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.
Standing with my enemy
Hung on my horns
With haste and reverie
Killing with charm
Only happy when you hurt
Only deadly in a swarm
Only healthy in the dirt
Only empty in your arms
I play, I'm sick and tame
Drawing the hordes
I'll wait, and show the lame
The meaning of harm
The skull beneath my feet
Like feathers in sand
I graze among the graves
A feeling of peace
Only bending when you break
Only feeding when you're cold
Only healing when you ache
Only feeling when you don't
Only bending when you break
Only feeding when you're cold
Only healing when you ache
Only feeling when you don't
Hung on my horns
With haste and reverie
Killing with charm
Only happy when you hurt
Only deadly in a swarm
Only healthy in the dirt
Only empty in your arms
I play, I'm sick and tame
Drawing the hordes
I'll wait, and show the lame
The meaning of harm
The skull beneath my feet
Like feathers in sand
I graze among the graves
A feeling of peace
Only bending when you break
Only feeding when you're cold
Only healing when you ache
Only feeling when you don't
Only bending when you break
Only feeding when you're cold
Only healing when you ache
Only feeling when you don't
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i think its a neologism coined by combining rhinozeros and dinosaur, implying a massive, heavy, and reckless beast of primeval origin...