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 want to pledge allegiance to the country where I live
I don’t want to be ashamed to be American
But opportunity, no, it don’t exist
It’s the opiate of the populace
We need some harder shit now
The truth is getting around
And each public school is a halfway house
Where the huddled masses somber up and up
Enough?
There’s not enough to fatten the cows and feed all of us
It’s just a rationing of luck
What can’t be bought gets raffled off
Oh God, good God
Shed greed on thee
Your shining sea turned a dirty green from the industry
Off the shores of New Jersey
I got a letter from the army, so I think that I’ll enlist
I’m not brave or proud of nothing I just want to kill something
Too bad that nowadays you just point and click
Swing low satellite, hot white chariot!
In the computer’s blue glare, the bombs burst in the air
There was a city once - now nothing is there
Our freedom comes at their expense
It makes sense, doesn’t it?
Dollars and cents
They’re stretching barbed wire across the picket fence
That is surrounding your housing development
Just in case you lack the confidence
My God, oh God, give strength to thee
These amber waves, purple majesty
Are nothing but backdrops for Disney
Well, look up close
It is superimposed on a blank blue screen
It is fantasy, fucking magical
The dream floats like a chemical through each snapped synapse
Our television past that is beautiful no more, no more
I don’t want to be ashamed to be American
But opportunity, no, it don’t exist
It’s the opiate of the populace
We need some harder shit now
The truth is getting around
And each public school is a halfway house
Where the huddled masses somber up and up
Enough?
There’s not enough to fatten the cows and feed all of us
It’s just a rationing of luck
What can’t be bought gets raffled off
Oh God, good God
Shed greed on thee
Your shining sea turned a dirty green from the industry
Off the shores of New Jersey
I got a letter from the army, so I think that I’ll enlist
I’m not brave or proud of nothing I just want to kill something
Too bad that nowadays you just point and click
Swing low satellite, hot white chariot!
In the computer’s blue glare, the bombs burst in the air
There was a city once - now nothing is there
Our freedom comes at their expense
It makes sense, doesn’t it?
Dollars and cents
They’re stretching barbed wire across the picket fence
That is surrounding your housing development
Just in case you lack the confidence
My God, oh God, give strength to thee
These amber waves, purple majesty
Are nothing but backdrops for Disney
Well, look up close
It is superimposed on a blank blue screen
It is fantasy, fucking magical
The dream floats like a chemical through each snapped synapse
Our television past that is beautiful no more, no more
Lyrics submitted by ang
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I'm sick of this bullshit. It's not artsy or new to hate America. If he thinks his country is so problematic why doesn't he take the power he has as an artist and do something about it besides whine?