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.
I can't believe the news today
I can't close my eyes and make it go away
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long?
Tonight we can be as one, tonight
Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across a dead end street
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
And the battle's just begun,
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
Trenches dug within our hearts,
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long?
Tonight we can be as one
Tonight, tonight
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Wipe your blood shot eyes
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and T.V. reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die
The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On a Sunday bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday
I can't close my eyes and make it go away
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long?
Tonight we can be as one, tonight
Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across a dead end street
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
And the battle's just begun,
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
Trenches dug within our hearts,
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long?
Tonight we can be as one
Tonight, tonight
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Wipe your blood shot eyes
Sunday, bloody Sunday
Sunday, bloody Sunday
And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and T.V. reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die
The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
On a Sunday bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Lyrics submitted by coolensale
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never heard the song. never even heard the band, but aparently they were U2 fans