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.
Mississippi swells I know
Ever-drawing line to another time
To the sirens of Chicago
Or Memphis' eerie glow
Not quite cause you're chosen so
But in drains we draw in to drown
It's such a small town so your instincts made you go
And you reflect on things you now know
Like how Cindy said "it all seems the same"
Embedded in patterns you don't notice
The features out of focus
It's a shame
The flashlight just falls in the direction you're headed
But you just knew there's nothing to gain
No measure of light among the sightless, immobilized and righteous
It was pain
So you pointed your beam in the direction of anywhere
And though urbanity was not without its flaws
You found the time and space you'd need to sharpen your claws
And hone your eyesight on the skeletons upon which all your little interactions carry on
Those that are visible and not
Metaphysical and hot
The anatomy of everything
So when I got to your city, it was summer
It was pretty and we walked around because we had the time
You remarked on all the places that you hadn't seen in ages
Disconnected from the metro city lines
And on the closed doors of the fire stations
Testament to forced displacement
Shocked me so to see it from the ground
What seemed so functional from great heights looking down
But cities observed from planes
At some point, so deceptively, all start to look the same
You get distracted by the light below the clouds
It seems to shine on through the night, you know
And how it seems so lit up to some line
Feel the brightness so confined
Only skyscrapers shine
The tallest buildings do define
In letters now you wonder
The lights you're living under
And the vantage points you've yet to even come upon
You dream of transportation, infrastructure, the bus stations
On the blocks between the shops the lights flicker on and off and on
And my imagination too travels those streets
Thinking of places and the people that we meet
And conversations with strangers on bus seats
Like you and Arthur on the 28
The 45 fading from sight of the day
Saying "Oh it is magical and cold
The place where cities and starscapes collide"
I think of the people alive and awake on Magnolia's steep side
The living room lamps and the headlights of cars are like fireflies in the night sky
Ever-drawing line to another time
To the sirens of Chicago
Or Memphis' eerie glow
Not quite cause you're chosen so
But in drains we draw in to drown
It's such a small town so your instincts made you go
And you reflect on things you now know
Like how Cindy said "it all seems the same"
Embedded in patterns you don't notice
The features out of focus
It's a shame
The flashlight just falls in the direction you're headed
But you just knew there's nothing to gain
No measure of light among the sightless, immobilized and righteous
It was pain
So you pointed your beam in the direction of anywhere
And though urbanity was not without its flaws
You found the time and space you'd need to sharpen your claws
And hone your eyesight on the skeletons upon which all your little interactions carry on
Those that are visible and not
Metaphysical and hot
The anatomy of everything
So when I got to your city, it was summer
It was pretty and we walked around because we had the time
You remarked on all the places that you hadn't seen in ages
Disconnected from the metro city lines
And on the closed doors of the fire stations
Testament to forced displacement
Shocked me so to see it from the ground
What seemed so functional from great heights looking down
But cities observed from planes
At some point, so deceptively, all start to look the same
You get distracted by the light below the clouds
It seems to shine on through the night, you know
And how it seems so lit up to some line
Feel the brightness so confined
Only skyscrapers shine
The tallest buildings do define
In letters now you wonder
The lights you're living under
And the vantage points you've yet to even come upon
You dream of transportation, infrastructure, the bus stations
On the blocks between the shops the lights flicker on and off and on
And my imagination too travels those streets
Thinking of places and the people that we meet
And conversations with strangers on bus seats
Like you and Arthur on the 28
The 45 fading from sight of the day
Saying "Oh it is magical and cold
The place where cities and starscapes collide"
I think of the people alive and awake on Magnolia's steep side
The living room lamps and the headlights of cars are like fireflies in the night sky
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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