Maynard is not himself?

[paraflux]

A lot of people, in fact, most people here discuss the songs as if they all had a personal connection to the man who sings the vocals. Let me show you another way...

There are four members to the band I let inside me. Each member is no more or less important than the next. Together, they make up a whole that far surpasses any one of the parts. Maynard is no exception. When Tool speaks, they speak from the reflection, letting the light pour through them on the way to us. They are vessels. If Maynard is a vessel for the reflection like the others, it makes sense that he is not speaking from his own ego. The references he makes about himself are not even always about him in the deeper sense, the whole sense. He may just be using himself as an example, like he does with Jesus in Eulogy. The song is not about Jesus, but martyrs. Jesus was the biggest martyr ever. It is a metaphor.
I think I moght go off the point here, so I will stop. My point is that Maynard speaks, but he speaks with the language that people will understand, so he has to use examples. And hardly any of Tool's music I would think revolve around Maynard's personal life.

[flipmojo]

Tool doesn't speak. Maynard speaks. The band plays the extraordinary music that moves the listener through the song, but Maynard tells the story. It just so happens that Maynard has an incredible voice and incredible insight. He is singing from his own experiences. Someone cannot sing those lyrics, the way he does, without having some kind of personal connection to them.

[paraflux]

Tool speaks. As a musician I can tell you that the entire band speaks. Have you tried to read the lyrics without having the music on? It makes about 20 percent as much sense without the music than it does with it. Maynard is simply the vocal part, the part that communicates to the part of us that needs language. The other guys shape sonic images, and communicate oh so well through the vibrations. You have never had an image pop in your head that the music created? Try to hear what the music does underneath the vocals. It all adds up to speak the same thing.

examples
"lateralus"
"push the envelope, watch it bend"
then the music bends

"Aenema"
"followed by meteor showers and tidal waves"
the guitar bends down to symbolize the water coming down

and someone could tell me all they want that the ending music of "Lateralus" the song isnt a spiral, but I know for me thats exactly what it is. The music is the spiral, Maynard is describing what happens when we discover it.

[xx lateralus xx]

i agree with the fact that the whole band does play and shape the music. without the other 3 musicians, maynard would be nothing. that is what makes tool special, the way that all the band members are on the same "page" and they make music that involves 4 very intricate parts, not a vocalist yelling some crap with fill music. with that being said however, i think that maynard most likley DOES have some type of personal connection to the lyrics he sings. being a songwriter, i struggle just to come up with words that sound good together, muchless worry about an entire song meaning. i think maynard just has the ability to write down a story and MAKE the words sound good together. his voice and songwriting ability are that good. i dont doubt that his band members may give him ideas for what they want in the songs, and he may be writing from a band's perspective sometimes. but there is no way each and every song he has NO personal connection to. not possible.

[paraflux]

Danny said in an article about Lateralus the album that they had to "step aside" and let the force come through. The ego is what was left to the side. If there is no ego involved, the only personal connection is that your body is the thing doing the playing, or singing as the case may be. Because it is so hard for you, as a songwriter, to do this, do you think it is that way for everyone? I will concede that A Perfect Circle has more personal stuff on it, but Tool is the reflection, with all egos pushed to the side.

[Tayloe41800]

examples
"lateralus"
"push the envelope, watch it bend"
then the music bends

"Aenema"
"followed by meteor showers and tidal waves"
the guitar bends down to symbolize the water coming down

I think your original post was a interesting way to look at the band and I agree with most of it. But I read the follow up post and saw what is above, and while I understand and agree with the way the music all comes together, I think its Maynard that makes that happen. Reason being that the band writes the music and then records it, then Maynard writes the lyrics and records it to the the song. My guess is that Maynard gets a lyrical influence from the music to create the waves you hear in Aenima. Dont misunderstand me because I think the music is the lifeline of the band and all 4 members are as important as the others