I said, "You come back you hear?
I miss you being near
We'll laugh and fish down in the maple grove"
I'll do anything you want
There must be someone I can call
And just maybe they would let you come back home
But he wrote, this is what brothers are for
I may never have to face the anger of those guns
Or lie cold and wounded in my blood
Or know the sacrifice and what it must of cost
For him to love me that much
Well, it had been two years
And I held back my tears
When I saw him in that wheel chair on the shore
And as I ran and held him tight
That's when he looked me in the eye
And said, "I'm sorry that you have to push me home"
And I said, "Hey, this is what brothers are for"
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Brothers Lyrics as written by Dean Brody
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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