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.
One by one, they stand single file
To see the king of the hill atop his worthless pile
The king has no clothes
Throw stones, watch him implode
All for one or are we all alone
Brick by brick, it's a house built on lies
Because illusion is easy to young adoring eyes
It's not hard to see
Through deceit, make them believe
Fight the stampede, be the one to lead
(All my missteps, I retrace
Every failure, I'll erase
My pride is gone
I find the strength to carry on
Looking back, what's left of me
Am I the person that I wanna be
Do I belong
I find the strength to carry on)
Rung by rung, he's climbed up to the top
But once the engine is running, it's hard to make it stop
Ignore what you're told
Eyes closed, dig from below
Don't care where you're from, just where you go
Step by step, we're ignoring the signs
That cocky bastard is planting the seeds of his demise
There's nothing to gain, only shame
We fan the flames
Fight through the pain, live another day
Just one more day
(All my missteps, I retrace
Every failure, I'll erase
My pride is gone
I find the strength to carry on
Looking back, what's left of me
Am I the person that I wanna be)
Do I belong
Do I belong
Writing's on the wall
That Cheshire smile says you don't have the courage to take the fall
You're not fooling anyone
You're no one
(All my missteps, I retrace
Every failure, I'll erase
My pride is gone
I find the strength to carry on
Looking back, what's left of me
Am I the person that I wanna be)
Do I belong
Do I belong
To see the king of the hill atop his worthless pile
The king has no clothes
Throw stones, watch him implode
All for one or are we all alone
Brick by brick, it's a house built on lies
Because illusion is easy to young adoring eyes
It's not hard to see
Through deceit, make them believe
Fight the stampede, be the one to lead
(All my missteps, I retrace
Every failure, I'll erase
My pride is gone
I find the strength to carry on
Looking back, what's left of me
Am I the person that I wanna be
Do I belong
I find the strength to carry on)
Rung by rung, he's climbed up to the top
But once the engine is running, it's hard to make it stop
Ignore what you're told
Eyes closed, dig from below
Don't care where you're from, just where you go
Step by step, we're ignoring the signs
That cocky bastard is planting the seeds of his demise
There's nothing to gain, only shame
We fan the flames
Fight through the pain, live another day
Just one more day
(All my missteps, I retrace
Every failure, I'll erase
My pride is gone
I find the strength to carry on
Looking back, what's left of me
Am I the person that I wanna be)
Do I belong
Do I belong
Writing's on the wall
That Cheshire smile says you don't have the courage to take the fall
You're not fooling anyone
You're no one
(All my missteps, I retrace
Every failure, I'll erase
My pride is gone
I find the strength to carry on
Looking back, what's left of me
Am I the person that I wanna be)
Do I belong
Do I belong
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
I think this song is a sort of indirect dialogue between a ruler that failed to do his work properly and the angry people. The angry people speak during the verses, talking about the lies behind the failure and their ideals, while the ruler recognizes his faults and asks himself if he's sure of what to do now, as stated in the chorus.
Imo, this is what the song is SPECIFICALLY about.
The song can also be interpretated in a different, more generic way, and I like this enterpretation more because it can be applied to a lot more situations of life.
If you make a mistake, you probably won't be forgiven, even if you recognize your mistakes and want to repair what you broke. This isn't either good or bad, it's just how the world goes, because the same thing could be applied to the others that were directly hit by the mistake you made. It's something related to pride, imo, and it reminds me the first verse of "Take this Life" from In Flames: "It's not so much the pain, it's more the actual knife"; it doesn't matter if you didn't want to do something or if you regret it, you still did it and there's nothing that will change that. Sure, you can still try to fix what you did, but the wound won't disappear. But this song also shows off the hypocrisy of the people: "don't care where you're from, just where you go" is my favorite phrase from the song and it literally says that it doesn't matter what you did, it matters if you do something good to fix it. It's totally the contrary of what people think if someone else makes a mistake.