Question about the lyrics

[Maliathone]

I have been listening to this song, and I noticed that when he says "My Blood is bruised an Borrowed" the first time, on my copy it says fruit, however every other time it says blood. I also downloaded the song, and got the same result. I am not sure whether it is just that way or what, please let me know.

[Windir]

Fruit? The lyrics say fruit? Im what way?
"My fruit is bruised and borrowed" ?

Mweh, I think you're mistaking.
Look here (http://toolshed.down.net/lyrics/lateraluslyrics.html#08) for the actual lyrics. Which obviously are true.

[Maliathone]

Yeah that is what it says, I have listened to it like twenty times, did they make an edited version of this album, or did it even need to be edited? I am wondering what is going on here, I mean I am confused.

[Windir]

Hah, they havent made any special copies of the album as far as I know. I think you might have to listen to it more closely. Perhaps with headphones? See if you get the same thing. If so, I would love to hear it myself.

[Maliathone]

I am listening with Headphones, I am listening with headphones on my Soundblaster 7.1 surround sound card, I also tried in my Sony Atrac3 MP3 CD player, now trying it on my DVD player, and eventually with my surround sound system

[Windir]

Haha, you're coming across as desperate. Nah, kidding there.
Anyway, I'm still eager to hear that song if you keep getting the 'fruit' part. You could AIM me the song if you have it. My screenname is: Windirrr
Perhaps you just hear what you want to hear... or you need to go to a doctor with those hearing devices of yours.

[Windir]

Hah. I listened to your version and then mine from my original Lateralus copy and it seems he really IS singing fruit. So, the lyrics posted on the TDN page are wrong.
lol @ whoever changed/wrote that.

[Davey]

It sounds like he is saying "my friend bruised and borrowed" to me. I don't know what that might mean but that's what I've always taken from it.

[sub rosa]

It is plain obvious that he doesn't say 'blood'. Some people are really ignorant.

[systematic]

I also hear it as "My friend bruised and Borrowed"

[rembrandt_q_einstein]

my fruit is bruised and borrowed, is what i hear anyway

[OGT from back in the day]

I have been listening to this song, and I noticed that when he says "My Blood is bruised an Borrowed" the first time, on my copy it says fruit, however every other time it says blood. I also downloaded the song, and got the same result. I am not sure whether it is just that way or what, please let me know.
I am pretty sure it isnt "fruit" it might be "My frail blood....."

[mindstorm11/11]

I'm pretty sure it 's "My friend is bruised and barrowed".

[OGT from back in the day]

well im sorry sir but i think u r wrong just because what u said doesnt really go with what the song is about, well atleast how i see the song

[][ncognito]

I tried to isloate the vocals a bit here. I still can't make out what it says for sure.

Blood? Friend? Fruit? (http://www.doubleminor.net/users/chaz/blood.mp3)

Sounds like Friend, Fret, Fred, something... but none of those really make a lot of sense. I dunno.

[beldingarath]

[ncognito']I tried to isloate the vocals a bit here. I still can't make out what it says for sure.

Blood? Friend? Fruit? (http://www.doubleminor.net/users/chaz/blood.mp3)

Sounds like Friend, Fret, Fred, something... but none of those really make a lot of sense. I dunno.

I like fruit makes the most sense just because it fits the metaphor. "My fruit is bruised and borrowed" just makes sense as a line.

[nighthawk]

hey i just hear it with headphones and it does say "fruit" or something like that, i'ts really weird.

[BlanketEffect]

It sounds like he is saying "my friend bruised and borrowed" to me. I don't know what that might mean but that's what I've always taken from it.

Even after reading 'blood' I've always heard 'my friend, bruised and borrowed'

From a literary standpoint it makes less sense than 'blood' - but - it certainly *sounds* like 'friend'

[Toolfan24]

I have always thought it was 'My friend, bruised and borrowed' which could mean anything from a fellow used musician to referring to himself in the third person. 'Friend' would most definitely make sense.

[Insanekat]

Yeah it does sound like friend, maybe fruit a little. I don't really hear blood though. Does it actually say blood? I'm so confused.

[BlanketEffect]

Well the 'official' lyrics sheet says 'Blood'; but, the official lyrics sheet has two readily identifiable mistakes on Reflection, so why not T&L?

[Roadiepat]

Hah. I listened to your version and then mine from my original Lateralus copy and it seems he really IS singing fruit. So, the lyrics posted on the TDN page are wrong.
lol @ whoever changed/wrote that.

Then laugh at Maynard, he typed them out...
he may have typed blood.. yet said fruit in the studio

"Some Tool songs undergo slight lyrical variations in each performance; Maynard's own typed versions are shown here, uncorrected, to provide you with a straight-from-the-source guide to what he has said / might say next time.

Most of these transcriptions came straight from the Man's computer. How he writes his lyrics/poetry and then translates that into music is up to him. Think of them as photographs; you don't look exactly the same in every picture, but it is still you."

[transcend187]

I always thought it was "my friend, bruised and borrowed," but after listening to it about 12 times between two sets of headphones, my logitech 5.1 speakers, my laptop speakers, and my stereo speakers, I can conclusively say that he sings, "My fruit is bruised and borrowed."

[Omar Rodriguez-Mopez]

Fruit is what I hear and it makes perfect since. The fruit of life, you know?

Not to mention Maynard has used fruit in the APC song "Judith."

[Arson]

I hear "My friends burised and borrowed"

[BlanketEffect]

I hear "My friends burised and borrowed"

Yup, and it doesn't take a $100 speaker to hear it. Although I hear it there, too

[Terry21]

Maynard has weird speaking. It's blood.

[Roadiepat]

toolband.com says blood
I hear fruit
and you say friends

What the fuck?

hahaha

[Stiff13y3]

toolband.com says blood
I hear fruit
and you say friends

What the fuck?

the tdn forums in a nutshell :P

[BlanketEffect]

the tdn forums in a nutshell :P

No shit.

[amenorakumo]

I believe it to be fruit. I always heard it was an "f" word, hard accent on the end, but I never thought about it. Fruit contextually makes a lot more sense than friend. Bruised fruit, "Judith" -- it's been said before

[BlanketEffect]

The consonant sounds aren't as important to me in determining this as the vowels. A 'd' can sound like a 't' given the proper enunciation.

I just don't hear the 'oo' sound, as in 'boot' for 'fruit'

I only hear the 'eh' sound, as in 'mend' (not to mention I am pretty sure I hear the 'n' sound before the end of the word)

Ergo, I think still think he's saying 'friend' - who knows.

[benjamin]

Yup, and it doesn't take a $100 speaker to hear it. Although I hear it there, too

Wow, 100..."my fruit is bruised and borrowed...blood is BITTER..." I'm sorry, but he only says this once, right? It's "fruit" note the ref. bruise, and bitter...yes it's just satisfying dissagreeing w/ blanket but, seriously, it's fruit.

fre-inds
fruit is...lol...

[Ithinkformyself]

I just listened to it again and I heard "My fruit is bruised and borrowed" But I could definately see how many of you could hear "friends." They both work in the song as in fruit of their labor or his friends as in his bandmates. Messing with either of those would definately make you pissed off. Once again it is a TooL song and is open for interpretation.

[Terry21]

I wouldn't say figuring out what word he actually sings is interpretation.

[iAMtheMA!]

"fruit of life"?

[BlanketEffect]

yes it's just satisfying dissagreeing w/ blanket but, seriously, it's fruit...

I can only hope that my legacy left on is more signifigant than people who enjoy disagreeing with me.

That aside, 'fruit' makes total literal sense - I just can't hear it. 'Friend' also makes literal sense, I can hear that. So in this case, it's really just my hearing that's in question, not my lyrical interpretives. I'd be more inclined to vote for 'fruit' if only I could hear anything that sounded like it.

[iAMtheMA!]

(bump)

it's "official", toolband.com and toolshed.down.net lyrics are incorrect (and certainly not just on this track).


this is much closer:



suck and suck

suckin' up all you can suckin' up all you can suck and suck
workin' up under my patience like a little tick fat little parasite

suck me dry

my fruit is bruised and borrowed you thieving bastards you have
turned my blood cold and bitter beat my compassion black and blue

hope this is what you wanted hope this is what you had in mind
'cause this is what you're getting

i hope you're choking i hope you choke on this
i hope you're choking i hope you choke on this

taking all i can taking like we can take
taking all you can taking all you think we can take
got nothing left to give to you

blood suckin' parasitic little tick suckin' parasitic little
blood suckin' parasitic little tick take what you wanted and go

hope this is what you wanted hope this is what you had in mind
'cause this is what you're getting

suck me dry

is this what you wanted is this what you had in mind is this what you wanted
'cause this this is what you're getting

i hope i hope i hope you choke




plus, the difficult-or-even-impossible-to-decipher ramblings in the middle of this track...

[benjamin]

Well the 'official' lyrics sheet says 'Blood'; but, the official lyrics sheet has two readily identifiable mistakes on Reflection, so why not T&L?

Fruit! It's fruit. It doesn't take much effort to notice that, The "official" lyrics that get posted are in fact just the "poem" form, er such, of the songs themselves. The song as Nard would pen it. Then, in studio, as an entire piece of work it's a whole new beast. so to speak. That being exampled greatly in Undertown, read and listen to that!!

Blanket!!? Your legacy!?? I'm just pokin fun man. srsly. If I say anything insulting, it's just cause I lack the wit to sound funny....
Peace.

[benjamin]

(bump)

plus, the difficult-or-even-impossible-to-decipher ramblings in the middle of this track...


Is that a CHALLENGE! *say like Mufasa*

"Oooo hoo hoo, say that again."

"Mufasa."

...sorry

[SMEPman]

I definitely stand by "My fruit is brused and borrowed". Are friends brused or is fruit??

Anyway, who cares.....how bout that double kick bass!! :D

[BlanketEffect]

Man, I wish I could hear 'fruit' and be done with it. But I can't hear it, in the slightest. I hear 'friend' so clearly that I can't even fathom how so many people hear 'fruit'. It's fucking nuts, man.

[iAMtheMA!]

i've been like that before, my friend; that feeling can be the fuckin' worst. however, while i indeed sympathize with your situation, i DO hear a specific myfrUUUitis ...if that helps you at all.

(i hope we're all wrong, this is getting to be fun...)

[fawks]

"my friend, bruised and burrowed"

[BlanketEffect]

i've been like that before, my friend; that feeling can be the fuckin' worst. however, while i indeed sympathize with your situation, i DO hear a specific myfrUUUitis ...if that helps you at all.

(i hope we're all wrong, this is getting to be fun...)

Yeah, it's probably "my frappacino's bruised and borrowed" and we simply have no idea.

[iAMtheMA!]

"my friend, bruised and burrowed"
where's the "is"?

i certainly hope that we can agree on "my fr___ is bruised and borrowed"?

[BlanketEffect]

Man... you know... I can't honestly say I agree. Maybe it's there, but I have to really use my imagination to hear it. You know?

The "is", that is.

My friend(s), bruised and borrowed - maybe the possible plural sound on 'friend' is where I imagine the 'is' from. Or maybe it's really just an 's' and you're imagining the 'is' :)

[benjamin]

O.K. well, I hear fruit. And, I'm listening to the release w/ the mispelled title track. The recordings shouldn't be any diff. but for the love of pete, there's no way the disc I have has "...friends bruised and borrowed..." on it.
Srsly.

[BlanketEffect]

Very strange indeed. Because on my cut it's like, not even really debatable. It's like, *that* clearly 'friends'. So I dunno. I think my version is cut of the newer released (corrected) one. I lost my original *frowns*

[fadastic]

[ncognito;1113503']I tried to isloate the vocals a bit here. I still can't make out what it says for sure.

Blood? Friend? Fruit? (http://www.doubleminor.net/users/chaz/blood.mp3)

Sounds like Friend, Fret, Fred, something... but none of those really make a lot of sense. I dunno.

It's quite easy to tell it's "friend" especially in this isolation.

[MORNING_GLORY]

It's quite easy to tell it's "friend" especially in this isolation.

...I hear fruit.

[fadastic]

...I hear fruit.

It's like..."my freh-hend bruised and borrowed" I think you can make a case for "fruit" if you didn't hear the last bit of the word where it easy to make out the "nd" sound as opposed to it sounding like "freh-oot" which would be the way he'd pronounce "fruit" if indeed that's what it was supposed to be.

In the end, I suppose it seems like a silly thing to be debating.

[benjamin]

It's not "freh-hend", imo. It's "fruit IS" I hear the 2nd part, but as IS rather than AND(as in "the last part of freind")

Listen, I know ANYTHING can be bruised. But what common, maybe tender, sweet household item is a good metaphore for flesh (which I feel he's discribing) ...it's fruit.

Peace.

[benjamin]

^This entire site is "silly"...don't stop now. lol.

[BlanketEffect]

Yeah, Benjamin, email me an mp3 of your version of Ticks and Leeches. Let's see if there are different released versions that mix some of the vocals differently. [email protected]

[Alex in Chains]

I know the official lyrics say "blood," but Maynard often deviates from the lyrics he himself writes (even on the album -- see "Pushit"), and I've always heard "fruit."

[benjamin]

Fruit is a metaphore for flesh.

EDIT ...imo

[orcaloverbri9]

Friends doesn't make any sense, and there's no way he would directly reference his bandmates or his friends. Also, there's a definite hard U ("oo") sound, although it's quick. It's got to be fruit.

[PShepherd11]

I used to hear "blood"; probably because of the posted lyrics. But that really didn't make sense to me. I began to hear "fruit" after listening a few times, which fits better. It sounded like "froo" for some time, so I can see how it could be interpreted differently. I personally believe he's saying "fruit", since fruit can become bruised; and borrowed maybe metaphorically meaning like fruit flies (which are definitely thieving bastards). I know this song isn't about annoying little flying bugs, in case anyone misunderstands.

[parables in the world]

i hear fruit and it makes sense as his adams apple, apple being a fruit.

[MORNING_GLORY]

i hear fruit and it makes sense as his adams apple, apple being a fruit.

Hmm... interesting idea... I've never thought of it that way...

[benjamin]

Yo, I propose it's fruitage:My fruitage bruised and borrowed...as in, fruitage, n. [from fruit, and -age.] 3. a product or consequence; the result of experience,study or developement.
But let me save this noble fruitage of my mind

[benjamin]

Yo, I propose it's fruitage:My fruitage bruised and borrowed...as in fruitage, n. [from fruit, and -age.] 3. a product or consequence; the result of experience, study or developement.
But let me save this noble fruitage of my mind. --Baillie

[benjamin]

Whooops!




Whooops!


Peace.

[BlanketEffect]

Well, if I had to think it was something other than 'friend' (which I still hear) then I think a really oddly enunciated 'fruitage' would fit.

But I still hear 'friend' =(

[benjamin]

Hey, don't leave me in the dark. did that email not work? Was it not an mp3? Could I be any less e-sav...no...sorry, but again don't leave me hangin.
Peace.

[BlanketEffect]

Sorry, I thought I had emailed you back. I got it. It's the same version that I have =(. No luck, I still hear 'friend'.

[squintzik]

Not to bring back an old thread or anything but... I hear friends, maybe friend is. But there is defiantly an "eh" sound in there. Friend seems to work in my mind because Maynard could be talking about his vocals as his friend, destroying his vocals, bruised vocals.... yeah

Maybe there are different recordings of the CD or something? maybe an error when making a certain number of copies? I don't know but I can't hear fruit at all, and I've tried.

[Cheesegreater]

Sorry, I thought I had emailed you back. I got it. It's the same version that I have =(. No luck, I still hear 'friend'.

This is the first time I've checked out this thread. I would like to say that I listened to the Lateralus album for about 2 years before I looked up the lyrics to their albums.

When I read that it was "blood," guess what, I started singing that instead of fruit and just thought that I've totally been hearing it wrong. Then I come here and a few people think it's friends, but most think it's fruit. I was relieved to find that plenty of others heard fruit, but then other people hear something entirely different. All I can say is fr ooooo t sounds a lot different than fr "end".

BlanketEffect I was just going to say this. I really don't think you'd ever allow yourself to hear fruit in the first place because you're so set on it being friend. Just like I started singing blood when I saw the "real" lyrics. Everytime that line comes around you have that mindset of "I've heard friend a thousand times before and I don't see how anything could change it." You listen to it to reaffirm that you hear "friend" instead of listen to it for the possibility he's saying "fruit". So you'll never hear it if it makes you feel any better.

It's kinda like this whole Jambi debate of whether he's saying "Dim" or "damn" my eyes. The difference is minute, and it's easy to swear up and down that it's dim instead of damn. If you believe it's "dim" it's easy to get your ears to go along with that idea. Now if someone said it's "Fuck my eyes!" in the song, of course everyone would pipe up about how that couldn't possibly be it. At least we've determined that most of us hear an "fr" as opposed to a "bl" sound and that says something.

I hear fruit, and I have for about the last 6 years now, and that's without referring to lyrics or anything, it's just what I've always heard. It can almost sound like "food" sometmes. That ends with a "d" and is closer to friend, but there is just no way he's saying friend. I'd be willing to wager my life on it, and remember, I've thought this without any preconceptions, or help from my friends.

[parables in the world]

Fruit fits the context. as i stated before fruit represents his adams apple...which could be why he uses his full emotion and his full lung power to sing it like he meant it...

[Ravenpig]

Alright, so I'm a little late on this one but....I hear:

"My frame is bruised and burrowed. You thieving bastards you have"

But then again sometimes I hear this:

"My friend you've bruised and borrowed. You thieving bastards you have"

Damn, this one's tough.

[mcnadd]

you do see the dates on those posts right..