My visual interpretation of the song

[dfbovey]

...and first post on this message board.

http://www.davidbovey.com/images/tool.jpg

Thanks for looking. Feel free to share your thoughts.

[dfbovey]

Now that I've shared that image, here are my thoughts on the song and what it means to me.

To me, it's about a rebirth. Coming to a revelation that makes your life change and doing something to change it instead of letting things slip by. Making every moment important and meaningful and looking forward to the things which may come. Moving forward instead of remaining stagnant.

The song is almost like a motivational speaker telling me to get my ass in gear... in short :)

[sundryan]

Excellent drawing. While I may not agree with all of your opinions on the song, I think it's great you're trying to interpret his lyrcs with images rather than simple words. If I could draw, I'd do the same.

[monkeyxote]

I dig the drawing too. I think the song not so much about the rebirth. i think the whole 'black then white are all I see" that is part of the birth but I think he's thinking back to being a child . As in having the innocence and wonder of a child that pushes your envelope as you watch it bend. To me it's just about the same theme it's always been with them. Evolution. just a differnt angle on it.

[Smokin joe]

personally, i immediately thought of "The Grudge" after looking at the picture. To me, it's a man that's trapped under the grudges he has, perhaps he's in the stage where he's ready to let go, it looks like there's water around, always a good symbol for rebirth.

joe

[Nafsw]

Here is a poem I wrote that was partly inspired by Lateralus (the album and song).

Wearily we wake from cradled sleep
Hiding eyes in luminous deep
Newborn children damp and cold
Gaining freedom from mother's hold

Every day hereafter life
Drifting by in silent strife
Holding on to every breath
Giving chase to our own death

Ever-flowing from this Earth
Is our death and our birth
Always the river carrying the rain
Never ceasing, never the same

Embrace your dreams, embrace your fears
Only then will revelations appear
Welcome today and all its sorrow
Accept what the river will bring tomorrow

[J1516]

I get the idea of rebirth mainly from Triad, though I think Lateralus is what triggers the change to rebirth. Nice drawing. It makes me think of a way less druggy journey of the wounded healer even though your drawing doesn't look like it means the same thing.

I like the poem

[dfbovey]

Thanks for your input and feedback. Part of the beauty of Tool and the way Maynard writes lyrics is that it is very open to personal interpretation... One person can take it one way, someone else another and then there is the way the artist intended for it to be taken. With art, it is what you make of it. I can't say I agree or disagree with any of your thoughts, because you are all coming from different directions.

[Pierre-Paul]

Really nice poem.

Lateralus is not for me about re-birth, but about accepting your own divinity and evolving to become one with the rest of the universe. It's a great idea to interpret a song with a drawing. They say sometimes "a picture is worth 1000 words", well, you proved it.