Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The anima is the female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men. The anima
may be personified as a young girl, very spontaneous and intuitive, or as a witch, or as the
earth mother. It is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the force of life itself.
The anima or animus is the archetype through which you communicate with the collective
unconscious generally, and it is important to get into touch with it. It is also the archetype
that is responsible for much of our love life.
The ‘E’ in the Æ glyph is a half joke reference to enema. The relevance comes when you
take it as a flushing out of ideas, of up-tight feelings, in preparation for open-mindedness
and something new.
STINKFIST
Something has to change Stinkfist is a dialogue between two voices, the Seeming to be a relatively simple song
Undeniable dilemma Addict, and a second, which we might refer to about addiction, Stinkfist uses the rather
Boredom’s not a burden as the Drug, though it might be anything that disgusting metaphor of fisting (think body
Anyone should bear a person could have a destructive addiction to. cavity search fetish and you’re on the
right track) to convey both the extent of
Constant over stimulation numbs me The Addict, musing on the very nature of ad- addiction and the incremental increase in
and I wouldn’t have diction; the cycle caused by natural addiction desperation in the addict — to find or feel
It any other way to substance and situation. something alive and hopeful in themselves.
The search can, of course, ultimately lead
It’s not enough only to recovery or destruction.
I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy Widely banned or strongly censored by
I don’t want it commercial radio in conservative countries,
I just need it it has been suggested that the offensive
To feel, to breathe, to know I’m alive metaphor acts as a challenging entrance
to the album; those not willing to look and
Finger deep within the borderline The Drug, beckoning to the Addict, tempting think beyond superficial meanings should
Show me that you love me and that we them to relax and give in to the very simple turn back now.
belong together urge to fall into comfort.
Relax, turn around and take my hand Another interpretation, this one raised by
Maynard in an interview, relates to digging
I can help you change The Drug again, speaking in a quiet, subdued and pushing through one’s own self, par-
Tired moments into pleasure voice, like the voice in the back of your mind ticularly through layers of ugliness, to reach
perhaps. something valuable and enlightening.
Say the word and we’ll be
Well upon our way
Knuckle deep inside the borderline Once again, the level or commitment of ad-
This may hurt a little but it’s something diction increases, as it must, until the Addict
you’ll get used to is destroyed or realises his fate in time, and is
Relax. Slip away able to shake off the Drug.
Something kinda sad about The Addict. At this point the song changes
the way that things have come to be slightly; The Addict begins to question what
Desensitized to everything is happening. There is a realisation that what
What became of subtlety? began as a harmless flirt or recreational use
How can it mean anything to me has gotten out of control. They begin to weigh
If I really don’t feel anything at all? the worth of the Drug against its affliction of
numbness to everything but craving.
I’ll keep digging till Digging is both the search within the self for
I feel something the strength to quit the Drug, and the destruc-
tive chase of the next, ever-more elusive high
Elbow deep inside the borderline (chemical, personal or emotional).
Show me that you love me and that we
belong together
Shoulder deep within the borderline Over committed. In way too deep…
Relax. Turn around and take my hand And still the Drug keeps calling, whether
as an ongoing addiction or as nothing but a
memory is left up to us to decide.
EULOGY
He had a lot to say The image I get of the person Eulogy is writ- Eulogy was the first song to really make
He had a lot of nothing to say ten for, is that of an aggressive public figure- me twig to the depth of music coming from
We’ll miss him head. Mentally I picture a figure not unlike this band. My initial interest came from
Hitler, though that is almost certainly not who the smooth and powerful guitar riffs from
So long this song is for. Stinkfist, which was in the charts at the time
We wish you well and being played all over campus.
You told us how you weren’t afraid to die
Well then, so long I remember first hearing this song, as with
the rest of the tracks on this album, at about
Don’t cry four in the morning, playing video games
Or feel too down with my great friend Shaun D’Amico, and
Not all martyrs see divinity thinking “Damn… what is this all about?”
But at least you tried
To me at least, Eulogy is a relatively
Standing above the crowd, straightforward (for Tool) and aggressive
He had a voice that was strong and loud work against the betrayal and misleadership
We’ll miss him of false martyrism. I don’t attach it to any
real figure – content with holding the target
Ranting and pointing his finger of the song as representative of any or all
At everything but his heart At everything but his heart works well to false martyrs.
We’ll miss him describe the nature of dictatory rhetoric; the
exorcism of evils in every little thing in the There is however, a very solid case to make
name of the cause. that the song is written for the late political
No way to recall comedian, Bill Hicks. Strongly and vocally
What it was that you had said to me, opinionated, intelligent, articulate, pro-drug,
Like I care at all vehemently opposed to U.S. hegemony and
the armed forces, Hicks was a close friend
So loud of the band, and it is believed that his influ-
You sure could yell ence on Maynard was significant.
You took a stand on every little thing
And so loud So why would Maynard write such an
aggressive song about his friend and
You could be the one These stanzas aren’t included in the lyrics pro- mentor? A good friend of mine suggests
To save me from vided at toolshed.down.net, and are distorted that it is written in anger at Hicks’ sudden
My own existence almost to the point of obscurity in the record- departure from Maynard’s life (Hicks died).
ing. They also have a different tone, more A martyr? Hicks certainly took some heat
I was so sure that I’d sin and you’d pay too intimate and certainly more cryptic than the for his pro-choice, anti-establishment views,
I’m just glad you knew me enough to allow me majority of the lyrical content here. Perhaps and he did eventually die an early death, but
to always sit by you it’s an indication that this song is written for the song could be quite irrational and still
So mad since you stopped giving all your com- an actual (rather than metaphorical) person. make sense if you think of it being written in
mands You could be the one to save me from my own ex- the anger / denial phase of mourning.
You weren’t too mad when he called you istence seems to hint that it might be directed
Your mind is helpless at a spiritual leader, but though it would fit
nicely with Maynard’s opinions of the ‘middle
men’ of religion, “My views against Christian-
ity or religion in general are directed towards
the ‘middle men’ - those who are in power
Standing above the crowd, and use religion as a market force by which to
He had a voice so strong and loud and I manipulate human beings for their own per-
Swallowed his facade cuz I’m so sonal gain. The middle men taint any purity
Eager to identify with of spirituality that could result from genuine
Someone above the ground, religious / mystical experiences”.
Someone who seemed to feel the same,
Someone prepared to lead the way, with
Someone who would die for me
Goodbye
H.
What’s coming through is alive In reference to the birth of his son, and of see- For some people the song is an essay
What’s holding up is a mirror ing elements of himself in him about slipping into the deadly trap of a
But what’s singing songs is a snake The snake represents his past, the songs his heroin (H) addiction, and while there are
Looking to turn this piss to wine concerns about the cyclic nature of abuse and references that can be construed that way, I
doubts about his ability as a father. don’t believe that it tells the song’s full story.
They’re both totally void of hate, Of course, past and future simply are, being If addiction is a theme in H., (and I’m still
But killing me just the same neither good nor evil. Still his fears are real not certain it is), then it is only one layer of a
and tormenting. deeper theme.
The snake behind me hisses There’s a great concern that his past will com-
What my damage could have been promise his ability to father well. It is worth considering the song from the
My blood before me begs me While on the other hand, the love for his son beginning as a narrative with three ‘char-
Open up my heart again calls him to open up vulnerabilies and com- acters’ – the present person, his past, and
passions that abuse may have hardened in his future. In a show played shortly after
And I feel this coming over like him, until now. the release of Ænima Maynard gave this
a storm again The storm (again) is a symbol of the cyclic introduction, “Any of you ever watch those
Considerately wrestling he must do with his self and his past Warner Brother’s cartoons? There is the
in order to better himself. The ‘storm’ aptly scene where the guy has a devil on one
Venomous voice, tempts me, embodies meditative calm and tumultuous shoulder and an Angel on the other. It’s usu-
Drains me, bleeds me, thought. ally pretty obvious right? The angel is going
Leaves me cracked and empty to give him the good advice and the devil is
Drags me down like some sweet gravity The past is haunting, and painful, doubts and going to try to get him to do what’s going to
mental wresting is tiring. be bad for him.
The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been
My blood before me begs me But sometimes it’s not that simple, some-
Open up my heart again. times instead of Angels and Devils they’re
just friends giving you advice, urging you
And I feel this coming over like to do what they see as good advice, but
a storm again not actually seeing what is going to be best
for you in the long run. So it sort of comes
I am too connected to you to Too connected to his son to escape his fears by down to you. You have to make the deci-
Slip away, to fade away. simply leaving; as this new relationship forms sion. This song is called H.”
Days away I still feel you and grows, the father is changing and his
Touching me, changing me, hardened self is weakening. Further to that, there is this hint in an inter-
And considerately killing me view with Maynard by Carie Borzillo that
appeared in Strobe magazine in 1996;
Without the skin, Hardened parts exposed and sensitive.
Beneath the storm, Change is upon him. Borzillo: Who, or what is ‘H’?
Under these tears Weeping (rain from the storm that is change). Maynard: (Keenan begins to get really
The walls came down He finally opens up and lets his defences annoyed with this line of questioning.) My
down. son’s name is Devo H. That’s all I’ll say.
And the snake is drowned and His love for his son is enough to defeat his in-
As I look in his eyes, ner demons and he comes to realize that there So here is our entry point into the context
My fear begins to fade were many times like this when he should of H. We know that Maynard was once the
Recalling all of those times have opened up and been more emotionally victim of abuse, that there are recurring
I could have cried then honest. themes of abuse in Tool’s music and that
I should have cried then abuse is a cyclic behaviour (in that abused
children tend towards abusive behaviour as
And as the walls come down and Demons defeated and looking forward now, adults). The band has dealt with this topic
As I look in your eyes he is free and able to love with commitment before ‘do unto others what has been done
My fear begins to fade again. The future is full of possibility. to you’ (Prison Sex/Undertow) It’s entirely pos-
Recalling all of the times sible that H. is one of those songs that can
I have died ...And been reborn transformed, perhaps. be over-explained due to its densely layered
and will die There is also the idea that from birth we begin and personal themes. The best approach
It’s all right our path to death, and so are dying every as always is to keep and open and active
I don’t mind minute, every day. The time he spends with mind, and to use your heart as much as
his son is spent rightly and makes life (death) your head.
I am too connected to you to worthwhile, meaningful and joyful.
Slip away, to fade away I should mention that it took me some time
Days away I still feel you In this way, with this connection between to really get into this song – the minor key
Touching me, changing me, life and death (for they can’t be separated), intro and heavy rise and fall of the guitars
considerate killing is nothing more than an put me off for a while, but give it a chance,
And considerately killing me enrichment of the life journey. it’s an incredible song.
USEFUL IDIOT
Useful idiot is, of course the sound of a vinyl
record at the end of its play, with the needle
bumping up against the end of its track.
Well now I’ve got some The Man, of course, has long been a lable for
Advice for you, little buddy authority / government / corporate power. In
Before you point the finger consumer culture though, the system literally
You should know that I’m the man, is everyone involved in it.
So … Shut up and
Buy my new record
Send more money
Fuck you, buddy
INTERMISSION
Intermission is, of course, an electronic
organ mutation of Jimmy, the song that it
precedes, but think of it like this:
}
So glad that I have found you ‘official’ song words, but they are whispered sarily. “Eleven and she was gone/Eleven is
I am wide awake and heading home softly in Jimmy at: when we waved goodbye” means the child
lost his mother, or at least a mother-figure,
I wish that I could see you 2:52 in some way when he was eleven. Since
Turn and run to play then he has been, in some sense, frozen in
Dreams are fading time, “standing still.”
Carry my ancient soul
Perhaps he has been mentally traumatized
Carry me into the light and can’t move on, unable to grow and be-
Aim your body heavenly come whole as an adult. The lyrics certainly
Enduring a memory paint bleak scenery. “Under a dead Ohio
I’ll come to your light sky.” “Leaving you with the dead and hope-
less.” Also, the fact that he is “defending
Hold your light 3:15 his light and wondering ‘where the hell have
Hold your light where I can see it I been’” gives me a picture of a boy strug-
Hold it gling to hold on, though he feels alone and
High abandoned.
Die Eier von Satan The Eggs/Balls of Satan The moral to this one is that things are not
always as they seem. Tool’s most consist-
Eine halbe Tasse Staubzucker Half a cup of powdered sugar ant message to their listeners is that they
Ein Viertel Teelöffel Salz One quarter teaspoon salt should think for themselves, and “question
Eine Messerspitze türkisches Haschisch One knifetip Turkish hash everything”. It shouldn’t come as too much
Ein halbes Pfund Butter Half a pound butter of a surprise then that what will sound like
Ein Teelöffel Vanillenzucker One teaspoon vanilla-sugar a Nazi propaganda rally to anyone eager
Ein halbes Pfund Mehl Half a pound flour to draw conclusions is actually a recipe for
Einhundertfünfzig Gramm gemahlene 150 g ground nuts hash cookies.
Nüsse A little extra powdered sugar
Ein wenig extra Staubzucker … and no eggs There is also a parallel between the reac-
… und keine Eier tions of people to perceived evils – those
In eine Schüssel geben Place in a bowl who would be up in arms about “that Nazi
Butter einrühren Add butter song” might just be the very same who
Gemahlene Nüsse zugeben und Add the ground nuts and would be outraged that a band be allowed
Den Teig verkneten Knead the dough to condone “illicit drugs” on an album.
Think for yourself.
Augenballgroße Stücke vom Teig formen Form eyeball-size pieces from the dough
Im Staubzucker wälzen und Roll in the powdered sugar Then there is this idea: If you were to
Sagt die Zauberwörter and say the Magic Words: remake yourself, to improve things inside
“Simsalabim bamba salado saladim” “Simsalabim bamba salado saladim” you, would you leave out the seeds of evil,
the eggs of Satan – in you that tempt you to
continue a destructive cycle?
Auf ein gefettetes Backblech legen und Place on a greased baking pan and
Bei zweihundert Grad für fünfzehn Minuten Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes
backen …AND NO EGGS
UND KEINE EIER
Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes
Bei zweihundert Grad für fünfzehn Minuten and no eggs.
backen und Keine Eier
PUSHIT
Saw the gap again today... Pushit is one of the reasons I love music
While you were begging me to stay and poetry. I can’t think of another medium
Take care not to make me enter ‘Take care not to make me enter’… the gap, through which such inexplicable, complex
If I do we both may disappear which is explained a little later. and contradictory feelings and ideas could
be so easily translated.
I will choke until I swallow... He can’t move on until he accepts his situ-
Choke this infant here before me. ation for what it is, and what he must do to Quite simply, Pushit is a song that deals
What is this but my reflection? escape it. Here also, is the recognition of the with the paradoxical nature of an abusive
Who am I to judge and strike you down? cycle that will spark its end. relationship – that we can truly love some-
one who treats us so badly, and that in
But you’re an environment where abuse is the only
Pushing and shoving me contact, that it can come to be a kind of
You still love me and you pushit on me cursed loving touch. The song also makes
The ‘Rest your trigger’ lines seem to allude reference to the cyclic nature that such re-
Rest your trigger on my finger, to blame being placed – the way insignificant lationships tend to entail – the tendency for
bang my head upon the fault line things can trigger an eruption of anger, or the abused to grow into abusers.
Take care not to make me enter way in which a person can be constrained
‘cause if I do we both may disappear with rules in such a way that they cannot help The character in the song finally escapes
but break them. their dire situation, but only through terrible
But you’re pushing me, desperation and at the horrific price of hav-
Shoving me. Pushit on me ing to kill someone they hold dear.
Slipping back into the gap again The ‘gap’ feels like different things to me at The opening stanza begins with the relisa-
I’m alive when you’re touching me, different times – the hole that the abusive per- tion of the cycle by the main character.
Alive when you’re shoving me down son threatens to drag the character down into, “Ever have some one love you so much that
the recess of acceptance that will keep them they tried to kill you? Or perhaps suck you
But I’d trade it all trapped forever or even from Bob Frissell’s down into a hole, and you had to kill them
For just a little bit of book (again) in which he writes, ‘The gap to get away? Me either.”
Piece of mind between the way in which you have evolved
and the way in which you haven’t is getting —Maynard, introducing Pushit at Houston.
Put me somewhere I don’t wanna be greater and greater with the years. It is almost
Seeing someplace I don’t wanna see large enough to kill you.’
Never wanna see that place again
Saw that gap again today Resolution to leave is building within the charac-
As you were begging me to stay ter. They’re beginning to see exit as an alternative
Managed to push myself away, to what might ultimately be their destruction. This
And you, as well is the relisation of the false belief that an abusive
relationship is better than no relation ship at all.
If, when I say I may fade like a sigh if I stay, So the character proposes that they leave.
You minimize my movement anyway, They call it off, but a peaceful separation is not
I must persuade you another way to be had so easily...
Staring down the hole again And they harden their resolve and despair.
Hands upon my back again Thoughts of how life might otherwise be have
Survival is my only friend made the abuse feel worse. This will be the
Terrified of what may come last time, though what must be done to escape
is terrible, frightening and heartbreaking.
Just remember I will always love you,
Even as I tear your fucking throat away
But it will end no other way
CESARO SUMMABILITY
Cesaro summability is a mathematical
method that determines the summabil-
ity of a sequence when it is not summable
by standard means – basically any infinite
sequence either diverges on a constant or
goes to infinity.
Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA Tool pick up on the idea, but expand it into
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away a pointed reminder that lately our society
Any fucking time. Any fucking day has place material wealth and personal im-
Learn to swim, I’ll see you down in Arizona age above the things that really matter.
Bay.
It should be noted that present-day Arizona
Fret for your figure and The material things and status-image lifestyle doesn’t have a coastline, but is quite inland
Fret for your latte and objects that we’ve come to value so highly. from California (in which L.A. is located).
Fret for your hairpiece and Limited edition copies of Ænima included
Fret for your lawsuit and a revised map (sans California), inspired by
Fret for your prozac and geologic projections of the effects of a ma-
Fret for your pilot and ‘Pilot’ refers to a television pilot, a single show jor fault line collapse on the United States
Fret for your contract and produced to guage potential poularity. east coast.
Fret for your car
When played live, the song is often intro-
It’s a duced as being about ‘better living through
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of irrigation’, a statement that, with the title
Freaks suggests bowel irrigation – the ‘cleaning out
of the nasty shit’ if you will.
Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away
Any fucking time. Any fucking day
Learn to swim, I’ll see you down in Arizona While it may seem contradictory that May-
Bay. nard tips the very people he seems to want to
destroy to learn to swim, you can easily take
Some say a comet will fall from the sky it as a warning to prepare for judgment – to
Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves reassess what is valuable in life. You can also
Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still that with everything but life itself destroyed,
Followed by millions of dumbfounded how this misguided population might refocus,
dipshits indicating that it’s not the people, but their
unhealthy obsessions that are the problem.
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
Mom’s gonna fix it all soon ‘Mom’ being our creator – God, Nature, Allah,
Mom’s comin’ round to put it back the way the Great Spirit, or otherwise as applicable.
it ought to be
Learn to swim
Learn to swim
Learn to swim
Learn to swim
Cuz I’m praying for rain At this point the song takes on a soothing and
And I’m praying for tidal waves calm melody, contrary to the lyrics which, on
I wanna see the ground give way their own, project an angry and vengeful tone,
I wanna watch it all go down the music takes a hopeful, forward-looking,
Mom please flush it all away quietly enthusiastic, positive tone.
I wanna watch it go right in and down
I wanna watch it go right in
Watch you flush it all away
Time to bring it down again This is perhaps the biggest hint of all that
Don’t just call me pessimist Maynard is calling for mass re-evaluation
Try and read between the lines rather than death and destruction.
And Im slipping back into the gap again They’re back there, in a situation that’s grown
I feel alive when you touch me... familiar but is so dangerous and so frighten-
I feel alive when you hold me... ing. Again, I can only be humbled by Tool’s abil-
...down ity to pull a person directly into an emotional
engagement – into understanding an almost
Slipping back into you I’m accepting this. unexplainable, completely illogical situation.
If a person knows only abuse as an expres-
I am somewhere I dont wanna be (yeah) This part is told by the music alone. The sion of love, then the act of violence takes
Put me somewhere I dont wanna be character, alone and wounded in the after- on a special and disturbing duality.
Push me somewhere I dont wanna be math, drifting in their oppression begins to
Seeing someplace I don’t wanna see feel a desperate need to escape. The character
Never wanna see that place again... collects themself, builds up their courage and
resolve, decides that they must do something.
Saw the gap again today Guitars and drums in crescendo are strength
While you were begging me to stay and steel within the character... their mind is
Managed to push myself away, made. How? When? Its inevitable and now
And you as well, my dear that their strength has grown, their is no ap-
parent sadness in pushing their lover away
If, when I say I may fade like a sigh if I stay, this time. A test… a chance to let me go, to let us
You minimize my movement anyway, both escape.
I must persuade you another way Please!
Staring down the hole again. This will be the last time.
Hands are on my back again.
Survival is my only friend. I have to do this...
Terrified of what may come. Oh God...
* you disgust me
** you make me sick
YOU LIED
Setting sun can’t shine, now you’re gone This is a cover of a song by Peach, from
Inside sleeping, my heart beating Feeling dead inside, living on. their album Giving Birth To A Stone. Tool
You know that you tried to hide it toured with Peach during their early days.
Couldn’t you have said what you meant?
Oh... The song is fantastically non-specific about
what was lied about. In the betrayal of love,
Time heals, time congeals around us When love is confessed to, forgiveness and the crime isn’t important, because love
Endless hours of wasted moments healing slowly come about, but a lie is like a simply forgives. Lying and hiding is more
Understanding, not demanding thorn that digs deeper with every moment. painful.
Your eyes tell what you feel inside Understanding/not demanding hints at the
narrator’s desire for their love to come forward
Setting sun can’t shine, now you’re gone and admit the truth, but in spite of both par-
Inside sleeping, my heart beating ties knowing the truth, they don’t.
You know that you tried to hide it
Shouldn’t you have said what you meant?
You lied!
MERKABA
[ THERE ARE NO WORDS ] The song with no words:
It’s getting colder It’s been suggested that the Tool rework
Locked in a place where no one goes. might refer to the Vietnam War term ‘no
quarter’, used to indicate the death of
Lock the door, kill the light soldier or inescapable, deadly position.
No one’s coming home tonight Though there’s no formal evidence to sup-
port it, taking the song in such a light could
They bring news that must get through. paint ‘a dream for me and you’ in the light
Dying peace in me and you This line has no equivalent in the Zepplin of the U.S.’s obsession with stamping out
version. communism around the world at that time.
Locked in a place where no one goes. Support for this idea might or might not
be found in the near-inaudible whispers
We have no quarter at 5:14 (‘radical reasoning’) and 5:34 (‘so
We have no quarter many lives, so many minds that are more
We ask no quarter important’). There is much more obscure
whispering throughout the song (specifically
between 4:30-5:10 and 5:15- 6:20) but I
have no firm idea of what is being said.
Lateralus
Perhaps more unified and focussed in its themes than the preceding albums, Lateralus
deals primarily with extending the positive notions that first appeared in Ænima. Sanctity,
progression, extension and evolution are continuing themes.
Lateralus is commonly considered less accessable than Ænima. Initially it sounds loud
and disjointed in the beginning and very long in the end – such that in the first few plays of
the album it might be difficult to listen all the way through. Persistence however, is richly
rewarded. Those who know and love it think of Lateralus as a warmer, smoother sounding
album that its precursors, and its themes are consistently positive. In between those first
few uncomfortable listens and intimacy with the album is a journey of discovery. The album
is literally made to be discovered, and one should not expect to hear all there is to hear in
any of the songs the first, fifth or twentieth time around. Just as it’s possible to go deeply
into lyrical interpretation or enjoy the band superficially, it can be fun to follow individual
instruments closely through the songs, listening for things you haven’t heard before – it’ll
make you appreciate the work a whole even more in the times when you aren’t so ab-
sorbed in it.
THE GRUDGE
Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity Self-righteousness – the game of antagonistic The Grudge is, in principle, a song about
Calculate what we will or will not tolerate guilt-tripping and intolerance. ‘Scarlet let- bearing a grudge, the weight of it, and
Desperate to control all and everything termen’ is possibly a reference to the scarlet the options facing the bearer (to con-
Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen letter that adulterers were made to wear as an tinue bearing the grudge or to let it go and
indicator of their sin in days past. Regardless forgive). There are however, some strange
Clutch it like a cornerstone of their future actions they are judged by their metaphors and references at work, some of
Otherwise it all comes down past crime. which will show up later in the album.
Justify denials and grip `em to the lonesome
end The basic gist of the song isn’t hard to work
Clutch it like a cornerstone This deals with the concept of Right and out, it’s getting around the references to
Otherwise it all comes down Wrong, the idea that in any argument, being ‘Saturn’, ‘the one’ and ‘the ten’ which take
Terrified of being wrong wrong amounts to losing something. a bit more looking into.
Ultimatum prison cell
To explain these references, we can look to
Saturn ascends, choose one or ten. Hang on An opportunity for choice, choose the ideal The Tree Of Life a central part of the study
or be humbled again (philosophical) or the basic, logical, imperfect of the Byzant Kabbalah, a mystical system
path. that has its roots in Judaism. ‘The Tree of
Clutch it like a cornerstone Life describes the descent of the divine into
Otherwise it all comes down the manifest world, and methods by which
Justify denials and grip `em to the lonesome divine union may be attained in this life. It
end can be viewed as a map of the human psy-
che, and of the workings of creation…’
Saturn ascends, comes round again.
Saturn ascends, the one, the ten Basically, the references in the song break
Ignorant to the damage done. ‘Ignorant to the damage done’ is possibly a down in the Tree as follows:
reference to the way people are inclined to
Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity cling to moral justification if it means being ‘Saturn’ is the Third Path - ‘Binah’, it is the
Calculate what we will or will not tolerate ‘right’, even when the consequences are worse first to form out of the abyss, indicated by
Desperate to control all and everything than forgiving or admitting fault. the color black and representative of under-
Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen standing, reason, intelligence and language.
The potentials of Binah are developing
Wear the grudge like a crown self-control, silence, secrecy, impersonal
Desperate to control understanding and objective love.
Unable to forgive
And we’re sinking deeper ‘The One’ refers to the First Path - ‘Keter’,
indicated by white, representative of ideal
Defining, confining, controlling, and we’re ‘Sinking deeper’ away from reconcilliation, wisdom, will, inspiration and spirit. The
sinking deeper towards the logical, thinking, Earth path. potentials of Keter include solving the inner
quest, revelation, inspiration and enlighten-
Saturn comes back around to show you Reconsideration, seeing things as they really ment.
everything are for a moment.
Let’s you choose what you will not see and ‘The Ten’ is the Tenth Path (‘Malchut’),
then represented by the Earth, and evocative of
Drags you down like a stone or lifts you up The path from the Third Path (Saturn) to the body, earth and physical reality.
again First on the tree diagram is upward and out
Spits you out like a child, light and innocent (‘lifts you up like a child’), while the path to The question then is how are the concepts
the Tenth is steeply down (‘drags you down embodied in these Paths are used to aid the
like a stone’). ‘Spits you out … light and song’s purpose?
Saturn comes back around innocent’ can be likened to the feeling of Saturn can be seen as reasoning or realisa-
Lifts you up like a child or unburdening – the lifting of weight off of the tion. In the song it represents the awareness
Drags you down like a stone shoulders – that comes with releasing the of the grudge and the opportunity to make
To consume you till you choose to let this grudge. a decision regarding it – to shrug it off or
go. to keep it up. One is the most ideal of the
three paths mentioned in the song, and can
Give away the stone be taken as the influence to forgive and
Let the oceans take and transmutate this Release the grudge, let it return to it’s place. forget - to cast off the grudge. Ten, on the
cold and fated anchor In this way it’s much like karma – where the other hand, is ‘the beginning of personality;
Give away the stone release of bad energy creates a movement the physical body’, ‘the realm of the sub-
Let the waters kiss and transmutate these towards good. conscious … where repressed energies are
leaden grudges into gold channelled up’.
Let go
Also worth keeping in mind is that the path
from the Third Path (Saturn) to the First on
the tree diagram is upward and out (‘lifts
you up like a child’), while the path to the
Tenth is steeply down (‘drags you down like
a stone’).
EON BLUE APOCALYPSE
While this is little more than a lead in to The
Patient, If the reference to “our new [blue]
second sun” in Third Eye is taken from Na-
tive American mythology (which Maynard
has said he’s interested in), then its appear-
ance is the final sign of the coming of the
fifth world (the Apocalypse).
Be patient
I must keep reminding myself of this
Just let the light touch you So make this realisation, be re-inspired, look
And let the words spill through in, out and through yourself for the answers.
And let them pass right through
Bringing out our hope and reason… Side note: Oddly (it might seem), Buddhism
teaches that the abandonment of self begins with
Before we pine away inward-looking meditation.
TRIAD
There are no words. agrees with. of the album, something which might be
likened to the realisation of ultimate and
Triad practically begs not to be ex- No clapping, no belting along the chorus… perfect balance. Others feel that it is the
plained, to simply be heard and felt. One just… listen. sound of surging and relentless determina-
toolshed.down.net forum put it thusly: tion to continue the search. I won’t pollute it
But at the risk of corrupting it all, I will make any more than that, and hope that you will
Listening to Triad, one has to believe that brief mention of a possible significance of find your own meanings and interpretations.
there is a very specific reason why Maynard the title. In the Tree Of Life there are three
chose to not put vocals to it. If he can put triads – personality, soul, and transpersonal
vocals to Lateralus and Schism, he can do – each representing a balance between
so for Triad, a 3/4 song all the way through. three paths.
The disasters that are coming, they, the military, I’m The crazy sounds in the song (or at least
sorry, the government knows about them. And there’s a some of them) come from a dying drum
lot of safe areas in this world that they could begin mov- synthesizer. When asked about the track
ing the population to now. They are not! They want those Danny says that he heard the thing ‘melting
major population centers wiped out so that the few that down’, flicked on the DAT recorder and let
are left will be more easily controllable.” it go.
1 + 1 = 2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, 3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 8 = 13, 8 + 13 = 21
The Fibonacci series: each number is the sum of the two preceeding it.
The Golden Section is created by the ratio of any pair in the series.
The relationship between the golden section and the square is reciprocal.
…And so on…
The golden spiral is the initial zygote spine shape for all vertebrates,
it describes the basic way air currents interact, the spread of segments
in sunflowers, the arrangement of segments in beehives, the shape of
nautilus shells, ferns, the basic proportion of the human form, the dimen-
sions of The Parthenon and the trailing arms of spiral-formation galaxies.
3 2
5 4
8 7
10
The Grudge
1 Keter: The Infinite. Pluto. Divine ideal wisdom/Will/Inspiration/Spirit.
3 Binah: Saturn. Understanding/Reason/Intelligence/Language.
10 Malchut: Is the Earthly Dominion, while Keter is the Eternal Dominion.
Lateralus
3 (as above)
1 (as above)
5 Gervurah: Mars. Severity/Justice/Inner strength/Competition/Rigor
6 Tipharet: Beauty/Equilibrium. The Golden Mean/Phi Ratio.