Jvx
03-24-2006, 04:02 AM
This was the first song by Tool I heard, so it's significant to me. It has a vibe I like which is consistent through a lot of their music. After listening to this song again after a long time of not listening to any Tool, its meaning has changed for me.
I think this song is about opposites, the aggressor and the victim. Listening to it now, it sounds like the voice of a victim who has reflected on their abuse and is trying to understand why it happened. Pain pushes them to desperation and they try everything to make it go away. This song, I think, is about a point in the victim's struggle where they take on the mindset of their abuser and reenact abusing themselves through their own eyes.
This song is about empowerment. At this time in the victim's struggle, they've lived enough to know that viewing themselves as a victim and reliving the feeling of powerlessness does not work anymore. The victim realizes this and decides that it is time to change. How do they go about this? By any means necessary. They consciously live in their abuser’s shoes to better understand what happened to them and why.
It's easy to see this as being just a mental exercise, but the way it is presented in the song, and the way it should be experienced, is through every ounce of that person's being. Their thoughts and their un-thoughts. It all goes through the experience. As the victim lives the actions of the one who brought them pain, they gain an understanding that brings the victim the power that was taken from them and the power the aggressor wielded over them.
This song is about opening up and about learning to see the world in an affirmative way. It is about having the courage to acknowledge beauty in ugliness and strength in your enemy. It is about opening yourself to all the possibilities and appreciating them for what they are, even if they hurt you in the past.
I think this song is about opposites, the aggressor and the victim. Listening to it now, it sounds like the voice of a victim who has reflected on their abuse and is trying to understand why it happened. Pain pushes them to desperation and they try everything to make it go away. This song, I think, is about a point in the victim's struggle where they take on the mindset of their abuser and reenact abusing themselves through their own eyes.
This song is about empowerment. At this time in the victim's struggle, they've lived enough to know that viewing themselves as a victim and reliving the feeling of powerlessness does not work anymore. The victim realizes this and decides that it is time to change. How do they go about this? By any means necessary. They consciously live in their abuser’s shoes to better understand what happened to them and why.
It's easy to see this as being just a mental exercise, but the way it is presented in the song, and the way it should be experienced, is through every ounce of that person's being. Their thoughts and their un-thoughts. It all goes through the experience. As the victim lives the actions of the one who brought them pain, they gain an understanding that brings the victim the power that was taken from them and the power the aggressor wielded over them.
This song is about opening up and about learning to see the world in an affirmative way. It is about having the courage to acknowledge beauty in ugliness and strength in your enemy. It is about opening yourself to all the possibilities and appreciating them for what they are, even if they hurt you in the past.