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 hereby release you
You goddamn lying fool
You are suspended in time
Hanging naked from a barbed-wire vine
You paint your toes and polish your jewels
Take yourself to victim school
Mary Lou, I renounce you
Like a crack run through my mind
You're a bad dream left behind
You took everything I left
But that’s alright
I don't live in your past
You paint your face and sharpen your teeth
You choke yourself on ancient meat
Mary Lou, fu-fu-fuck you
On a road that’s laid with thorns
May our feet be ripped and torn
But may you rise up through the blue
Mary Lou, I forgive you
You goddamn lying fool
You are suspended in time
Hanging naked from a barbed-wire vine
You paint your toes and polish your jewels
Take yourself to victim school
Mary Lou, I renounce you
Like a crack run through my mind
You're a bad dream left behind
You took everything I left
But that’s alright
I don't live in your past
You paint your face and sharpen your teeth
You choke yourself on ancient meat
Mary Lou, fu-fu-fuck you
On a road that’s laid with thorns
May our feet be ripped and torn
But may you rise up through the blue
Mary Lou, I forgive you
Lyrics submitted by JohnJacobJingleheimerSchmidt
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