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.
Where am I going?
And what will I find?
What's in this grab-bag
That I call my mind?
What am I doing
Alone on the shelf?
Ain't it a shame
But no-one's to blame but myself
Which way is clear
When you've lost your way
Year after year
Do I keep falling in love
For just the kick of it?
Staggering through
The thin and thick of it
Hating each old
And tired trick of it
Know what I am
I'm good and sick of it
Where am I going?
Why do I care?
Run where it's foul
Or run where it's fair
No matter where I run
I meet myself there
Looking inside me
What do I see?
Anger and hope and doubt
What am I all about?
And where am I going?
You tell me
When you've lost your way
Year after year
Do I keep falling in love
For just the kick of it?
Staggering through
The thin and thick of it
Hating each old
And tired trick of it
Know what I am
I'm good and sick of it
Where am I going?
Why do I care?
Run to the Bronx
Or Washington Square
No matter where I run
I meet myself there
Looking inside me
What do I see?
Anger and hope and doubt
What am I all about?
And where am I going?
Where am I going?
Where?
Tell me where?
And what will I find?
What's in this grab-bag
That I call my mind?
What am I doing
Alone on the shelf?
Ain't it a shame
But no-one's to blame but myself
Which way is clear
When you've lost your way
Year after year
Do I keep falling in love
For just the kick of it?
Staggering through
The thin and thick of it
Hating each old
And tired trick of it
Know what I am
I'm good and sick of it
Where am I going?
Why do I care?
Run where it's foul
Or run where it's fair
No matter where I run
I meet myself there
Looking inside me
What do I see?
Anger and hope and doubt
What am I all about?
And where am I going?
You tell me
When you've lost your way
Year after year
Do I keep falling in love
For just the kick of it?
Staggering through
The thin and thick of it
Hating each old
And tired trick of it
Know what I am
I'm good and sick of it
Where am I going?
Why do I care?
Run to the Bronx
Or Washington Square
No matter where I run
I meet myself there
Looking inside me
What do I see?
Anger and hope and doubt
What am I all about?
And where am I going?
Where am I going?
Where?
Tell me where?
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Where Am I Going? Lyrics as written by Dorothy Fields Cy Coleman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Hipgnosis Songs Group
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