Punchline

My favorite song off of The North Corridor, it seems to be about the destruction of the planet and how humans are mindlessly doing so. You have companies using hazardous chemicals, dumping hazardous waste, emissions from cars, fracking and such..the list goes on. Not to mention the impact of climate change, as well as the mixing of environmental concerns with cultural concerns such as with the Dakota Access Pipeline for example. All of this to me is summed up well in the first verse

"All I mentioned is coming A new dimension of earth has begun See the ends of earth there crumbling All the work we've done here has been lost"

he's warning of what's to come if we continue our ways and don't heed the warning signs

"But I don't hang on to much And I feel this joke has gone long enough We doubt you feel the same But I'm not your punchline paid to stay"

he's saying he doesn't hold on to much hope that there will be ever be conserted effort (with all the political unrest, disregard for saving the environment & such) put in place to make any waves towards a solution, it's a joke really and he feels the jokes gone on too far and he's sick of it and he's sick of listening to the lies that efforts are being made that aren't (while oil dumping and hazardous waste and emissions continue to be an issue). "All the others They've gone...

Who are Who are you [x4]" This speaks of the pioneers of the environmentalist movement in the past who would no doubt be a shamed of the mockery thats happened of the movement now and he's saying who are you, those of you who claim to care, as you are frauds

"Claws tighten down against Ease into passionate suspense For a second not a single Moment of my past belonged"

here he speaks of as I mentioned above cultural unrest like Standing Rock/the pipeline in example and how we do what we want often for our own selfish agendas and not caring about culture, environment, political unrest, terrorism or who becomes victims in the end, he's saying he doesn't even wanna be associated with this crap anymore, he wants to forget the past and is feeling tense about the dark looming future

I’m not that far off.

I see it through the lense of Jesus (not a single moment of my past belonged), having witnessed 7 years of earthly tribulations (ends of the earth crumbling), and eventually meeting armies at Armageddon. The Antichrist having declared himself god, and erected an idol inside the rebuilt Temple of Jerusalem, marshaled his armies in Israel - that “joke” will have gone on long enough. The we is the holy trinity, the Holy Spirit having remained behind. “Who are you” is the calls of the masses who cannot recognize Christ, being potentially too far gone.

I’d just watched a documentary on Jesus’s prophecies on the end times and it finally dawned on me this meaning fits to a great extent exactly how he and Paul describe the ultimate rejection and final return of Christ.