The Doctors are patient...

[drone007]

hey guys...first post on this forum. be gentle

i've always thought it was cool how you could take the lyrics of The Patient to be describing a doctor. Just read through the lyrics and think about how you would feel if you were in charge of making a few tens of people recover from an illness or injury. Doctors have late hours and are constantly around some depressing settings. Read the lyrics.


A groan of tedium escapes me,
Startling the fearful.
Is this a test? It has to be,
Otherwise I can't go on.
Draining patience, drain vitality.
This paranoid, paralyzed vampire act's a little old.

But I'm still right here
Giving blood, keeping faith
And I'm still right here.

Wait it out,
Gonna wait it out,
Be patient (wait it out).

If there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would've walked away by now.
Gonna wait it out.

If there were no desire to heal
The damaged and broken met along
This tedious path I've chosen here
I certainly would've walked away by now.

And I still may ... (sigh) ... I still may.

Be patient.
I must keep reminding myself of this.

And if there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would've walked away by now.
And I still may.

Gonna wait it out.


Of course, I don't think it really is Maynard's attempt at describing the plight of the MD, but it could easily be applied to relationships or family or the band or whatever. If there were no rewards to reap, no loving embrace to see us through, lots of things in this world would be easily walked away from...

thanks for reading

[Windir]

First of all, welcome to the boards.

Secondly: that is a very nice and interesting thought you got here.
I would be interested if you would write your whole interpretation down.

I think no one ever said this before, always interpret with a patient/MJK, and never with a docter/patient... that's really cool.

I like-y it!

[toolishness]

I never quite saw that side... I thought over the side of the Patient, but not of how the Doctor would feel in such ways.
I used these lyrics for my Presentation/Oral in my Lit class, and through analysing it I thought of so many new interpretations compared to when I first listened to the song.

Welcome to TDN =)

[drone007]

I have never been asked to really finalize my ideas on this song, seeing as though I've never told anyone about this idea besides maybe one friend. But here goes...


When you first look at the title, assuming you know nothing about the song itself, what do you think? Well, when I picked up Lateralus, I perceived "The Patient" the same way I just recently perceived "The Package" or "The Outsider" when I picked up The Thirteenth Step by APC. I thought it would be a song about a patient. Expecting the normal shrouded and symbolic lyrics from Maynard, I expected the Patient in question to be undergoing some kind of change, much like a real world patient would be going under the knife for a sickness, etc.

Well, after listening to the song's lyrics and hearing the mood of the music itself, I knew that the song wasn't necessarily as cut and dry as mentioned above. Phrases like "Wait it out" and "Be Patient" make it seem more like the title should be "The Patient ____"... patient people, patient one, patient whatever.

So now I was kinda torn between what denotation the word Patient was referring to. It's kinda funny though, the song still retains some kind of sentimental feeling to it no matter which way you look it at. Kinda funny, kinda genius..

Well around the time I bought Lateralus, my grandmother had just died of Cancer, and I was pretty upset by it. Not so much I missed her and I had some incredibly close bond to her, but because I saw how it affected my mother and her sisters. Luckily they were there at her deathbed in the hospital and were able to give her a "loving embrace to see her through" (literally dying in front of their eyes, as sad and romantic as that is).

So during that time, every time I listened to The Patient I felt empathy for the people in this world who deal with loss and death everyday. People around the world are being patient, working with someone they love that is dying or maybe is losing touch in a relationship.

However, if you truly sit back and listen, not just hear, what is being said in the song, the lyrics tend to talk to from a certain perspective. Again, I'll lay it out with the lyrics right here: (keep in mind that I'm really looking at these lyrics from a concrete perspective, almost as if talking about a movie...true, the lyrics can then be applied to other things, but here I'm just trying to prove my point)

A groan of tedium escapes me,
Startling the fearful.
Is this a test? It has to be,
Otherwise I can't go on.
Draining patience, drain vitality. <---just thought of this now...patience/patients
This paranoid, paralyzed vampire act's a little old. <--- i specifically draw attention to this because a paralayzed vampire act sounds like working the late shift as a doctor

If there were no desire to heal <--- this line really defeats the idea of the song being sung from the side of a patient...the patient isn't healing anyone, it's the doctor who is healing the damaged and broken...
The damaged and broken met along
This tedious path I've chosen here
I certainly would've walked away by now.


Be patient.
I must keep reminding myself of this. <-- this is the total beauty of the song. the doctor is just as patient as the patient. this is where the analogy becomes so powerful. the doctor/patient relationship could be applied to love relationships or where someone anywhere is trying to lend a helping hand. patience is the key.


----

i'm sorry for the long post, but this is the first time i've really tried to explain it in depth/ explore the idea.

[Windir]

*applauds*

I really enjoyed reading that.
That's a very good way to interpret the song.

You definately made me look at it from a different angle now.

[Windir]

The title explained in both forms in just one explanation (??something is wrong with this line??)

Yeah... you must get rid of the fat-lined word.

[Windir]

Ah, okay, learned something.



Or did you mean my name? (it`s also fat-lined)
That would hurt me.....

LOL
No, not your name...
;)

[AllforUnity]

l think this title could be taken either way.

[ÆnimaticEnigma]

hey guys...first post on this forum. be gentle

i've always thought it was cool how you could take the lyrics of The Patient to be describing a doctor. Just read through the lyrics and think about how you would feel if you were in charge of making a few tens of people recover from an illness or injury. Doctors have late hours and are constantly around some depressing settings. Read the lyrics.


A groan of tedium escapes me,
Startling the fearful.
Is this a test? It has to be,
Otherwise I can't go on.
Draining patience, drain vitality.
This paranoid, paralyzed vampire act's a little old.

But I'm still right here
Giving blood, keeping faith
And I'm still right here.

Wait it out,
Gonna wait it out,
Be patient (wait it out).

If there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would've walked away by now.
Gonna wait it out.

If there were no desire to heal
The damaged and broken met along
This tedious path I've chosen here
I certainly would've walked away by now.

And I still may ... (sigh) ... I still may.

Be patient.
I must keep reminding myself of this.

And if there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would've walked away by now.
And I still may.

Gonna wait it out.


Of course, I don't think it really is Maynard's attempt at describing the plight of the MD, but it could easily be applied to relationships or family or the band or whatever. If there were no rewards to reap, no loving embrace to see us through, lots of things in this world would be easily walked away from...

thanks for reading


It's a nice interpretation... but I really don't think Tool would be that direct and deliberate with their songs.

And he says he's GIVING blood. The paranoid vampire act means they're draining your blood for their own diagnosis because they suspect you of something.

By the way, I speak in opinions. 95% of the time when I say 'means' I really am saying 'my interpretation of this is' but I'm too lazy to type that

[ÆnimaticEnigma]

wait... nevermind, I think that (in the doctor's sense) he's saying that he's growing tired of pretending to be a vampire by doing that. But I still stand by the giving blood part.

Mmk maybe not. Maybe he means transferring blood. Maybe you are right...

Drain vitality. take blood from others...
If there were no desire to heal. Healing others. That's what shakes my thoughts.

[drone007]

enigma, your points are certainly just as strong as mine. :) That's why I like this song so much, because the play on words and meanings is very easy to see either way... and in the end, I do think that the song can be applied to other things, using either the doctor or the patient analogy. very clever song i think.

[AllforUnity]

l don't totally know yet either. l will though...l will.