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.
Slave screams he thinks he knows what he wants
Slave screams thinks he has something to say
Slave screams he hears but doesn't want to listen
Slave screams he's being beat into submission
Don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
The devils of truth steal the souls of the free
Don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
You can find
Happiness is slavery
Slave screams he spends his life learning conformity
Slave screams he claims he has his own identity
Slave screams he's going to cause the system to fall
Slave screams but he's glad to be chained to that wall
Don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
The blind have been blessed with security
Don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
You can find
Happiness is slavery
I don't know what I am I don't know where I've been
Human junk just words and so much skin
Stick my hands through the cage of this endless routine
Just some flesh caught in this big broken machine
Slave screams thinks he has something to say
Slave screams he hears but doesn't want to listen
Slave screams he's being beat into submission
Don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
The devils of truth steal the souls of the free
Don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
You can find
Happiness is slavery
Slave screams he spends his life learning conformity
Slave screams he claims he has his own identity
Slave screams he's going to cause the system to fall
Slave screams but he's glad to be chained to that wall
Don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
The blind have been blessed with security
Don't open your eyes take it from me
I have found
You can find
Happiness is slavery
I don't know what I am I don't know where I've been
Human junk just words and so much skin
Stick my hands through the cage of this endless routine
Just some flesh caught in this big broken machine
Lyrics submitted by trills, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Happiness in Slavery Lyrics as written by Trent Reznor
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Who ever posted these lyrics failed to include the last line of the song. It's after all the music is over when Trent whispers, "Happiness...it controls you...happy-ness..."
no there was.