what the...

[sparrow]

Hey
Im in to TOOL ideas and sci-fi stuff, but this is just out of my league. I mean what the...are they just f**king with us or what? I get the beginning but the stuff with the man in the ditch with "his people" and "his trees". I read somewhere it was message on his machine but thats some wierd message. INSIGHT NEEDED. Please post a follow up somebody out there.

[zaum]

The ending was indeed a answering machine message. It is from "bill the landlord" which was Maynard's landlord for a time, who actually is Bill Manspeaker from Green Jelly.

Maynard later sung a bit on Green Jelly's song Three Little Pigs -- "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin"

[manifestcontent]

that last part on the track i believe is about some sort of serial killer. see most murderers that have psychological disorders or pretty much anyone with a severe psychological disorder is quite self centered. they believe that the world is there's and it revolves around them. it's not to say that they are selfish because they can't really help the way they act. but a schizophrenic might think that everyone is out to get them or that everything is theres. in the track the guy reffers to everything as his. even the forest and the little people. the reason why i think he might be a murderer is because of how he woke up with sticky goo on him (blood?) and if i can remember there was something about him having a knife. the different colors describe his moods. red implying anger and maybe a murderous rampage. the only thing i don't understand is when he says " if God is our father then Satan must be our cousin". any thoughts on that?

[aenimator]

I'm thinking that the "If God is our father then Satan must be our cousin" thing must have something to do with satan being a descendant of God, as an angel or whatever. Ha. can you tell I'm not religious? :) But, eh, yea, If Satan's a descendant of god, as are we, we're related. And, of course, there must be some symbolism to be taken in that point, but it's too far past my bedtime to be thinking about those kinds of things. :)

[Burning Eden]

Sometimes I think this song is a big fuck you to all the vegetarians out there who believe it is morally wrong to kill animals for food. "Life feeds on life... This is necessary"... I know that's probably not the meaning, but it kind of fits with the carrot speech in the beginning lol

[OGT]

hmm...after listening to this song many times with my friends...we came to the conclusion that this person was abducted by aliens...call us crazy but if you listen to it with that mind set it kinda makes sense...think about it....listen....

[scorpioali]

Originally posted by manifestcontent
that last part on the track i believe is about some sort of serial killer. see most murderers that have psychological disorders or pretty much anyone with a severe psychological disorder is quite self centered. they believe that the world is there's and it revolves around them. it's not to say that they are selfish because they can't really help the way they act. but a schizophrenic might think that everyone is out to get them or that everything is theres. in the track the guy reffers to everything as his. even the forest and the little people. the reason why i think he might be a murderer is because of how he woke up with sticky goo on him (blood?) and if i can remember there was something about him having a knife. the different colors describe his moods. red implying anger and maybe a murderous rampage. the only thing i don't understand is when he says " if God is our father then Satan must be our cousin".
that really puts the end of the song in perspective. i had always been pretty confused about that last bit, but your interpretation really makes sense. the aspect of paranoia really goes along with the "this is necessary" aspect of the song.

[Rachmiel]

ManifestContent: I had the same thought about the end being about a serial killer. In reference to the "if God is our father then Satan must be our cousin" question: most schizo-type persons and the clinically insane have a tendency to be extremely self-centered about their world. With that, comes their belief that they have some kind of knowledge/insight/powers that others don't. Perfect example of this would be the main character from a Tell Tale Heart, where he made several references to hearing all things in heaven and hell. Excuse the bad phrasing, but I think you'll understand what I'm saying....or atleast someone will (i.e. someone please help me out here).

[useful_idiot]

Tell Tale heart was a story of a schizo that killed this old man cos he had a crazy looking eye. And he chopped up the body and he barried it underground, somehow some cops came by questioning about him, and turnes out that the guy that killed him had his seat right above the victims body while the cops were questioning him. He started to believe that he could still hear the old mans heart thumping. It finally made him mad and he dug up the body on the spot.

[Roach]

Vegetarians?... actually, I thought so too. Disgustipated does have a sort of humorous twang to it, sort of a way to finish an otherwise very dark album on an upbeat note. When a guy's talking about killing carrots, you know he's not completely serious. "Let the rabbits wear glasses!"

The first part discusses how killing carrots and eating them is just as bad as killing cows- with very tongue-in-cheek humor, of course. The second part says that no matter what your beliefs are, human beings are "designed" to eat meat- "This is necessary, life feeds on life".

As for the third part... I have no bloody idea. But I don't think that any of it at all is meant to be taken literally. You don't wake up in "a ditch" but "your ditch". And it's your sky, and your grass, and your gravel path. It seems to be part of a spiritual or mental experience. The way it flows for the most part, it's almost as if the guy is coming off a high, or a hangover (which would follow on well from Undertow and Sober...)

[ragna16]

I think the end is the best part. It's saying here you are, and everything is yours, go!

Of course you wipe the blood off your hands, and when you go to take the people, the first thing they're going to do is say "Who the hell are you?". The rebels must be killed, and thus the vicious cycle is continued. Life feeds on life in another more psychologically tormented way.

[Tychism]

As far as the line "Life feeds on life, feeds on life...this is necissary" is concerned, it does not necissarily say that meat is supposed to be eaten, labeling vegitarians. I see it more like "hey, plants are alive too, does that mean you are going to starve and die by not eating anything?", sarcasm, which isn't a rarity in tools music.

If a person chooses not to eat animals because they think life is precious and should be spared, shouldnt the same thing apply to the vegitation? No. That really wouldnt make sense, unless you're anorexic or want to be the first person to survive on a diet of water and salt, and in that case, good luck. So why be a vegitarian if your ideaology cant be completely satisfied? ----> Bottom Line: SARCASM

[YGOfvn]

I kinda remember reading something about it being about vegitarianism yeah... I think maybe that was supposed to be the theme of the album? Ya know with the pig on the back and the forks... yeah.

[Burning Eden]

Well yeah it is supposed to be sarcastic... thats what the carrot speech is about... saying they have a soul and everything, it's comparing carrots to animals... I don't think the song is a statement about how eating meat is right, it's more of a metaphor for how everything in nature is connected... the whole cycle of life thing... it's necessary to live off of nature and other creautres, that's how the world was designed.

[sktfrkr]

i agree with you burning eden, but the world wasn't designed.

[Burning Eden]

lol yeah ok...let me clarify what I meant...That's how certain circumstances came together to form this planet which we live on, thus creating an environment where the strong feed upon the weak... I think I understand the speech and the song, but how the answering machine message fits into all that, I'm not really sure...I kind of wonder what led Maynard's landlord to leave a message like that...very strange...

[evilentity]

Originally posted by sktfrkr
i agree with you burning eden, but the world wasn't designed.

actually, the latest scientific evidence (if you can look beyond the dogma of the present scientific community that seeks to perpetuate its theological agenda) indicates that life was designed. evolution works on the microevolution level, but not on the macroevolution level. evolutionary theory also can't claim to explain the origin of life, the cambrian explosion, or most of our more complex organs (see Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe where he talks of structures that are "irreducibly complex.")

Life on earth was designed.
The question is, by who?

[sktfrkr]

i don't know what you're talking about evilentity, but from what i know of evolution, it's only supposed to happen in quantized steps...and over these steps a large difference accumulates. evolution is microevolution i guess is what i'm saying. macroevolution..um..you mean how single cell organisms evolved over time to form humans? if they were even single cell organisms. well, that's pretty fucking amazing if you ask me. and although theoretically you could trace a direct path of ancestry from us to a common organism, it didn't really directly evolve into us. maybe i just don't know what the hell you're talking about. could you explain? what is this scientific evidence you're talking about? or is it just the stuff about darwin by michael behe? i haven't tried finding anything out about that yet...

[evilentity]

sktfrkr, if you're curious about this, just read Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe. I've also got an inside tip another fantastic book that will be out next year called Darwinism, Design, and Public Education. Those should clear up any questions for you.

[timesig.net]

The song is, to me, about the way that life is destined to eventually cancel itself out. The only way to end this cycle is selfsacrifice, which will eliminate the purpose of the sacrifice in the first place. The creation of life led to a sacrifice in the first place and when we were designed or created our maker-if you will- knew of this cycle and that we would become part of it.
It seems that life..is not without a sense of humility. We are human, and in that we are intigued by out logical thinking and scientific expressions. We have not began to comprehend the possibilities of our love, and what we can in turn create which can change this cycle.
That was our purpose. We were created to be spiritual and physical masters to change earth. And unfortunately we have seen the worst in our evolution lead to a self-interested society. It is our fault that we are where we are, but we can fix it.
Don't worry, all is not lost, but try to inform yourself before it IS too late to become knowledgeable of such things. The road to change is long and difficult.
Sorry, I feel like I have gotten off the beaten path, but this is important to me as it should be to you.

[Hyatir]

I think this song is a conclusion to rest of the album, i see the speaker at the end being the same one from the rest of the album, having finally admitted that there needed to be a change, accepted the change and has now "woken up" from his troubles. The goo on his hands an allusion to Prison Sex? I dont understand this yet, gonna have to think about it some more...

[Kostia]

The last part might even be referencing an Immanuel (God With Us) character. Like... pretend God manifests Himself in someone. What's it going to be like? As God, He's out to make His point, so he's going to feel all the human pain and thusly have His compassion in a flesh form. So He comes to consciousness after manifesting... separate from God, but still a part of God... and he's of course having pain experiencing the poor human senses and ways of seeing and feeling as compared to his former means. The goo... I dunno... heavenly ectoplasm? Ha ha. But this would explain the colours and his people and his trees and his field... etc. When he thinks about Satan, maybe that just his divine knowlege reawakening into the human brain.

*shrugs*

[Mantra]

ok as fun as the spiritual aspect may sound, this is Tool, remember songs like Opiate and Eulogy before you start interpreting their songs as involving god.

I have no idea what the end of this song is about, but there are a few things I have noticed. The whole your color thing may have something to do with a cameleon type analogy. "You stare up at your sky, blue is your color" the sky is blue, and now so are you "You whipe it on your grass, this makes green be your color" the grass is green and so are you, "It was a red car.... Red is your color now" the car is red and now so are you.

The little people can be interpreted in two wasy that I can see. One, aliens, this is the conclusion I jumped to when I first heard the song because it fit with the creepy theme, and after hearing Faaip De Oaid it made sense. The other would be that they are your children. This makes a little bit more sense in my head, they are tiny people, and they are yours.

Now these children, and infact the whole song, are probably a metaphor. A metaphor for what im not sure but I would geuss it has soething ot do with the mind. These two people are your children, wich could then be interpreted as your ideas. They are walking on the edge of a forest wich could mean that they are on the border of something, what I don't know (insanity?). In dreams a road or car often represent life. The car is locked, you cant get into it. You can't drive forward, and instead you move off to see these children, or ideas.

I'm not sure if this end of the song was meant to be taken in along with the rest of it wich is clearly about the food chain. In my mind it is meant to be considered a seperate hidden track within a hidden track because it doesnt seem to go along with anything else.

Then again, it might just be Tool messing with our heads, I really don't know.

[Hyatir]

Originally posted by Mantra


They are walking on the edge of a forest wich could mean that they are on the border of something, what I don't know (insanity?).

Has anyone here read the Divine Comedy? Well, in the start of Inferno, Dante is wandering around lost in a forest. Some people interpret this as his despair from which he tries to escape and ends up in Hell before finally ascending to Heaven. Others interpret it as a Christ allegory, because the story begins on Good Friday, and Dante ascends out of Hell on Easter morning. In this interpretation the forest stands for.... the wilderness where Christ is tempted? i dunno.

[N_I3]

The ending was a message on Maynard's answering machine, right. Well maybe we are looking too deep into this. Someone referenced faaip de oiad. That was a call to the Art Bell radio show, a hoax. I think that this is something that is supposed to make us sit down and laugh. It was a prank by Bill the Landlord, now the prank has gone onto us.

[Hyatir]

Too deep? yeah probably. I dont care, as long as we enjoy interpreting these things and the meanings we get outa them, it doesnt matter to me if its just a prank call. :)
Hey, dante's inferno was a political commentary and look how many books were written interpreting that.

[Hyatir]

so keep interpreting and keep enjoying it dammit. :)

[ragna16]

Hmm, I doubt that this was put in there just to be 'funny'. Tool aren't ones to use a stupid humor, deep and dark humor maybe, an allegory more than likely, but not a cheap prank, no way.

[nikstar]

Originally posted by manifestcontent
see most murderers that have psychological disorders or pretty much anyone with a severe psychological disorder is quite self centered. they believe that the world is there's and it revolves around them.

Oh heavens. I think I might have a problem.
Do you ever get that feeling though, that the world is naught but a movie and all you're here for is to be ridiculed or worshipped in it?

..Uh, me neither.

[nikstar]

Originally posted by ragna16
Hmm, I doubt that this was put in there just to be 'funny'. Tool aren't ones to use a stupid humor, deep and dark humor maybe, an allegory more than likely, but not a cheap prank, no way.

"Let the rabbits wear glasses."
Yes, you're right.

[Hate im]

Coming back to the vegetarian thing...
Ive always felt that people dont eat meat because they compare with animals, while nobody minds eating plants and stuff cus we cant imagine being like that

I mean look at any PETA poster, they r always showing somebodies leg in place of a chicken in a plate a subtitle like'Be vegetarian', They too are selling the same thing.

When i ask veggies they say, they feel the worst when they hear lamb being killed, when its moaning (most probably cus they would relate it to a child moaning or something)...and then they talk bout the blood and stuff.

In the case of plants, there is no blood and no scream and no shit like that, which means theres no guilty conscience when they are harvested
Thats why i suppose the song has the part of the carrots screaming, and stuff like that...

Again i dont reckon the song is only about vegetarians and stuff alone, think about it in a broader sense...how we always get sympathy when we have something in common with someone

[Hyatir]

the vegetarians can feel empathy for the animals becuase they share a common point of reference and there is an imagined connection between them and the animals. When you have two people with that empathic connection, like the speaker of and the object of 4 degrees, you have the opportunity to learn and grow from each other. (Life feeds on life, the 69 position) However, with this close connection comes an increased vulnerability to each other, and when you leave yourself open to someone who is already trying to change your opinions and your worldview, as you are theirs, the temptation is there for them to force their own views upon you, instead of learning n growing together. This is what i see as having happened id disgustipated; perhaps in the long cricket segue. Then, at the end, with the man talkign who seems to have the mindset of a serial killer (unable to feel empathy for another human(enabling him to kill dispassionately)), perhaps the object of 4 degrees was emotionally/mentally scarred from having had the speaker of 4* shove his own viewpoints forcefully uponthe other. this would set up the man talking on the phone nicely to be the speaker of stinkfist, with his disgust at the saturation of informatio of our society. tell me what u think, and thanks Hate Im for the springboard.

[Hyatir]

To clear that up a little.... call the speaker of 4* Bob, and call his friend, the person he's effecting change in, Joe.

Joe had the views of Bob shoved on him in 4*, and he was "suffocating what was mine, burying whats mine", causing Joe to become disgusted and emotionally hurt, and he turns away from Bob. Bob realizes his mistake in Flood, and works to establish a common bond, an empathic connection to Joe again. They grow into a joined state where they are learning and growing from each other. "Life feeds on life feeds on life...." 69 position, etc.

They are both vulnerable while connected so deeply to the other, and Bob cannot resist the temptation to once again force his views and opinions on Joe. Joe becomes so thouroghly fed up and scarred that he can no longer feel empathic towards another person (serial killer mentality).

Thats all ive got, but if someone wants to connect that to the word Disgustipated and "bill the landlord" phrase go ahead.

[Mantra]

Originally posted by Hyatir


Has anyone here read the Divine Comedy? Well, in the start of Inferno, Dante is wandering around lost in a forest. Some people interpret this as his despair from which he tries to escape and ends up in Hell before finally ascending to Heaven. Others interpret it as a Christ allegory, because the story begins on Good Friday, and Dante ascends out of Hell on Easter morning. In this interpretation the forest stands for.... the wilderness where Christ is tempted? i dunno.

interesting conection, I have never thought of that. Yes I have read the Divine Comedy, and it wouldn't be unlike Tool to pull a refrence from there.

Originally Posted by nikstar


"Let the rabbits wear glasses."
Yes, you're right.


The satirical approach at pushing across a message is very tool characteristic. The whole begining of Disgustipated is humorus, but doing something like the end just to be funny isn't

Originally posted by Hate im


Coming back to the vegetarian thing...
Ive always felt that people dont eat meat because they compare with animals, while nobody minds eating plants and stuff cus we cant imagine being like that

I mean look at any PETA poster, they r always showing somebodies leg in place of a chicken in a plate a subtitle like'Be vegetarian', They too are selling the same thing.

When i ask veggies they say, they feel the worst when they hear lamb being killed, when its moaning (most probably cus they would relate it to a child moaning or something)...and then they talk bout the blood and stuff.

In the case of plants, there is no blood and no scream and no shit like that, which means theres no guilty conscience when they are harvested
Thats why i suppose the song has the part of the carrots screaming, and stuff like that...

Again i dont reckon the song is only about vegetarians and stuff alone, think about it in a broader sense...how we always get sympathy when we have something in common with someone


Everyone gets the fact that the begining of the song is about vegitarians. We don't need any further explanation on the subject. We are not here to discuss the ins and outs of why someone becomes vegitarian. The big subject with this song is it's very misterious ending. Focus on that, quite a few people have already pointed out the obvious refrence to vegitarians in the beggining of the song, we don't need to establish it any further.


Originally posted by Hyatir


the vegetarians can feel empathy for the animals becuase they share a common point of reference and there is an imagined connection between them and the animals. When you have two people with that empathic connection, like the speaker of and the object of 4 degrees, you have the opportunity to learn and grow from each other. (Life feeds on life, the 69 position) However, with this close connection comes an increased vulnerability to each other, and when you leave yourself open to someone who is already trying to change your opinions and your worldview, as you are theirs, the temptation is there for them to force their own views upon you, instead of learning n growing together. This is what i see as having happened id disgustipated; perhaps in the long cricket segue. Then, at the end, with the man talkign who seems to have the mindset of a serial killer (unable to feel empathy for another human(enabling him to kill dispassionately)), perhaps the object of 4 degrees was emotionally/ mentally scarred from having had the speaker of 4* shove his own viewpoints forcefully uponthe other. this would set up the man talking on the phone nicely to be the speaker of stinkfist, with his disgust at the saturation of informatio of our society. tell me what u think, and thanks Hate Im for the springboard.


I think you mak be drawing connections that aren't really there. Just because two songs are on the same album doesnt make them related, they are seperate for a reason; they have seperate meanings. I think it would be better if you went further with the Dante connection then the four degrees one. If you looked hard enough you could probably find connections between all Tool songs.

[Hyatir]

Well, i disagree. I think all Tool songs ARE related. In my opinion, Undertow, Aenima, and Lateralus all show the spirtual and emotional journey of a person, reconciling himself with his peers, society, and himself (not in any order).
Taken like this, everything Tool has done in regard to those albums factors into the deciphering of the message, and the songs are very much related in the order theyre in now. I think the speakers of the sogns change, or perhaps theyre allegories, as in teh vegetarian speech, a whole parable to get us to think about how a common point of view is necessary for any empathy or connection between people.

[Metalanarchist]

Originally posted by Burning Eden
Sometimes I think this song is a big fuck you to all the vegetarians out there who believe it is morally wrong to kill animals for food. "Life feeds on life... This is necessary"... I know that's probably not the meaning, but it kind of fits with the carrot speech in the beginning lol

Mantra, I don't care for your attempt to squelch discussion on any aspect of this song.

I do want to add my schpiel to the vegetarian discussion. I got a real kick out of this song when it came out because I was making the change from hamburger consumer to vegetarian. Naturally my family wasn't comfortable with it at first, and my sister in particular liked to throw the words of this song at me to ridicule my decision.

Maynard's character talks about his vision of hearing the cries of the carrots, finding out they have a consciousness. So sis would joke that my vegetarianism made no sense because carrots have feelings too.

This is kind of funny in a way but I think it misses the point entirely about why people go vegetarian. OK, let's say maybe carrots DO have a consciousness. Only thing is, it's like no other consciousness that we can understand. Where is a carrot's brain? What are its thoughts? Yes, life must feed on life — it is necessary. But because humans are highest on the food chain, we can choose what to feed upon. We don't have to eat things that truly DO have a consciousness — all animals, which can communicate, feel pain, and pursue their animal lives just as we humans pursue our self-interested human lives.

Is there really a vegetable "holocaust" on harvest day? Uh... in terms of pure numbers, OK, sure, but the meaning of the word holocaust comes from a historical event in which one group of people systematically tried to wipe another group off the face of the earth. Clearly, no such thing happens with vegetables! So it is sarcastic to recommend that the rabbits wear glasses. :-)

There IS an animal holocaust, however. Another aspect of the Holocaust is how the Jews were herded into concentration camps, which is quite similar to the modern system of factory farming, in which animals are bred in enslavement, tortured, cramped in filthy, unnatural enclosed spaces, etc. You all know the drill. Wanting to not contribute to this kind of suffering to other sentient species is why many become vegetarian.

Other reasons are health: vegetarianism is proven to be a more healthy lifestyle, doesn't lead to heart disease (#1 killer in USA) and other major diseases. Also environmental: it takes much less land and water to raise vegetables and fruits and grain than it does to raise meat. And the living meat creates a foul mass of waste pollution. Etc. etc.

Not to preach here... just explaining. This song does communicate an important message about the cycle of life, but as for being a serious commentary on vegetarianism, obviously it falls far short in that regard — and I seriously doubt that Maynard & Co. would be so facetious and flippant about a compassionate lifestyle choice!

[Cryptoanarchist]

I personally thaught that the carrots were supposed to represent the souls of people in hell."And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil.""Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?" And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots"

Then again maybe not since hell is supposed to be non-existant.

At the end if the Little people were his children that would fit into the whole evolution thing very well.

Metalanarchist-I dont think they torture cattle much these days.(RSPCA)

[aoshi]

Originally posted by Burning Eden
Sometimes I think this song is a big fuck you to all the vegetarians out there who believe it is morally wrong to kill animals for food. "Life feeds on life... This is necessary"... I know that's probably not the meaning, but it kind of fits with the carrot speech in the beginning lol

I'm saying by any means that this is what tool intended with this quote "this is nessessary, life feeds on life" but in a certain sense we do feed on each other, it is in our nature to want to be on top....to be the best even if it implies getting there by any means nessessary.

[SonOfWillieTheP]

Bill The Landlord, isn't that a pseudonym for Bill Hicks???

[Nirvana]

Originally posted by sparrow
Hey
Im in to TOOL ideas and sci-fi stuff, but this is just out of my league. I mean what the...are they just f**king with us or what? I get the beginning but the stuff with the man in the ditch with "his people" and "his trees". I read somewhere it was message on his machine but thats some wierd message. INSIGHT NEEDED. Please post a follow up somebody out there.

well.. he sees his own world... if you create your own world inside your mind... then everything is yours...

also with the colors... as he touch or look at something bleu... then his main color becomes blue...

for example... he lookes at the sky and his color becomes blue... this means that its got to do something with the sky... you can create your own sky... with the clouds... the colors... then everything become yours....

sounds kinda weird... but it could be true


Meaningless Post:):-:(Nirvana):-:(

[11thc]

I think you have to be careful with overinterpreting Tool - I believe that most or almost all the details in their songs do have som kind of 'message' (ie meaning) but they don't all have to be connected. Speaking fact, that God and Satan thing doesn't neccesarily refer to Satan having been the right hand of God once, although it is true, but really I don't think there is much relevance in that concerning the rest of the last part of Disgustipated. Some of you probably noticed that cicadas are vaguely audible before the voice starts - which could tell something about the setting.


- I always imagined the person speaking in the last part of Disgustipated as a little, bald man with black eyes sitting under some cedertrees, listening to the cicadas in a marshland in southern France. He's sitting on a white and moderately dirty plastic chair with vertical holes through the back, speaking into a 80's taperecorder. Producer's label worn off. His right leg is resting on the left leg. He looks onto the gravel road. Night. He just emptied a bottle of scotch into a birds nest lying on the ground. -

11thc

[Fyrestarter]

Originally posted by nikstar
"Let the rabbits wear glasses."
Yes, you're right.

Heh, well, strangely enough, that phrase actually makes sense in the scenario when you think about it. Carrots are widely said to improve eyesight. Rabbits like to eat carrots. Therefore, he is saying that the rabbits can do without carrots and wear glasses instead.

[gaping_lotus]

no matter what your beliefs are, human beings are "designed" to eat meat- "This is necessary, life feeds on life".

This in fact is not the case..... humans, through evolution have BECOME meat eaters. We are all originally herbivores. The theory is that we became omnivores out of necessity, most likely due to desert like conditions. The question remains, why would we expose ourselves (as herbivores) to an environment that required us to eat meat. This likely had to do with rapid climate shifts etc.

more importantly, "Life feeds on, life" is an allusion to energy. We all need energy to survive, but the only things that give energy are living, therefor we must kill to survive, whether it be a carrot or a rabbit, or a sheep (bhaa-men, bhaa-le-lujah) In other words he is just making light f the obvious fact that we kill to survive, even each other, as Bill the landlord than shows us. Also, I always considered the "little people" to be little because of their distance. They are way out in a field, so to Bill they look little, and they are his because everything else is. I never thought them to be Kids, because they have their own car, that is locked, they are taking pictures in the field, than he starts to walk toward them, to, in my opinion murder them, to make them his. Bill seems to have a god complex, and seems to embody the "Life feeds on" philosophy quite well.

"First it giveth, than it taketh away"

[benson]

as there are many interwoven interpretations to any/every Tool song...

in the FAQ, it describes how Tool played at the Scientology Celebrity Centre, not knowing who they were playing for. so what if the carrots represent these L. Ron Hubbard followers (or any religious group, for that matter)?

they all have a soul, whether they be sheep following blindly or carrots, let them wear glasses, dammit. let them SEE.

[T41NT3D]

please read my reply to the "seems like ufos" thread.

the one right after this thread on disgustipated....

[ÆnimaticEnigma]

Vegetarians?... actually, I thought so too. Disgustipated does have a sort of humorous twang to it, sort of a way to finish an otherwise very dark album on an upbeat note. When a guy's talking about killing carrots, you know he's not completely serious. "Let the rabbits wear glasses!"


Tool uses symbolism everywhere. They are a metaphysical band. Accept it, or leave. :)

[magdalena_jane]

that last part on the track i believe is about some sort of serial killer. see most murderers that have psychological disorders or pretty much anyone with a severe psychological disorder is quite self centered. they believe that the world is there's and it revolves around them. it's not to say that they are selfish because they can't really help the way they act. but a schizophrenic might think that everyone is out to get them or that everything is theres. in the track the guy reffers to everything as his. even the forest and the little people. the reason why i think he might be a murderer is because of how he woke up with sticky goo on him (blood?) and if i can remember there was something about him having a knife. the different colors describe his moods. red implying anger and maybe a murderous rampage. the only thing i don't understand is when he says " if God is our father then Satan must be our cousin". any thoughts on that?


I've been contemplating this song for a good while now and i'm very much clueless. This one woke up with a head full of pain and he had insights. this might be an insight that you would get when you're under some kind of an influence. lsd, perhaps. i've never done it so i don't know what i'm talking about but that's a viewpoint to consider.

[exojjl]

ok as fun as the spiritual aspect may sound, this is Tool, remember songs like Opiate and Eulogy before you start interpreting their songs as involving god.

I have no idea what the end of this song is about, but there are a few things I have noticed. The whole your color thing may have something to do with a cameleon type analogy. "You stare up at your sky, blue is your color" the sky is blue, and now so are you "You whipe it on your grass, this makes green be your color" the grass is green and so are you, "It was a red car.... Red is your color now" the car is red and now so are you.

The little people can be interpreted in two wasy that I can see. One, aliens, this is the conclusion I jumped to when I first heard the song because it fit with the creepy theme, and after hearing Faaip De Oaid it made sense. The other would be that they are your children. This makes a little bit more sense in my head, they are tiny people, and they are yours.

Now these children, and infact the whole song, are probably a metaphor. A metaphor for what im not sure but I would geuss it has soething ot do with the mind. These two people are your children, wich could then be interpreted as your ideas. They are walking on the edge of a forest wich could mean that they are on the border of something, what I don't know (insanity?). In dreams a road or car often represent life. The car is locked, you cant get into it. You can't drive forward, and instead you move off to see these children, or ideas.

I'm not sure if this end of the song was meant to be taken in along with the rest of it wich is clearly about the food chain. In my mind it is meant to be considered a seperate hidden track within a hidden track because it doesnt seem to go along with anything else.

Then again, it might just be Tool messing with our heads, I really don't know.



Arnt the people tiny because they are out in the distance?
Made sense to me. I personally dont think them being tiny has anything to do with anything. Unless it has to do with infancy. (think lateralus lyrics?)

[exojjl]

(Conclusion)
I figured it out. What it means. Its simple.
The song, the world, is yours, it means what you want it to mean, and thats it. And by that meaning that you CREATE in your mind what you want it to mean. Most of us look for the most complex answer in a subject. Simply, thats what the ending to the song means.

[exojjl]

(Conclusion)
I figured it out. What it means. Its simple.
The song, the world, is yours, it means what you want it to mean, and thats it. And by that meaning that you CREATE in your mind what you want it to mean. Most of us look for the most complex answer in a subject. Simply, thats what the ending to the song means.

This is the simply most complex answer there could be for this song.