Part of Me.

[I Was Wrong]

I saw Tool way back when (I think it was '93) at a little club in Phoenix. At one point, Maynard said the next song was "Part of Me" and if anyone could tell him what it was about, they would win a prize. A girl at the front of the stage was jumping up and down screaming "MASTURBATION!" Maynard heard her, told her she was exactly right and brought her up on stage. They had a dancer's cage on stage with them and the girl's "prize" was to be put in the cage where she had to simulate masturbation for the duration of the song. Since then, I've never even bothered to try to find a meaning in it, nothing else will do!

Thanks,
Steve

"I was wrong...this changes everything."

[Andy DV]

Well whether that has any meaning to it or not, its still pretty funny.

[ragna16]

I like the way Tool staged that one, even though it makes sense it seems too specific. To me the only theme I need is "I know you better than I know myself." "you are a part of me"

So if those two conditions are satisfied then Part of Me can be about that.

[likwidkid]

Who knows.... he could be talking about his Dick....
it makes a little bit of sense to me....
"you don't speak,
you don't judge"

lol

[Metalanarchist]

That's a great concert story... now Maynard is known to have us on, but in this case I'm inclined to agree that his penis is the part to which he refers! If his dick is the "you" to which the narrator refers, it makes the lyrics at the end even more clear:

It's time for you
To make a sacrifice
It's time to die a little
Give it up

Give up what? Sacrifice what? Perhaps its common drive and use for sexual gratification? At the end of the Lateralus tour, Maynard often joked about how fans should go home and masturbate. And there is a time and place for that activity! But maybe in this song Maynard is telling his dick (ha!) that he's going to keep it out of action for awhile... die a little (his sexual drive) so he can turn his mind to other pursuits. After all, it's just one part of him — and we know how the band likes intellectual and spiritual pursuits as well. It's about celibacy to seek some other goal. Of course, the song does not have to be about him specifically... it could extend to others just by singing along!.

This makes it a typical Tool song: consisting of a rich metaphor that is pretty deep, yet hilariously funny at the same time in the way it is expressed! :-)

[manifestcontent]

so what i want to know is: did the the girl actually "pleasure" herself? if she did man that is fucked up.

[TheAbstraction]

maybe she crossed the borderline, cool. i would have but i have a dick and im not sure if i can cum from just rubbing it.

[AllforUnity]

That's stupid...Maynard knew someone was going to end up saying some idiotic answer. l think perhaps he saw it as mocking the song, or himself. Why do you think her "prize" was to be put in a cage on stage? He wasn't making her simulate masturbation purposely, he was singling her out showing everyone what an idiot the girl was. l mean...having to sit in a cage is some prize isn't it? He was putting a cage around her because she was close minded. lt simulates the girl being close minded, living in her own world, in her own little cage.

[Luna Galapogos]

I think that TOOL is probably a lot more obvious in their songs than we would like to give them credit for. Not all songs have to enlighten, they probably have fun making us the "dicks" of their music. All they have to do is make it a little cryptic, sit back in their recliners and masturbate as they laugh at our inability to comprehend the most obvious answer.

[AllforUnity]

l don't think very many of the early songs, from Opiate and Undertow, are any deeper meaning than what the obvious is...lt's Ænima and Lateralus where they start the deep meaning songs, and help people begin the cleansing of our souls.

[Windir]

I saw Tool way back when (I think it was '93) at a little club in Phoenix. At one point, Maynard said the next song was "Part of Me" and if anyone could tell him what it was about, they would win a prize. A girl at the front of the stage was jumping up and down screaming "MASTURBATION!" Maynard heard her, told her she was exactly right and brought her up on stage. They had a dancer's cage on stage with them and the girl's "prize" was to be put in the cage where she had to simulate masturbation for the duration of the song. Since then, I've never even bothered to try to find a meaning in it, nothing else will do!

Thanks,
Steve

"I was wrong...this changes everything."

You Are Wrong.

[AllforUnity]

Agreed Windir.

[Orph8998]

fisting, anal sex, why not masterbation? "thinking of you" is about it...

[Windir]

All Tool songs are about anal sex... check the lyrics man.

Agreed Windir.

Thank you/.

[AllforUnity]

Always.