the need to figure out what tool is saying in their songs

[aoshi]

What I find strange about humanity or more specifically fans of tool (the people who have posted interpretions of songs on this website) to satisfy the need to FIGURE OUT what tool or maynard ment in their songs. Why do you care what they ment? Just as your beloved maynard has said: use the songs to spark your creativity, you shouldn't concern yourself as much with figuring tool out as with expanding your ingenuity? I want to hear what people have to say about this. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Respond please

[RacecaR123]

Originally posted by aoshi
What I find strange about humanity or more specifically fans of tool (the people who have posted interpretions of songs on this website) to satisfy the need to FIGURE OUT what tool or maynard ment in their songs. Why do you care what they ment? Just as your beloved maynard has said: use the songs to spark your creativity, you shouldn't concern yourself as much with figuring tool out as with expanding your ingenuity? I want to hear what people have to say about this. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Respond please
I completely agree with you. I mean it's ok to take some time to figure out what Maynard is trying to say in his songs from his own point of view, but you're never going to get the complete right answer so why bother going over board attempting to get it. Take what he says and interpret it into your own life, allow it to inspire you to be yourself and do what it takes creating his music does for him. If we all just try and figure out what he means in every song on every album we're in a sense trying to feel and see what he does, and this is impossible. Take the words and the sounds for how you interpret them, and apply them to your own life.

[4nick8]

Originally posted by RacecaR123

I completely agree with you. I mean it's ok to take some time to figure out what Maynard is trying to say in his songs from his own point of view, but you're never going to get the complete right answer so why bother going over board attempting to get it. Take what he says and interpret it into your own life, allow it to inspire you to be yourself and do what it takes creating his music does for him. If we all just try and figure out what he means in every song on every album we're in a sense trying to feel and see what he does, and this is impossible. Take the words and the sounds for how you interpret them, and apply them to your own life.

Before you judge people who spend countless hours combing over lyric sheets, you have to have a full grasp of creativity and influence.

Think of the movie "Pulp fiction" for a moment. It is never brought out in the movie just what, exactly, is in the damn briefcase. What makes it so great, is that it leaves your mind to wander as to what it was. It adds intrigue, mystique, and in free-thinking individuals it awakens a cyclic thought process in order to gain the most probable solution. In these instances, it is usually a major let-down to find out what the artist actually meant, because it is highly possible that it isn't nearly as ingenous as what you had come up with.

Another example of this would be the "invisible villan" sort of entertainment. I was a fan of the "Spawn" cartoons that were on HBO. I had only seen about 3 episodes, in which they had talked about the king of the underworld, Malbolgia. The very name sounded terrifying. Never in the cartoons that I saw did it actually show malbolgia, so I had a great mental image of the terrifying might he was to behold. Then out came the live-action movie (which, IMO, sucked ass) and they screwed up my powerful mental image of malbolgia by showing him as nothing more than a shitty-looking muppet. It was a major let-down for me.

But.. I'm getting off track here. What I'm trying to say is that, at least for me, I explore meanings of what maynard is trying to tell us. What his actual intent or purpose behind the lyrics is something that he holds to himself, and he can keep them. I really don't want to know exactly what he meant. The important part of investigating is that I work my brain to find the best probable interpretation that I can come up with, which will undoubtedly be something totally different than what others have come up with, or what maynard wrote it to be. It is my own interpretation that I hold most sacred.

In conclusion, I think that you may be misinterpreting the will of the people who spend hours and hours trying to decipher everything and break it down to its lowest levels. For me, it is a journey of great personal discovery, which is just the way maynard wants it.

It is a credit to the artist to be able to create such thought-provoking material. Maynard is truly a visionary.

[MushroomStamp]

Why would tool embed so many layers of meaning into their songs if they didn't want people to investigate and explore them?

It opens an avenue for every listener.

If one guy just wants to listen to the song and just take it at face value, he can. If another wants pull it apart and unravel all kinds of hidden treasures, he can.

I don't think anyone is asking for approval saying "is this what tool really meant?" It seems more like people are trading views and gleaning new ideas from others' viewpoints.

[Rice]

For a band with such an easily pronounced name, who knew they could be so complicated? Maynard probably does want us to figure out what his songs mean...thats how we use our imaginations...hell, Ænima could be about taking a shower for Christ sakes. But that's the beauty of Tool. Maynard can write the simplest lyrics (sometimes) and base it on one thing (such as Stinkfist, people think its about...you know) but to him, it can mean something totally different and it can be so complex. But then again, most of his lyrics are hard as hell to figure out. That's why we do it....to understand Tool better.

[paraflux]

I think it is a testament to the band. Why would so many people want to know what's going on with the ideas that Tool creates? Exactly!!! Why??

Because the music is injected with the life source that runs through us all, dormant or aware.

Other bands have similar messages. And many wonder about their ideas as well. But not like this. This music, once it gets your interest and attention for just a little while, has secrets to share.