H is for Heroin

[BuckleFace]

I dont know why anyone hasn't noticed. But I think the song is about heroin. Just listen to the words of it. Its not directly mentioning it. But I read the lyrics and thats the notion it gives me. The whole metaphor about the piss turning into wine(heroin corrupting his body with its toxins). Anoter verse:"The snake behind me hisses(the needle)
What my damage could have been.
My blood before me begs me"(his veins being destroyed by the heroin) Now this verse seems even more fairly obvious:"I am too connected to you to(addicted)
Slip away, to fade away.(to addicted to quit)
Days away I still feel you( withdrawl)
Touching me, changing me,(pretty obvious i think this line is)
And considerately killing me( again fairly obvious, for those who dont know heroin is a real killing bitch) and when he says I dont mind---Him just telling us its killing him but in the end he doesnt care.

[jpmanson]

that was what i thought way back in the day too, but now i dont think so. the song is pretty vague, could be about all sorts of things. the heroin idea doesnt fit with the rest of the album.

[BuckleFace]

Thats true. But I mean there crazy folks. I dont know thats just my opinion until i see Maynard say its not about heroin. And the song is vague, i first thought it was about a chick and a heartbreak. But i dont know the heroin to me sounds right.

[jpmanson]

Originally posted by BuckleFace
Thats true. But I mean there crazy folks. I dont know thats just my opinion until i see Maynard say its not about heroin. And the song is vague, i first thought it was about a chick and a heartbreak. But i dont know the heroin to me sounds right.

in concert maynard said the song was about his son..

and it was called "half-empty" before it was put on the album..

[Flojob]

Originally posted by BuckleFace
The whole metaphor about the piss turning into wine(heroin corrupting his body with its toxins).


isnt wine better then piss?

[sircorn]

well, the first time I heard this song I thought how it could be about drugs, but that it probably isn't. Now I see that its another facade for the true meaning(a lot like fisting is to Stinkfist.) Theres a lot more to H. then drugs, and Maynard might not have even wanted this song to come out like this. If its one thing ive learned about tool from listening to them for the past 4 years, is that Maynard liek to mess with our heads. Not in a bad way, but in a way none the less.

[stalkingbutler]

Its my firm opinion that H is about what ever you want it to be

[g-bay-be]

I ttoo believe that this song is how you interpret it. I am partial to looque interprtaion though

[Looque]

If the title, "H." is indeed meant to mean Heroin, I believe it's meant as nothing more than a metaphor, just like Stinkfist. I agree, when you look at the lyrics, one can see how it could conceivably be about Heroin, but I tend to think it's merely metaphorical if there is a Heroin connection at all.

My personal take on the song is under "H. as a struggle for self."

[PRNinja23]

that was what i thought way back in the day too, but now i dont think so. the song is pretty vague, could be about all sorts of things. the heroin idea doesnt fit with the rest of the album.

For me, H fits in the continuum of the songs from Undertow to Aenima. Undertow talks about all the aspects of addiction and/or harmful relationships, it ends with a realization that "this ground is not the rock I thought it to be," where the entire old belief system is thrown away. The next song, Stinkfist, is the realization that more is not better, when you try to get higher and higher, richer and richer, or smarter and smarter, and you get numb to whatever you're trying to use to feel alive.

Next, I believe Eulogy is about that "belligerant fucker" from Swamp Song (singing to himself) and how he's not around anymore. After he has separated from an entirely false sense of self ("crumbling images"), he finds that the craving for the drug still remains. No matter how many "personal issues" are resolved, your body and mind will never forget that rush. The "blood before me" is the physical craving of the body and the snake is the temptation that one experiences in the mind.

These interpretations come from my own personal experiences.