I forgot my pen

[LabRat404]

"overwhelmed as one would be, placed in my position
such a heavy burden now to be the one
born to bear and read to all the details of our ending
to write it down for all the world to see
but i forgot my pen"


On a side note, this is poetry at its best IMHO-- such irony in it, and very funny, I chuckle like a little girl everytime I sing it to myself.

point of this post:

I think this song is aimed, or at least written about, all the Tool fans that think Maynard is some kind of Messiah, and the general message is "Use your head, if I had a message about humanities ending, I'd do more than make a petty song about it", only in a very sarcastic way, such as "I was chosen to be the the one to write down the details of our ending for the world to see...but I forgot my pen."

[etc43]

Agreed. And I love how epic the vocals and music are at that point. Over the line "But I forgot my pen," Justin does this awesome thing on bass...I don't know, it's just awesome.

[Wired Nemesis]

"overwhelmed as one would be, placed in my position
such a heavy burden now to be the one
born to bear and read to all the details of our ending
to write it down for all the world to see
but i forgot my pen"


For some reason I think this is something Chuck Palahniuk would have in one of his books. In fact, alot of this CD reminds me of his writing style. So profound in some ways yet very satirical at the same time.

[GhostofMAkkinen]

"For some reason I think this is something Chuck Palahniuk would have in one of his books. In fact, alot of this CD reminds me of his writing style. So profound in some ways yet very satirical at the same time."


I've been thinking the same thing as I've listened to the album.

[LabRat404]

actually:


Jambi reminds me a lot of 3 Doors Down instrumentally, and at 4:09 when the wah peddle kicks in, that solo reminds sounds like something that would come from Metallica on one of the Load albums.


edit: maybe this is what the album is about... kind of taking styles from a bunch of different artists and putting it into one album. even the album title goes alogn with that theory (10000 days == 10000 fists)

[Huff]

Agreed. And I love how epic the vocals and music are at that point. Over the line "But I forgot my pen," Justin does this awesome thing on bass...I don't know, it's just awesome.


Couldn't have said it better. That's the coolest part of 10K Days so far for me. Justin's playing is better than anything I"ve ever heard by him on this album....absolutely outstanding. Of course I've never heard Peach....but whatever...

[LabRat404]

I'd like to change that damned typo, but for some reason I can't edit my first post...

[identitat soldat]

The whole forgot my pen thing is a refrence to not learning from mistakes. He's trying to say either we didn't learn from our mistakes or we didn't tell people about our mistakes; like vietnam and iraq, so they wouldn't be made again.

I'm only using vietnam and Iraq as an example, but we learned and important lesson in vietnam. The re-election of Bush is a clear sign that we either were to dumb to remember lessons learned or 'couldn't write the lesson down' for reference later because we "forgot our pen".

[praefector]

Jambi reminds me a lot of 3 Doors Down instrumentally, and at 4:09 when the wah peddle kicks in, that solo reminds sounds like something that would come from Metallica on one of the Load albums.


)

its not a wah pedal. it's a talk box

[LabRat404]

its not a wah pedal. it's a talk box

not sure what that is. thats definately a guitar though, and it sounds like wah combined with some harmonics.

[Asprinbah]

It is a talk box, Adam started using one when they hooked up with Meshuggah. He even talks about it in an interview in Guitar Player magazine I believe.

[plexus]

It is a talk box, Adam started using one when they hooked up with Meshuggah. He even talks about it in an interview in Guitar Player magazine I believe.
i dont think he knows what a talk box is.

http://www.bstuck.com/foovids/1999/99.11.09_dave.jpg
http://www.media-market.net/catalog/images/HT-1-TALK-BOX.gif

thats a talk box

[Asprinbah]

I do, and why would you suggest otherwise? You do not have to actually speak into the tube, your voice can just be used to augment your sound. Plus, if you read the reviews of the Coachella show on this site, a few people mention that he does an entire verse on Jambi instead of Maynard singing it. And sorry, its not Guitar Player, but Guitar World

[profundo giallo]

"but i forgot my pen" is a great lyric.It shows they DO have a sense of humour and i find it very refreshing.

[LabRat404]

I do, and why would you suggest otherwise? You do not have to actually speak into the tube, your voice can just be used to augment your sound. Plus, if you read the reviews of the Coachella show on this site, a few people mention that he does an entire verse on Jambi instead of Maynard singing it. And sorry, its not Guitar Player, but Guitar World

well whatever it is, it reminds me a lot of the guitar styles on Metallicas' Load albums (not sure if it was james or kirk though, but probably kirk)

[Chrispix]

"For some reason I think this is something Chuck Palahniuk would have in one of his books. In fact, alot of this CD reminds me of his writing style. So profound in some ways yet very satirical at the same time."


I've been thinking the same thing as I've listened to the album.

I actually had the same thought - but particularly in regard to this track. It's certainly got a different mood to it against MK's usual lyrical style. Especially the spoken-word-ish parts sound very Palahniuk.

[Bob The Duck]

Ok, forgive me if this is ignorant, or has been shot down already. I haven't seen this theory yet, and i could just be running in circles here, but could "i forgot my pen" be hinting at getting a souvineer to prove that he is true, as opposed to writing it down? Like, when you go to a convention or something similar they often give out pens as a way of advertising and pushing their product. It feels to me, that this is what is ment by "i forgot my pen."

[noresolution2]

I love how the little quarter note wood block rhythm from the previous section keeps going through this part, I just noticed that.

[Aggroculture]

When has Maynard written a song about humanity's ending?

[rEVOLUTIONary]

"overwhelmed as one would be, placed in my position
such a heavy burden now to be the one
born to bear and read to all the details of our ending
to write it down for all the world to see
but i forgot my pen"


On a side note, this is poetry at its best IMHO-- such irony in it, and very funny, I chuckle like a little girl everytime I sing it to myself.

point of this post:

I think this song is aimed, or at least written about, all the Tool fans that think Maynard is some kind of Messiah, and the general message is "Use your head, if I had a message about humanities ending, I'd do more than make a petty song about it", only in a very sarcastic way, such as "I was chosen to be the the one to write down the details of our ending for the world to see...but I forgot my pen."

Great post. I agree with it completely. I think that brings up another funny thought on how people are waiting for one person to tell them how the world is going to end. Like its going to even matter. All we know is that it WILL happen, so just get over it. Hahaha, messiah.

[chickenweasel]

The sarcasm and lyrical candor that is being discussed here is something I've always associated with Maynard's lyrics/Tool. I just found it (among other things) to be missing on Lateralus.

[iampete]

yeah, ok, but what about the rest of the song? all the acid and alien and area 51 and dave references?
then all of a sudden the song switches to a theme based around tool fans thinking they are the messiah?
how does the next lyric 'shit the bed again' fit into this interpretation of all of this?

i think i disagree, but please enlighten me if i'm missing something out.

[Rosette feasted]

He really forgot his pen. He wanted to write some awesome lyrics but he had no pen to write them down, so instead he tried to improvise but he ended up singing some crappy shit!

[LabRat404]

He really forgot his pen. He wanted to write some awesome lyrics but he had no pen to write them down, so instead he tried to improvise but he ended up singing some crappy shit!

oh damn.


maybe this song is about how he fucks up hius lyrics in concert once in a while? god damn, shit mah bed....

[kaspguy]

well whatever it is, it reminds me a lot of the guitar styles on Metallicas' Load albums (not sure if it was james or kirk though, but probably kirk)

It definatly is a talk box, I own and play one, those sounds can only be made with a talk box, cause of how your mouth moves around it. And the jambi solo reminds you of load cause James played a talk box solo on "the house jack built."

[xmorteferoz]

Ok, forgive me if this is ignorant, or has been shot down already. I haven't seen this theory yet, and i could just be running in circles here, but could "i forgot my pen" be hinting at getting a souvineer to prove that he is true, as opposed to writing it down? Like, when you go to a convention or something similar they often give out pens as a way of advertising and pushing their product. It feels to me, that this is what is ment by "i forgot my pen."

Could be, but I doubt it.. Considering the context of the "to write it down for all the world to see" line.

[Niels]

to me it's just a big "alien"joke wrapped in a fantastic Tool musicpiece
just when you think mjk really means it he "forgot his pen", I'm smiling when I hear that line

btw can't wait till they hit europe

[MyShadow23]

Could be, but I doubt it.. Considering the context of the "to write it down for all the world to see" line.

I like where you guys were going with this one. To me though, to take what i consider the Tool theme "Think for your self", a little further...this could actually be another anti-drug song. Is that possible? Seems like a lot of people in other threads here thought it was a great song to get high to.

"F*ck all you junkies, and F*ck your short memories" comes to mind. Seems to m that these people are missing the point, kind of like Stinkfist and now Vicarious in that regard. Songs about being desensitised to everything etc.

Is it coincidence that this excerpt at 8:38 is the rare moment of clarity in the song? Like the person in the song is realising how stupid they indeed are "I forgot my pen, Sh@t the bed again (typical)".

I recall earlier lyrics about consequences determining your course of action, then certainly this course of action (illicit drug use) would be considered a poor one, and one that doesn't really promote thinking for your self.

Whatever.

Definitely an intriguing song though. Interesting that the riff from Third Eye is there and links to the young men on acid realise...here's Tom with the weather etc.

Somehow not sure if mjk is referring to himself in this song (i doubt it), but the multiple interpretations is probably what he was after, and probably what makes a lot of these songs as interesting as they are.