Song/Album: Aenima

Basically what I get from here is that we all hear predictions of the world coming to an end or certain areas being naturally devasted and such. And Maynard seems to be saying how really bad of a place L.A. is and the only way to change it is for it to disappear. Just even looking at the CD itself where you see a picture of the USA and then the picture has most of California under water. And this is where the "Learn to Swim" line appeals.



"It's a bull**** three ring circus sideshow of freaks here in this hopeless ****ing hole we call LA The only way to fix it is to flush it all away. Any ****ing time. Any ****ing day. Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay. Some say a comet will fall from the sky. Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves. Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still. Followed by millions of dumbfounded dip****s. Some say the end is near. Some say we'll see armageddon soon. I certainly hope we will cuz I sure could use a vacation from this Silly ****, stupid ****..."

[B]Album:[/B] AEnima
[B]song:[/B] H.

I have started just a little bit of this song...I feel it is about Adam and Eve.

What's coming through is alive
what's holding up is a mirror (Adam seeing Eve and knowing she is part of him)
but what's singing songs is a snake (the snake telling them to eat the forbidden fruit)
looking to turn my piss to wine

I only have that little bit...But it does somewhat match up to what I understand of the Adam and Eve story in the bible.

You'll notice each Tool album has at least 1 grand theme to it (Lateralus has about 10, and counting, actually)

Opiate talks alot about Christianity and the way people are control through certain establishments and institutions (This is also the generally accepted interpretation of the meaning of Tool's name)

Undertow follows a water theme. (I'm not sure if there are any other lyrical themes to the album, I don't actually own it, you may throw rocks at me now...)

Adam Jones has said that "Third Eye" is essentially the "extended remix of Aenima," meaning that all the subject matter in the individual songs in Aenima are pretty much reiterated in Third Eye. Also, the album deals alot with the fakery of certain people and how they choose to judge without full knowledge of a situation (See particularly Eulogy, H., Hooker With a *****, Aenema)

Lateralus has the whole qabalistic theme to it, (each song corresponds to a seperate branch of the qabalistic tree of life). I also see the album relating to the aftermath of a relationship The Grudge dealing with bitter feelings just after a break-up, The Patient dealing with being in a relationship that isn't working, yet choosing to "wait it out," Schism dealing with the reunification of a pair of souls, the same goes with Parabol/Parabola (A parabola can be equated to two bodies next to each other "A reminder here that I am not alone/ in this body"), Ticks dealing with more the relationship coming to a close as one person realises they are only contributing, and the other partner just "Sucks and sucks." Lateralus I'm not sure about, Reflection/Disposition/Triad also seems to deal with relationships and loneliness (pine away). There are also other themes to the Lateralus album, including "the holy gift theory" explained at [url]www.angelfire.com/ma4/question/insight7.html[/url]

i agree with stage, my guess would be that tool are atheists. they wouldnt practice what they preach. tool poke fun at all the holes in religion, so they wouldnt worship satan when satan is a product of RELIGION.

Hooker with a ***** is about a tool fan who maynard met at a concert, well that is my understanding. "OGT". i think this is original gangster tool, as in the original fan "from 92' the first ep". i would also like to hear more about H coz i have no idea, its obvious its not about heroin.

Stage, im curious about your take on eulogy. please explain why you think eulogy is about hicks?? i mean the whole "get off your ****ing cross" thing doesnt work for me, seeing as the bands were big fans of bill.

EDIT: i read another post up there, die eier von satan is actually a recipie for hash cookies, lol and when he yells "..und keine eier" that means "and no eggs". looks like ur old man didnt want to tell you what it really meant lol. :D

[QUOTE=Everything_and_Nothing_3:15]Well Jesus Christ is one of the Higher figures in the Christian religion right? Therefore disrestpecting some one of higher power in an organization like christanity shows that you don't care for them and don't like them. So when some one doesnt' like some thing they usually go in the opposite direciton of it, the opposite of christanity being Satanism. For example, someone who doesn't like to drive cars drives a motorcycle.[/QUOTE]


What are you a fu[b]c[/b]king idiot?? Have you ever heard of an Athiest? Someone who doesn't believe in God, but isn't a satan-worshipper. Your comment is the dumbest ****ing thing I've ever heard. You can be neutral, believing in niether God, nor the devil. Or you could believe in God, but not be a Christian because Maynard doesn't believe in organized religion, but who's to say he doesn't think there is a God or worships the devil? God dammit, everything's not so black and white so just keep your dumbass comments to yourself.

Errrmmm, one very important thing to remember is that all the members of tool have a very very twisted sense of humour. take everything you hear from tool with a pinch of salt. Theyre idea of funny is people swapping ideas about hidden and important themes in theyre music when they know there arent any.

Bottom line for me is that tool make some of the best music possibly ever, and they rock totally. :D

[QUOTE=metally_mental]ok [FONT=Arial Black]"Forty-six and Two".[/FONT]
great song but wtf does it mean??

i read somewhere that its about humans evolving, leaving our primal ways behind... "stepping through the shadow, coming out the other side". before analysing id like to say that maynard is a big fan of the psychoanalyst, Carl Jung. His theory of the "shadow" is in this song. Jung argued that the shadow is our alter ego.. everything we hate about ourselves, formed into this despicable dark counterpart of our psyche, that we resent in ourselves.

[FONT=Arial Black]"shadows shedding skin, ive been pickin scabs again.
ive been digging through my old muscles, looking for a clue."[/FONT]

Maynard is saying he is looking through himself, looking at his past and how he has changed, and looking at everything he dislikes in himself, and is now ready to move on. he is saying his shadow is shedding things he used to hate about himself, because he is past all that now and more mature.

[FONT=Arial Black]"ive been crawlin on my belly, clearing out what could have been.
ive been wallowing in my own confused and, insecure delusions"[/FONT]

talking about the past still, realising how stupid he used to be eg. maynard in the army?? lol. clearing out means forgetting old dreams of a conformed lifestyle.

[FONT=Arial Black]"For a piece to cross me over, or a word to guide me in.
I wanna feel the changes coming down.
I wanna know what I've been hiding in, my shadow."[/FONT]

for a piece, i think could mean just a piece of inspiration, be it music, art anything. anything to inspire him to take another look at himself, and the world around him. he is saying he is ready to feel the changes, and ready to face everything he has resented and hidden away in his alter ego, his shadow.

now about the forty-six and two bit. apparently, there used to be this guy who believed that there were three different kinds of humans, with different chromosomes. the aboriginals of australia supposedly has less than us, 36 or something. this being determined by their lifestyle and beliefs. the other group i forget now, but us has 42 and 2 i think*. not important anyway because all humans have the same chromosomes (except for people with down syndrome who are either missing one or have an extra one, i forget now.) but, supposedly we were supposed to evolve, and gain more chromosomes, presenting us with new abilities as humans. a nice theory, but all a lot of bull5hit in reality. but hey, it made for a great song and maynard just used it as an example of evolution in ourselves, and the process of 'individualisation'. another one of jungs theories. This song not being specific to that theory, just using it as a guideline to get his message across.

now, the rest of the song is just about maynard being ready to experience the world in a new light, and to be open to everything the world throws at him. "to be paranoid and to lie". he is even ready to face it when the world throws s hit in his face, or he does things he doesnt want to do like lie. you get the idea, and this is again, an opinion i stole from someone else because i otherwise would have had no fu ck ing clue about this song. i recognised the carl jung stuff though, and if you want to understand the title aenima, and the song aenema, research his stuff. very interesting reading. cheers... :thumb:[/QUOTE]

Just to clear up the part about the chromosomes, aborigines have 44+2, the moajority of us have 44+2, the song is about trying to achieve 46+2.

Another intereseting point at the start is Maynard whispers 'join me, join me my child as we step through the shadow', but it sounds alot like he's saying something about jungian.

As for the very cool bridge, lying, paranoia etc. are the things you give up when you achieve 46+2, at least that's what I think.

Somebody mentioned Message To Harry Manback a while ago. From what I know of it, the story is that it was a prank phonecall that was left one someones answering machine, though whether it was sent or recieved by any memeber of Tool (If at all it was them) is a mystery to me. Although the hidden track on the end of Undertow is a phone message left by Adam as a joke, but still contains some in depth meanings.

[QUOTE=josh_the_drummer]Errrmmm, one very important thing to remember is that all the members of tool have a very very twisted sense of humour. take everything you hear from tool with a pinch of salt. :D[/QUOTE]

Quoted for truth, one thing most people should try and get their heads around before making assumptions

[QUOTE=metally_mental]i agree with stage, my guess would be that tool are atheists. they wouldnt practice what they preach. tool poke fun at all the holes in religion, so they wouldnt worship satan when satan is a product of RELIGION.

Hooker with a ***** is about a tool fan who maynard met at a concert, well that is my understanding. "OGT". i think this is original gangster tool, as in the original fan "from 92' the first ep". i would also like to hear more about H coz i have no idea, its obvious its not about heroin.

Stage, im curious about your take on eulogy. please explain why you think eulogy is about hicks?? i mean the whole "get off your ****ing cross" thing doesnt work for me, seeing as the bands were big fans of bill.

EDIT: i read another post up there, die eier von satan is actually a recipie for hash cookies, lol and when he yells "..und keine eier" that means "and no eggs". looks like ur old man didnt want to tell you what it really meant lol. :D[/QUOTE]

Yeah, It keeps saying "..And no eggs" but the song's title does translate to "the eggs of satan"...I am positive about this...Check it out.

[QUOTE=petrucci_wannabee]Just to clear up the part about the chromosomes, aborigines have 44+2, the moajority of us have 44+2, the song is about trying to achieve 46+2.

Another intereseting point at the start is Maynard whispers 'join me, join me my child as we step through the shadow', but it sounds alot like he's saying something about jungian.

As for the very cool bridge, lying, paranoia etc. are the things you give up when you achieve 46+2, at least that's what I think.[/QUOTE]
ok thanx, i knew it was somewhere around 42/44. one thing though, its impossible to gain more chromosomes scientifically, but a **** good song all the same. i dont think maynard was being very specific about evolution, i think he just used that as a stage to sing about evolution on (if that makes any sense).

yeh most of us know that. but why can't we discuss what the songs/albums mean to us? that's what this thread is about isnt it? it was worth mentioning that though for the people who dont know about tool's humour.

[QUOTE=metally_mental]ok thanx, i knew it was somewhere around 42/44. one thing though, its impossible to gain more chromosomes scientifically, but a **** good song all the same. i dont think maynard was being very specific about evolution, i think he just used that as a stage to sing about evolution on (if that makes any sense).[/QUOTE]

I've not really got time to get into this, but read up on Drunvalo Melchizadek and look at [url]http://www.merkaba.co.il/Grid.htm[/url]

Warning - This s[b][i][/b][/i]hits hard going

Edit - The bit at the bottom is most relevant

"So Danny Carey and MJK basically worship the devil in some sort of sense, because MJK makes fun of Jesus Christ in some songs."

has to be the most abscent minded thing I have ever heard, have you ever heard of the grey area? for instance does me not agreeing with the war on IRAQ make me a suicide bomber, man how can you be such an idiot, sarcasm is the key to most popular acts not excluding tool.

you guys have failed to mention the soundscapes that apear on the lateralus album. Above all else i believe this album has beautiful music, the songs are stretched to creat wonderful sounds that you can truely loose yourself in, Adam Jones is possibley the best digital delay user i have ever heard along with other effects he uses. Just the sound of Maynards voice is so powerful (not the screams) that you dont even have to know what he is saying to aprecieate it.


The lyrical content is a bonus for me :D

^^Well put

i put the words from 'die eir von satan' into a translator and combined with my own knowledge of german this is what you get:


The Eggs/Balls of Satan

Half a cup of powdered sugar
One quarter teaspoon salt
One knifetip Turkish hash
Half a pound butter
One teaspoon vanilla-sugar
Half a pound flour
150 g ground nuts
A little extra powdered sugar
... and no eggs

Place in a bowl
Add butter
Add the ground nuts and
Knead the dough


Form eyeball-size pieces from the dough
Roll in the powdered sugar
and say the Magic Words:
"Sim sala bim bamba sala do saladim"

Place on a greased baking pan and
Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes
...AND NO EGGS

Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes
...and no eggs.



so... looks like a recipe for delicious 'space cakes'. First person to try it wins a gold sticky star....

[QUOTE=petrucci_wannabee]
As for the very cool bridge, lying, paranoia etc. are the things you give up when you achieve 46+2, at least that's what I think.[/QUOTE]

I look at the song as being about people who are rich, famous, powerful, or whatever, who feel somehow superior to everyone else, as if they were a 'higher being', a being that has a basic advantage and is not as simple as a 44+2 person - they feel unaffected by lying paranoia etc because they have entered the realm of 46+2.

I have to go now but when I come back I will look at the lyrics from this light.

Happy to see my thread, somewhat successful.. I have a few more inputs that I will post around noon, today. [B]"Adam jones is GOD"[/B] great post on "the Patient" that shed some light on a song I never really pondered too hard on.. makes sense though (IMO) anyways keep rockin guys. you'll hear from me later today.

[QUOTE=clearvision]Hey dude, some interesting points there. Didn't maynard say the song wasn't about god and jesus? I know this doesn't affect your interpretation but to get the 'true' meaning sureley we have to look somewhere else. I find this incredibly hard when in the lyrics it mentions crosses :angry:

Well int he first stanza you picked out the lines [I]'he had alot to say, he had alot of nothing to say'[/I] i find these lines could talk about Martin luther king (now to be called MLK) You see he tried to change or reform america into a non racist nation. He had many things to say, which may have become reptitive, hence maynards contradiction.

The next point i recieved from this guy called 'mstajduh' on the toolshed forums. in the line [I]'We need the f*ckin space to nail the next fool martyr [/I] the explanation the guy gave was "He was the one doing the nailing his 95 thesis on the corrupt catholic church in wittenburg" this makes sense, Maynard could be using a complex metaphor, but maybe im mistaken. These are the two main arguments i have. Has anyone got any othe rideas on 'eulogy'?[/QUOTE]

I find it hard to believe that Maynard or Tool would be against anything that Martin Luther King did in his lifetime. The real author of the 95 thesis was Martin Luther an Augustinain (german) monk of the 16th century. He creatred the Lutheran sect of the Catholic Church out of protest of Catholic corruption. He was famous for posting his 95 thesis on the door of the church in Wittenburg and he was also the first ever to translate the Bible to a language besides latin. You should really do some research before posting things you dont know about.

By the way great thread ToolOwnsYou :thumb:

ahh! I never got around to posting yesterday.. oh well i'll complete something before the weekend is over. anyways I just wanted to post something I was thinking about yesterday.. i assume i'm totally off but seemed kinda funny to mention anyways.

When i did my "[URL=http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211269&page=2&pp=25][COLOR=Red]Stinkfist[/COLOR] [/URL]" thoery I was stuck on what "relax, and take my hand" completely meant, so then I was thinking to myself. if he is "knuckle/fist/elbow deep within the borderline" in order to grab his hand. you must also go deep within the borderline. (unless its the other hand of course) Meaning! That the media is fisting you, and so are you. For believing & participating in all the bullsh*t they put on tv/news/radio etc etc etc.. .

For thoes of you that have no idea what in talking about, go back a few pages, and for the rest of you happy trails...

:evil:

[QUOTE=christonastick]I find it hard to believe that Maynard or Tool would be against anything that Martin Luther King did in his lifetime. The real author of the 95 thesis was Martin Luther an Augustinain (german) monk of the 16th century. He creatred the Lutheran sect of the Catholic Church out of protest of Catholic corruption. He was famous for posting his 95 thesis on the door of the church in Wittenburg and he was also the first ever to translate the Bible to a language besides latin. You should really do some research before posting things you dont know about.

By the way great thread ToolOwnsYou :thumb:[/QUOTE]

Yeah, some dude corrected me before hand, but hey postcount ++ :thumb:


I'm finding Euology the trickiest of songs to work out, i can only think its about Jesus/God now, i mean who else do you know of got crucified? Yeah it could be a metaphor, but what for? Crucifiction is horrible, but it puts you on show, maybe this could relate to a drug addiction in a weird and twisted way. Then i feel the song can relate to many people in the world that benefit from bad times including addictions in their life and also use their new-found status to voice their opinons. The person/people in question must be quite arrogant and think their take on everything is important, so they might be quite political. I can't think of anyone that may suit this explanation. That is one of my ideas...I guess i'll keep reading up on other peoples opinions and try and get somehtin from it :)

I'd just like to add something in response to an issue that came up a few times...beware of any Tool interviews you hear/read-generally they are all pretty sarcastic and like to play with people's heads in the interviews (which is great). In other words, don't take anything they say as a commandment-they're probably just trying to make you use you head. Oh and read the toolshed FAQs for a really good insight into the band...

From a personal point of view, I'd say, yes there are distinct themes in the songwriting, but often they are taken literally when they should be taken metaphorically and vice versa. Also some images may not actually be connected overly with the actual theme of the song, or it could be a development of an idea that takes the song off on a tangent. A fair amount of artistic license can be used as well...
All in all do not be too eager to pin something down as "definite"!

What i love to do with the Opiate song is take the meaning farther than religion. I find many things in life that the song applies to. Last night I was at a Judas Preist concert and I was thinking that the whole following religion blindly thing isn't just it. People follow rock figures quite blindly as well. If you go to a concert you can see that everyone will listen to what the band has to say and take it in very heavily. I hear the lead singer spouting all of the generic rock crap and it is amazing how mindless people are and they repeat it and cheer. I then thought that he could say anything and they would blindly follow just like Catholics following what ever the pope would say.

^Amen brother...

Looking through that toolshed site and having eulogy on repeat for 1.5 hours and listening to it for 30 times :amaze: I have come to the conclusion that It's about anyone that wants to be a martyr like christ, my earlier drug thingy was wrong but the rest is ok.
He uses Christ to show the image he wants to be portrayed about those type of people. When he says [I]'Get off your fu*kin cross'[/I], he's like telling people to get off whatever they think makes them better than everyone else. I'm told that this expression is often used for people who think they are better than others.
When he belts out [I]'You must be crucified'[/I] he may just be asking people to die as there is no room for people like that in the world.
However you can see that he's not talking about Jesus where he says somethin like [I]'Not all martyrs see divinity. But at least you tried.'[/I] You see Jesus did see divinity so it kind of rules him out of the equation.

I'm now content with my interpretation of the song, just thought i'd share it with you :) What really did it was reading an interview with MJK and he said it's not to be taken literally, take the whole thign as a metaphor, or thats what he said ment to me anyway, here is the question from an interview in Strobe dec99. Thanks to toolshed, they had the article and gave me loads of info on opinions...

[I]Is it about Kurt Cobain? I wouldn't think you'd be a fan of his.
"I appreciate what he did. I'm not really happy with his professional
widow. The song's about tendencies, not about a specific individual.
It's about tendencies of people wanting to stand on a soap box and
sacrifice themselves in some way. We don't need that process anymore.
You're on your own now."[/I]

ok heres the deal :
Sober - Sober is a song about one of the band's friends, who thinks he only writes good when he is high or drunk.

Stinkfist is not about anal fisting, it is using that as a metaphor. I'll give you an example, if somebody said asshole on tv back in the 50's, hospitals would've been flooded with stroke victims. However, today we can see a person eat smashed maggots (fear factor) and not even flinch. This good, it symbolizes progression, and must be continued.

Eulogy is about a man named L. Ron Hubbard. He started a cult called Scientology. Look it up.

46&2. hmmm. I'm not an expert, but I do know what this is about. Don't get mad if I mess up my terminology. The human genome has 44 & 2 chromosomes. Their are still a few groups of humans that have not fully evolved into this state (pygmys, aboriginies), they still have 42&2 chromosomes. The next logical step is 46 & 2.

Tool is just a awesome band all together. It'shard to me to really say one tool song means something because no one can think like Maynard. I just respect their raw talent as musicians and that's all I need. I love APC just the same. Adam Jones is my IDOL!!!!

[QUOTE=TheLorax42]Eulogy is about a man named L. Ron Hubbard. He started a cult called Scientology. Look it up.[/QUOTE]

This is a very possible answer to the origin of the song but I dont think it is truly about a specific person. Rather than being about a person I think it was written as an archetype of a martyr. On the surface the song may seem to be about a specific person but on another level it represents a universal being.

Yeah, it's what MJK said in that inteview i got the quote from...

Tool are incredibly metaphoric, thats what amkes them good.

PRISON SEX

the song is about someone being raped against their own will, being tied down, ruined. But at the end of the song he finds solace within this 'sh*t, blood and c*m'. Maybe its about society screwing us over. We just have to sit there against our will ebing raped in the arse. But at the end of the day we find our loved ones, friends, family all give us that temporary sanity. Theres my 2 cents

Ok guys, here is your "Official" Tool thread. Anything Tool related belongs here, don't create new threads. Also feel free to Discuss A Perfect Circle, Pigmy Love Circus, Zaum, or any other projects the guys from Tool work on. If you post something negative about Tool post up why you think and feel that way. If you post up "Tool Sucks" and don't give your reasoning your not gonna like the consequences.

Ok, lets have some good conversation and everyone enjoy. SFK.