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.
When the spoon is hot
And the needle's sharp
And you drift away
Oh, oh I can hear you say
That the world in black
Is upon your back
And your body shakes
So you ditch away
And you close the shades
Don't try to do it
Don't try to kill your time
Oh, oh
Yeah, yeah you might do it
Then you can't change your mind
You've got a hold on to your time
Till your break through these Times of
Trouble
When you try to talk
And the words get hard
And they put you down
Don't you stay
Don't you ditch away
I saw you swinging
Yeah swinging your mother's sword, oh
Yeah, yeah I know you're playing
Sometimes the rules get hard, oh
But if somebody left you out on a ledge
If somebody pushed you over the edge
You got to hold on to your time till you break
Through these times of
Trouble
I saw you swinging
Yeah, swinging your mother's sword oh
Yeah yeah I know you're playing
Sometimes the rules get harder oh oh
But if somebody left you out on a ledge
If somebody pushed you over the edge
If somebody loved you and left you for dead
You got to hold on to your time till you break
Through these times of
Trouble
And the needle's sharp
And you drift away
Oh, oh I can hear you say
That the world in black
Is upon your back
And your body shakes
So you ditch away
And you close the shades
Don't try to do it
Don't try to kill your time
Oh, oh
Yeah, yeah you might do it
Then you can't change your mind
You've got a hold on to your time
Till your break through these Times of
Trouble
When you try to talk
And the words get hard
And they put you down
Don't you stay
Don't you ditch away
I saw you swinging
Yeah swinging your mother's sword, oh
Yeah, yeah I know you're playing
Sometimes the rules get hard, oh
But if somebody left you out on a ledge
If somebody pushed you over the edge
You got to hold on to your time till you break
Through these times of
Trouble
I saw you swinging
Yeah, swinging your mother's sword oh
Yeah yeah I know you're playing
Sometimes the rules get harder oh oh
But if somebody left you out on a ledge
If somebody pushed you over the edge
If somebody loved you and left you for dead
You got to hold on to your time till you break
Through these times of
Trouble
Lyrics submitted by fadel, edited by BarnWoodGuy
Times Of Trouble Lyrics as written by Christopher J. Cornell Stone C. Gossard
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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