Wydar
09-04-2004, 04:46 PM
For the longest time I really struggled for the meaning of this song. I was amazed at how clever and poetic Maynard can be when it (or how I see it) came to me.
Take the first group of lyrics:
"Get up and free yourself from yourself.
Locked up inside you,
like the calm beneath castles,
is a cavern of treasures that
noone has been to.
Let's go digging.
Bring it out to take you back in."
As with many TOOL songs this can be taken in more than one way. As many people have pointed out there's the hint of anal sex; "a cavern of treasures noone has been to", "let's go digging." makes that understandable. Now if you look at it as saying think differently, the lyrics fit very well again.
Next:
"You won't do what you'd like to do.
Lay back and let me show you another way.
I'll kill what you want me to,
take what's left and eat it.
take all or nothing.
Life's just too short to push it away.
Take it all.
Take it all in.
All the way in.
Let it go.
Let it go in.
You won't feel what you'd like to feel.
Lay back and let me show you another way."
Looking at that whole thing, again the two ideas can both be inserted to any of the lyrics and it makes perfect sense.
Finally there's:
"If you knock me down I'll come back running,
knock you down,
it won't be long now
All the way in.
All the way.
Take it up higher.
4 degrees warmer.
Give in now
and let me in.
You'll like this in
Don't pull it out.
It brings us closer than
dying and cancer and crying.
Come on .
You can take it all.
Just like that."
The song seems to change a little at this point. It's almost like Maynard begins pleading for the listener to "open up". "If you knock me down I'll come back running, knock you down, it won't be long now" I think of this as if you refuse to look at all sides of something, or keep a closed thought of what something is in your eyes, it will only disadvantage you. "All the way in. All the way. Take it up higher. 4 degrees warmer." This is where the hint of anal sex becomes obvious with "4 degrees warmer." Which I think serves the exact purpose of what the song is trying to tell us all in the first place! You know? Think outside of what is right on the outside and look at it from all angles, and you will come to find that there can be a much more meaningful idea behind it. "Give in now and let me in."
Meaning: lose the ego and try it. "Come on. You can take it all. Just like that."
For me at this point is when I got it for the first time, and when Maynard said "Just like that." I was truely amazed. It probably sounds lame or corny to someone else but then I wondered if Maynard meant the song to be an "anal-ogy" and was that clever to come up with a perfect play on words. Damn I love that song.
Take the first group of lyrics:
"Get up and free yourself from yourself.
Locked up inside you,
like the calm beneath castles,
is a cavern of treasures that
noone has been to.
Let's go digging.
Bring it out to take you back in."
As with many TOOL songs this can be taken in more than one way. As many people have pointed out there's the hint of anal sex; "a cavern of treasures noone has been to", "let's go digging." makes that understandable. Now if you look at it as saying think differently, the lyrics fit very well again.
Next:
"You won't do what you'd like to do.
Lay back and let me show you another way.
I'll kill what you want me to,
take what's left and eat it.
take all or nothing.
Life's just too short to push it away.
Take it all.
Take it all in.
All the way in.
Let it go.
Let it go in.
You won't feel what you'd like to feel.
Lay back and let me show you another way."
Looking at that whole thing, again the two ideas can both be inserted to any of the lyrics and it makes perfect sense.
Finally there's:
"If you knock me down I'll come back running,
knock you down,
it won't be long now
All the way in.
All the way.
Take it up higher.
4 degrees warmer.
Give in now
and let me in.
You'll like this in
Don't pull it out.
It brings us closer than
dying and cancer and crying.
Come on .
You can take it all.
Just like that."
The song seems to change a little at this point. It's almost like Maynard begins pleading for the listener to "open up". "If you knock me down I'll come back running, knock you down, it won't be long now" I think of this as if you refuse to look at all sides of something, or keep a closed thought of what something is in your eyes, it will only disadvantage you. "All the way in. All the way. Take it up higher. 4 degrees warmer." This is where the hint of anal sex becomes obvious with "4 degrees warmer." Which I think serves the exact purpose of what the song is trying to tell us all in the first place! You know? Think outside of what is right on the outside and look at it from all angles, and you will come to find that there can be a much more meaningful idea behind it. "Give in now and let me in."
Meaning: lose the ego and try it. "Come on. You can take it all. Just like that."
For me at this point is when I got it for the first time, and when Maynard said "Just like that." I was truely amazed. It probably sounds lame or corny to someone else but then I wondered if Maynard meant the song to be an "anal-ogy" and was that clever to come up with a perfect play on words. Damn I love that song.