Maynard's quote before H. live

[ignore-reality]

This comes before the song from a live show a couple years back.

"So, do any of you watch those Warner Brothers Cartoons? Sometimes as I wonder about one of the guys having a tough time making a decision. He’s got an angel on one shoulder, devil on the other. Seems pretty obvious, right? Usually the angel is the one who is going to give the good advice. The devil is trying to get to him to do what is bad for him. It’s not always that simple though. Most times their not really angels or devils, their just friends. Giving you advice. Looking out for your best interest, but not really understanding what is going to be best for you. So, it kinda comes down to you. You have to make the decision yourself. This song’s called H."

How do you think this relates?

[Timothy]

Pretty damn well. Half empty, oe half full?
It's all about perception.

[ObviousParadox]

yeah, like how do you look at the glass? half empty or half full? or who DRANK MY DAMN WATER?!

[MelodicTruth]

it also has to do something with carl jung and the snake in the song.....according to Jung, the snake in the bible(when he gave the apple to Eve) and in many cultures represents the alter-ego, the dark side, the devil who sit on your shoulder....

[Oblivious]

while researching stuff for a project i had to complete i stumbled across a man called Anton LaVey. He tried to convey the maning of life and his idea was that life is how you percieve it as an individual and nothing different. the depth of some of these people is unbleievable as is maynard's. However, i think that H wil have a deeper meaning than the half full/half empty theory, i may me worng but i think it is about his son and overshrouding him. it has an allegorical meaning to the cartoons, how can he keep in mind what is best for Devo H. (his son) when he is playing the angel and the devil at the same time? anyway, i also think that the reason for such little explanation is to encourage us all to think for ourselves. like i say, i may be wrong but who knows?

[ignore-reality]

Originally posted by Oblivious
Anton LaVey.

that satanist guy.......hmm.......I don't know, I've seen him on tv, everything seems fake to me, but then again I'm not a satanist

[sircorn]

I always thought the snake represented the pain MJK went through in his life. And that pain influenced his decisions later on in his songs. This song was the one that let his pain go, and he realizes that its better to let it out.

Try listening to the song again after you think about it. It seems to fit.

[ignore-reality]

Originally posted by sircorn
ITry listening to the song again after you think about it. It seems to fit.

read my thread on it......"interpretation of H."

[sircorn]

Just did. Now im enlightened. :D I agree with you there.

[Oblivious]

i completely see your point of view of satanism or any religion being fake and i am not a satanist or for that matter a believer in any religion. however, i want to ask you to take into account that all of these people, founders or promoters of religion to songwriters all ponder the meaning of things. Even though i do not believe with everything said by him, i take his meaning and philosophy on life true to heart. anybody who likes this should look at Albert Camus who suggested that if you spend your life looking for the meaning of life you will never live. the beauty of being able to reason is to have allegorical view. H could mean anything from the addiciton to overprotection, that is allegory. that is the beauty fo maynards's lyrics

[frankzeppelin]

Originally posted by Timothy
Pretty damn well. Half empty, oe half full?
It's all about perception.

I agree, to some extent. It wasn't until I heard this quote that I realized the confusion in makeing a tough decision he faces. "The devil is trying to get to him to do what is bad for him. It’s not always that simple though. Most times their not really angels or devils, their just friends. Giving you advice." Depending on your interpretation, be it heroin, love, children, snakes as a mythological symbol, snakes as in the Biblical serpent, etc., he's still pressed in a totally confusing situation where he doesn't know who/what to listen to. (All the references to touching, changing I think have pretty trong sexual overtones, perhaps meaning it is a sexual relationship, not a symbolic one.) They all seem to be acting in his best interest, yet "considerately killing" him nonetheless.

Finally he realizes that "he has died and will die." I think it means he's resoved that he will be hurt, or will have to take some other kind of loss, but that's okay because he will persist through it all. He has died, and yet he's still there. That doesn't mean that his decisions are inconsequential, just that the world won't end. The closure of his decision is expressed because "the snake has drown (died)," and there is no longer a conflict. Does anyone have any idea what the significance of the snake drowning over dying in general or in some other way? Perhaps because of the tears he "should have cried?" If so, then what could that mean?

later

[untilwepineaway]

I also have another live version of H where MJK says "This is a song about choices" right before going into the song. I think its pretty obvious that this song is about Heroin.

[sircorn]

anyone have the mp3 of the "angel and devil" song? Post a link, Id like to have it.