My interpertation of prison sex

[TheIronRaven]

I think prison sex is about a priest having sex with a boy & then the boy grows up & totally gives it right back to him ten-fold. well thats my interpretation.

laters
TIR

[FinalMinuet]

Eh, I really don't see much evidence within the lyrics to justify your interpretation.

I feel that it really is about prison sex as the title would suggest. However, it's much deeper than that. Think about it from the perspective of an inmate. They are gonna be in prison for many years, and they have to get used to this new way of life.

"I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this shit, blood and cum on my hands."

A quite disgusting visual to be sure, but when compared with "You look so precious," you can really see how distorted their reality has become. Hands bound, head down, eyes closed, throat wide open... shit, blood and cum on my hands... you look so precious... The main emotion I get from those words is pity.

The only unanswered question I have is how "Do unto others what has been done to me" fits this scheme. It's probably the voice of the song (narrator) yelling back at the legal system that forced him into this hell. Something along the lines of "You raped me in the ass, now I do it back to others, and what goes around comes around. You're next."

That's my interpretation of Prison Sex, which is an incredible song both musically and lyrically.

[Left_Standing]

ummm except that in prison that realy don't have much to bind someones hands with. This is Maynard we are talking about. He rarely discusses actual things or events but is more likely to use representations to get across a feeling or thought. When you look at prison sex you want to look at the key parts. The narrator is singing in rememberance during the first verse. It took so long to remember just what happened I was so young and vestal then... the second verse is present tense... We are not talking about a short period of time between the two.. years would be most like it. You don't call your 8 year old version of yourself young at age 9. Prison sex is more about emotional damage done through emotional and personal crimes. The narrator looses a part of his being and through it all only finds solace in making himself feel more powerful through taking that part of another's being... To get even deeper you have to look at this scenario... say that a boy is rapped often by his father.. then when he grows older he can only feel he has full control when he rapes his own son.. who in turn rapes his son later in life... who is at wrong? They are all a product of their environment, need for feeling of completeness, and lack of feeling of having controll. Or as the song puts it I have come full circle. That is where the song has its true power in making you examine that every action you take has a ripple effect and though maynard uses an extreme example like anal sex it applies to all things done.. which would then tie into alot of maynards songs meanings... especially on Lateralus where he wants to get across his point that everyone is in some way in tune and connected to another that through it all we will have an effect on most lives we touch and having ample thought in this interaction can be used in ways that we could never fathom to the point where we spiral out and achieve a greater being ... yeah that sounds all buddhist or wishy washy but in fact it is a true principal..... A great definition of maturity that I have been taught is that Maturity is the ability to accurately measure ones actions over an infinite period of time and and infinite number of lives.... if you get up tomorrow and make someones life hard who are they in turn going to effect because of your actions.

This is my opinion and take it as that... I do appreciate you reading it and would enjoy to recieve any and all thoughts you may have.
~Left_Standing

[FinalMinuet]

Yeah, I do see where you are coming from. I do agree that Maynard tends to think of things in terms of metaphor, comparing family rape to prison sex. Very good point.

[Left_Standing]

Well it is not just family rape... Maynard is not just discussing one action here.. but more of just the fact of the effect of action. It is like saying theft is only stealing a purse from someone.. which it is not there are thousands upon thousands of types of theft... he just wants to take a thought or emotion and place it in front of you and say 'this is what I think and feel... now tell me what you think and feel and use it' that is his goal I believe. To make you think and then to use that thinking to graduate yourself into a better person... The song prison sex could be as easily about family rape or picking on a kid at school or degrading a person whom loves you... it is about that action that will take away a part of a persons ability to feel whole and in control.
My belief is that Maynard makes all his songs for promotion of good, not in a biblical sense but more in a secular sense. When I first began to listen to TOOL everyone told me how evil it is. I have not found one thing to back that theory up... which I think is better than having the evil be present.
This is my Challange to any of you out there. Give me one TOOL song that is evil... meaning that it does not promote a good lesson or thinking that if used properly will cause you to be morally corupt.
~Left_Standing

[bluefire]

This is my Challange to any of you out there. Give me one TOOL song that is evil... meaning that it does not promote a good lesson or thinking that if used properly will cause you to be morally corupt.
~Left_Standing

Maynard's Dick

[downward_spiral]

i think its about some personal life experiance maynard may of had when he was younger. maybe not a priest raping him but some form of abuse.

[FinalMinuet]

Give me one TOOL song that is evil... meaning that it does not promote a good lesson or thinking that if used properly will cause you to be morally corupt.

Music cannot cause someone to become morally corrupt. It is the listener's fault if they act upon violent or disturbing thoughts created by a combination of the music and the listener's own imagination.

Although I do have to admit, -bluefire- has a point with Maynard's Dick... lol

[PseudoSX]

Well it is not just family rape... Maynard is not just discussing one action here.. but more of just the fact of the effect of action. It is like saying theft is only stealing a purse from someone.. which it is not there are thousands upon thousands of types of theft... he just wants to take a thought or emotion and place it in front of you and say 'this is what I think and feel... now tell me what you think and feel and use it' that is his goal I believe. To make you think and then to use that thinking to graduate yourself into a better person... The song prison sex could be as easily about family rape or picking on a kid at school or degrading a person whom loves you... it is about that action that will take away a part of a persons ability to feel whole and in control.
My belief is that Maynard makes all his songs for promotion of good, not in a biblical sense but more in a secular sense. When I first began to listen to TOOL everyone told me how evil it is. I have not found one thing to back that theory up... which I think is better than having the evil be present.
This is my Challange to any of you out there. Give me one TOOL song that is evil... meaning that it does not promote a good lesson or thinking that if used properly will cause you to be morally corupt.
~Left_Standing

I'm willing to believe that it is very much about family rape, most likely his own. Further, the depiction of the individual is of someone who is recieveing this action from someone whom, despite the situation, they trust. Chances are, it's his step-dad whom he despises and that it probably happened shortly after Maynard's mother had her aneurism and for many years after. But the feeling from the song is that twisted sense of trust misused. Talking about a horrible event doesn't make a song evil. Promoting it may, but talking about it, as to deal with it, is therapy not evil. Tool is about promoting good whether by questioning the world, mocking religious hypocracy, or celebrating your own self, your own life; you're right about that. But don't limit how good can be promoted.