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.
Well, I never really understood religions
Except it seems a good reason to kill
Everybody's got their own conceptions
And, you know, they always will
These days are needles under my skin
Jesus shooting heroin
If there are priests at your party
And you're playing cards that are numbered
And you got no reason to think it
Until your chances are uncovered
Tell me that I got to believe in
Jesus shooting heroin
The police in New York City
Chased a boy right through the park
In a case of mistaken identities
They put a bullet through his heart
I met Mary on the corner with the streetlights
She asked me if I'd come up to her room
I told her that I didn't have no money
She said she had to leave pretty soon
I decided that I would go in
Jesus shooting heroin
Except it seems a good reason to kill
Everybody's got their own conceptions
And, you know, they always will
These days are needles under my skin
Jesus shooting heroin
If there are priests at your party
And you're playing cards that are numbered
And you got no reason to think it
Until your chances are uncovered
Tell me that I got to believe in
Jesus shooting heroin
The police in New York City
Chased a boy right through the park
In a case of mistaken identities
They put a bullet through his heart
I met Mary on the corner with the streetlights
She asked me if I'd come up to her room
I told her that I didn't have no money
She said she had to leave pretty soon
I decided that I would go in
Jesus shooting heroin
Lyrics submitted by DuTcHoVeN
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I love this song.
I think it's about how and why the narrator doesn't believe in religion and how he thinks even Jesus would be shooting up in this world. Incredibly pessimistic, but so good.