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.
Breathe in
Sink in
I bet you couldn't sleep
I bet you couldn't see with the tunnel vision that you had
(Keeps on raining)
(Keeps on raining)
I bet you couldn't be
I bet you couldn't breathe when your lungs collapsed
(Keeps on raining)
(Keeps on raining)
I know you felt alone
I know you felt it in your bones
I could feel it in my teeth
I know you couldn't sleep
(I know you felt alone)
Worried I can remember where to begin
Misplaced my mind, presupposition
But you didn't know what you should've done
Maybe I shouldn't have had another high
Maybe I'm just desperate to think
You'd be fine after you lost your mother
I guess that I thought that you'd be alright
Are you alright?
I wish you the best
I wish you godspeed
I wish you the rest
And now you can sleep
They say that life goes on
Can't imagine how you missed her
But tell me where have you gone?
Where was I when you called?
It's just not that easy
When all that's left is just all your bones.
Sink in
I bet you couldn't sleep
I bet you couldn't see with the tunnel vision that you had
(Keeps on raining)
(Keeps on raining)
I bet you couldn't be
I bet you couldn't breathe when your lungs collapsed
(Keeps on raining)
(Keeps on raining)
I know you felt alone
I know you felt it in your bones
I could feel it in my teeth
I know you couldn't sleep
(I know you felt alone)
Worried I can remember where to begin
Misplaced my mind, presupposition
But you didn't know what you should've done
Maybe I shouldn't have had another high
Maybe I'm just desperate to think
You'd be fine after you lost your mother
I guess that I thought that you'd be alright
Are you alright?
I wish you the best
I wish you godspeed
I wish you the rest
And now you can sleep
They say that life goes on
Can't imagine how you missed her
But tell me where have you gone?
Where was I when you called?
It's just not that easy
When all that's left is just all your bones.
Lyrics submitted by Octavarium64, edited by billiam421
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This song is very straightforward as observed by the lyrics. The album is about a friend of the singer and band who passed away after struggling with addiction and the loss of his mother. This song provides resolution and insight on the singers role and the impact it had on him with the experience.
The album starts very vague and filled with metaphors but as the album progresses it becomes more and more direct to the listener until this song, at the end of the album basically comes out and says everything the singer is feeling with no minced words.
In the previous song (Return To Earth) he mentions the subject of the album (his friend) was skin and bones. The last line in Monochrome: Pensive, Mike Lessard writes "all that's left is just all your bones" which says two things. One literally that his friend is dead and he is no longer there outside of his physical bones, and Two that everything metaphorical has been stripped away and the song has been written very literal as opposed to previous tracks.