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.
Integrity of construction
The best money can buy
Her size is greater than any
A Belfast shipyard's pride
Signal flags spelled out the word "Success"
On her maneuvering trials
Preservers and lifeboats were not in excess
Unsinkable, no plans to save lives
Athinai reports icebergs and field ice
At seven bells ahead just five miles
A black hulk against the night's darkness
Disaster along starboard side
Full speed astern were the orders
It would do them no good
No apparent collision
A rip deep below the waterline
Come at once, we have struck a berg
Interference in transmission
The newest, largest ship afloat
Had two hours to live
Lower all lifeboats, we have too few!
Women and children first!
Distress rockets fill the air
Abandom Ship!"
Sinking faster, every light ablaze
Machinery, engines, crashing to the bow
Arching vertical, stern points to the sky
The great ship fractured
Everyone must die
Watching their families make it to safety
Fifteen hundred went down
The orchestra played to the last moment
An eerie almost unreal sound
The calm and ice North Atlantic
Titanic's burial ground
The best money can buy
Her size is greater than any
A Belfast shipyard's pride
Signal flags spelled out the word "Success"
On her maneuvering trials
Preservers and lifeboats were not in excess
Unsinkable, no plans to save lives
Athinai reports icebergs and field ice
At seven bells ahead just five miles
A black hulk against the night's darkness
Disaster along starboard side
Full speed astern were the orders
It would do them no good
No apparent collision
A rip deep below the waterline
Come at once, we have struck a berg
Interference in transmission
The newest, largest ship afloat
Had two hours to live
Lower all lifeboats, we have too few!
Women and children first!
Distress rockets fill the air
Abandom Ship!"
Sinking faster, every light ablaze
Machinery, engines, crashing to the bow
Arching vertical, stern points to the sky
The great ship fractured
Everyone must die
Watching their families make it to safety
Fifteen hundred went down
The orchestra played to the last moment
An eerie almost unreal sound
The calm and ice North Atlantic
Titanic's burial ground
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This song is about the sinking of the Titanic, as noted in the title April 15, 1912, which is the day the Titanic sank.