Water Theme

[ArthurDent]

As you may have noticed, the theme of water has been prevalent in Tool's songs since Undertow came out in 1993. In the song "Flood," water was used as a metaphor for the washing away of old ideas. While a flood washes away the old, it creates chaos as well, which is reflected in the song. "This ground is not the rock I'd thought it to be." Then, on Aenima, we have water cleansing out the crap culture of L.A., or basically everything that Maynard says "Fuck" about (ex. "Fuck L. Ron Hubbard, etc. and so forth). Still, it has the same basic meaning as flood, but the members of Tool are swinging their musical sword at specific foes, unlike "Flood," which is more general. The next step in this evolution is "The Grudge." We have the lines "Give away the stone. Let the ocean take and transmutate this cold and favorite anchor. Give away the stone. Let the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold." Besides the reference to alchemy, water is again being used as a catalyst in a cleansing process. This time, the cleansing is within one's self. Basically, Flood:Aenima:The Grudge :: cleansing your old ideas: cleansing other people's ideas:cleansing yourself (I'm taking SAT's soon, so you'll have to bear with me with the analogy.) I think it is amazing how Tool has a continuous thread that flows through their albums. With each new album, their ideas evolve, just like Bill Hicks said, "It's time to evolve ideas. You know, evolution didn't end with us growing thumbs."

[Andy DV]

We talked a little about this theme in the Aenima video posting area. Some other songs that contain the water aspect that I can think of off hand are sweat, swamp song, undertow, and prison sex. Sometime this water seems like an obstacle, while other times its more of a cleansing agent. Good point about The Grudge, I never even thought about that one.

[Braydon]

prison sex doesn't really have a water theme it just has that one line i'm treading water but it is a nice idea.

[meh]

Water is a very intriguing substance. Liquid in general is an interesting concept if you really think about it. I personally like the fact that water is used as a metaphore in most of their songs. It can really evoke any sort of emotion. Water is both reliable and unreliable in my mind. It can cause chaos and calamity or serenity and release. This really makes it a versatile subject to use.

[Well Known]

I like using fluids as a metaphor for all sorts of things, like light and inter-personal situations. The point I'm usually making is the effect of pressure.

[Hyatir]

I just saw The Ring the other day, and it seemed like water was a recurring motif in that movie. Whenever something emotional happened, it was either raining, or there was water dripping.