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.
I'm not a leader,
I'm not a left-wing rhetoric mobilizing force of one,
But there was a time way back,
Many years ago in college, don't laugh,
But I thought I was a radical,
I ran the Hemp Liberation Group with my boyfriend,
It was true love, with a common cause,
And besides that, he was a Sagittarius.
We used to say that our love was like hemp rope,
Three times as strong as the rope that you buy domestically,
And we would bond in the face of oppression from big business and the deans,
But I knew there was a problem,
Every time the group would meet everyone would light up,
That made it difficult to discuss glaucoma and human rights,
Not to mention chemotherapy.
Well sometimes, life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging,
And so I found him in the arms of a Student Against the Treacherous use of Fur,
And he gave no apology, he just turned to me, stoned out to the edge of oblivion,
He didn't pull up the sheets and I think he even smiled as he said to me,
"Well, I guess our dreams went up in smoke."
And I said, No, our dreams went up in dreams, you stupid pothead,
And another thing, what kind of a name is
Students Against the Treacherous Use of Fur?
Fur is already dead, and besides,
A name like that doesn't make a good acronym.
I am older now, I know the rise
And gradual fall of a daily victory.
And I still write to my senators,
Saying they should legalize cannabis,
And I should know, cause I am a horticulturist,
I have a husband and two children out in Lexington, Mass.
And my ex-boyfriend can't tell me I've sold out,
Because he's in a cult.
And he's not allowed to talk to me.
I'm not a left-wing rhetoric mobilizing force of one,
But there was a time way back,
Many years ago in college, don't laugh,
But I thought I was a radical,
I ran the Hemp Liberation Group with my boyfriend,
It was true love, with a common cause,
And besides that, he was a Sagittarius.
We used to say that our love was like hemp rope,
Three times as strong as the rope that you buy domestically,
And we would bond in the face of oppression from big business and the deans,
But I knew there was a problem,
Every time the group would meet everyone would light up,
That made it difficult to discuss glaucoma and human rights,
Not to mention chemotherapy.
Well sometimes, life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging,
And so I found him in the arms of a Student Against the Treacherous use of Fur,
And he gave no apology, he just turned to me, stoned out to the edge of oblivion,
He didn't pull up the sheets and I think he even smiled as he said to me,
"Well, I guess our dreams went up in smoke."
And I said, No, our dreams went up in dreams, you stupid pothead,
And another thing, what kind of a name is
Students Against the Treacherous Use of Fur?
Fur is already dead, and besides,
A name like that doesn't make a good acronym.
I am older now, I know the rise
And gradual fall of a daily victory.
And I still write to my senators,
Saying they should legalize cannabis,
And I should know, cause I am a horticulturist,
I have a husband and two children out in Lexington, Mass.
And my ex-boyfriend can't tell me I've sold out,
Because he's in a cult.
And he's not allowed to talk to me.
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