JeffGirard
04-17-2005, 09:43 PM
Due to the limited lyrical content of this song, its meaning (if it has a discernable one) can be, at best, only speculated at. However, nuance is what makes Tool's music so powerful and widely-enjoyed. Personally, I view this song in terms of my own life experiences, as well as how it is positioned.
First, according to the retail (Lateralus) arrangement, this song occurs after Lateralus and before Reflection. Assuming the songs are meant to be interpreted together as a single album - as opposed to a mere collection of songs - I view this song as describing the post-elation mental state of the mind 'coming down' off of the high of living in the moment that is described in Lateralus and feeling alone again. This feeling of exhausted thoughtfulness is shown in watching and finding beauty in the weather, but desiring someone to share it with. This feeling of loneliness spirals out into downright depression, transitioning (with lonely sighs at the end of the song) into "my darkest moment, fetal and weeping", as described at the beginning of Reflection.
In this light (and ordering), I view Disposition as the natural emotional transition from happiness to sadness that the bereaved (myself included) typically experience. This may seem strange or paradoxical, but emotion is not as polarized as we are led to believe. Joy and sorrow, love and hatred, destruction and creation are deeply and intrinsically intertwined. This has been a life lesson I've learned and cherished through hardship, and to me this song represents emotional (or dispositional) fluctuation - whether it was written about that or not (and it probably wasn't).
Secondly, according to the 'Holy-Gift' arrangement of songs, this song falls at the very end of the album, and follows The Patient. In this order, I view this song as describing the exhausting monotony and boredom that a hospitalized patient experiences after the determination evident in The Patient wears off. With nothing better to do, the isolated and bored patient stares out the window at nothing happening (the weather "changing", like watching the grass grow) and wishes for human interaction of any kind. This message of appreciate the moment and your freedom while you still have it fits in with the whole message of the Holy Gift well, but once again likely has nothing to do with what was really intended.
Hopefully these interpretations were at least interesting to someone, if not helpful. Maybe they can inspire someone to view this powerful and moving song in a different, or at least deeper, way.
First, according to the retail (Lateralus) arrangement, this song occurs after Lateralus and before Reflection. Assuming the songs are meant to be interpreted together as a single album - as opposed to a mere collection of songs - I view this song as describing the post-elation mental state of the mind 'coming down' off of the high of living in the moment that is described in Lateralus and feeling alone again. This feeling of exhausted thoughtfulness is shown in watching and finding beauty in the weather, but desiring someone to share it with. This feeling of loneliness spirals out into downright depression, transitioning (with lonely sighs at the end of the song) into "my darkest moment, fetal and weeping", as described at the beginning of Reflection.
In this light (and ordering), I view Disposition as the natural emotional transition from happiness to sadness that the bereaved (myself included) typically experience. This may seem strange or paradoxical, but emotion is not as polarized as we are led to believe. Joy and sorrow, love and hatred, destruction and creation are deeply and intrinsically intertwined. This has been a life lesson I've learned and cherished through hardship, and to me this song represents emotional (or dispositional) fluctuation - whether it was written about that or not (and it probably wasn't).
Secondly, according to the 'Holy-Gift' arrangement of songs, this song falls at the very end of the album, and follows The Patient. In this order, I view this song as describing the exhausting monotony and boredom that a hospitalized patient experiences after the determination evident in The Patient wears off. With nothing better to do, the isolated and bored patient stares out the window at nothing happening (the weather "changing", like watching the grass grow) and wishes for human interaction of any kind. This message of appreciate the moment and your freedom while you still have it fits in with the whole message of the Holy Gift well, but once again likely has nothing to do with what was really intended.
Hopefully these interpretations were at least interesting to someone, if not helpful. Maybe they can inspire someone to view this powerful and moving song in a different, or at least deeper, way.