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.
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At an obvious level this song is about tabloid journalism and TV news anchors (more accurately called "newsreaders" in the UK).
At an only slightly less obvious level the song/rant expresses Henley's frustration with music critics, most of whom were very in favor of punk and underground music in the early 80's and viewed Henley, and everybody else from the dinosaur 70's bands, as washed up has-beens.
Well Don showed them, didn't he? You know, all those mopey hits he scored in the 80's and the 90's -- the Boys of Summer, The Heart of the Matter, The End of the Innocence. Henley certainly showed endurance as a songwriter both with the Eagles and on his own. Any critic who wrote off Henley after the Long Run, well, they just needed to sit back, wait, and see who was going to make it ...... in the long run.