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.
A ghost on new wind is the best medicine tonight
As the crowds go chasing
The creepy little kid on his motorbike
All alone burning fast
Catch moonlight on helmets glass
Far from home in a rogue cast
Come midnight we'll spit and spat
I can’t stand to hang through nights like that, no more
Cause the clock keeps pacing
I got a shadow laying waste coming back for more
Wheel and stone cursing past
What beauty in a moment's flash
Wearing bones, the specters laugh
Shade holds me while metals clash
Impatient while I waited
For you to come around
You got me upside down
Chasing traces of places
Where I am not allowed
You got me buttoned down
As the crowds go chasing
The creepy little kid on his motorbike
All alone burning fast
Catch moonlight on helmets glass
Far from home in a rogue cast
Come midnight we'll spit and spat
I can’t stand to hang through nights like that, no more
Cause the clock keeps pacing
I got a shadow laying waste coming back for more
Wheel and stone cursing past
What beauty in a moment's flash
Wearing bones, the specters laugh
Shade holds me while metals clash
Impatient while I waited
For you to come around
You got me upside down
Chasing traces of places
Where I am not allowed
You got me buttoned down
Lyrics submitted by DsquareD
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