doug galecawitz
03-27-2003, 10:44 AM
Once again before I start hypothesizing on possible song meanings I'm going to offer up a disclaimer that I don't necessarily believe any of the specific ideas I'm stating here. This is a mere exploration of possible song meanings. No one interpretation of a song is correct or incorrect. Much like any other form of art, music can be very subjective. In the case of music it helps to be ambiguous because if more people can identify with your song then you can sell more records and make more money. And lets not mince words, because that is what the music industry does. Any concrete interpretation of song meaning can be given only by the artist. I would never attempt the presumption of thinking I could speak to them. Plus my being spineless frees me from any backlash for ill thought out half assed theories. Thank You.
The first and most obvious choice is the whole anal sex thing that some people subscribe to. Not knowing too much about human anatomy I've often read on here that supposedly the anal shaft is 4º warmer than the cervix. If that's true than the mouth should likewise be regarded as 4º warmer since it is the same temperture as the anal shaft. Rectal theormeter anyone? So automatically the song no longer need be about sodomy. Likewise as is pointed out by others, sodomy is not strickly associated with either gender. Is there a possibility that anything relating to sodomy or homosexuality was intended in the song, probably not but I'm sure TOOL has been much entertained by the infrence made by so many. Either way the song speaks quite highly of it, whatever it is.
The whole of that idea could be filed under the entire heading of sex. It is not difficult to see how the song could be interpreted as about sex with lines such as "lay back and let me show you another way" and "take it all in, all the way in"> It wouldn't take a huge leap of faith to make the connection. On the whole the song seems to be quite possitive about the experience of sex when it does bring you closer than dying cancer and crying. If in a loving relationship, the sex does not make you feel closer to that person than anything else in the human experience than quite frankly I can't fathom that thinking. Without sex you are not even here to argue the vitality or meaning of life, or waste countless hours typing out your feeble views on some silly band's music.
On the other end there's the whole idea of communication of feelings, thoughts, emotions, and opinions. When getting to know someone you have no idea of their potential and they barely seem real until they "open themselves" up to you. Let's go digging. The art of communication also brings people closer together, although the crying part could be argued to be part of the communication process. Furthermore the act of dying some could say also brings people closer together than communication. The idea of opening yourself to someone is a matter of exploration of your own potential for kinetic thought. If you don't explore yor own mind and body how can you know yourself? Whether it's you opening up to someone else or they to you or you to yourself the lyrics lean towards a possiitive view on the art of communication.
Both sex and communication can be grouped under the entire idea of human experience. And the idea of being open to new experience in order to explore what makes you you. The idea being the promotion of not closing yourself off to anything new ie "the ocean refuses no river" or as bruce lee might put it "be like water" Don't limit your own possibilities to become what you must become. This kind of fits under the idea that you are not entirely you and that the entire concept of the self is an abstract social construction. With that mentality the line "free yorself from yourself" and "take it all in" cum into a diffrent kind of focus. This makes two assumptions however. 1) free yourself-- implies that there is already some internal mechanism that does not allow you to see beyond your own nose, so to speak. That you can't get passed your own opinions or ignorance of other's emotional states. The entire concept of lying somewhat flies against that theory. You can't lie to somebody if you are not aware that they think diffrently from you.
The second implication is the ignorance of subject object or caus and effect. If you free yourself from dualistic thought and embrace either pluralism or monism or both you will get some better understanding of the reality that you are a part of. If you free yourself from body and mind you might find something that feels closer to truth. ie closer than dying cancer and crying. This thinking is explored heavily in Parabol/Parabola. Discount the idea of you in reality and embrace you as reality as part of...... Almost all religons cover this idea of great extended consciousness, usaully right before they get bogged down by dogmatic thoughts and social agendas.
If you erase the subject/object the song really opens up to any idea. You no longer has to be a person at all. Likewise "it" can be anything possibly imaginable. From there is where the song as many songs by tool are able to leave themselves open to interpretaion. All their songs become a matter of fill in the blanks with your own meaning. You can be a person, idea, god, etc etc etc
As far as personal feelings of the song it comes to mind whenever I meet someone new and have my usual misanthropic thoughts about their supposed ignorance (as though I'm oh so intelligent) It's kind of a self defense from having met far to many disappointingly stupid people. (keep stroking your own ego). Or more recently a friend of mine opened herself up to me and her experiences in life which I had never thought about. And never considered. What she revealed to me made me have to stop viewing her as a friend and now she is an actual three dimensional person. Having to view people as that real and seperate can be quite difficult in your dealings with them. Anyways.......
I'm going to end this here because it seems to me by the lack of intrest in my other posts that no one likes long meandering tirades of philosophical diarehea. I've also momentarily forgetten numerous other ideas I intended to explore and expound upon. I apologize for any misspelling, typos, and shortcomings in regards to actual sound logical philosophy.
The first and most obvious choice is the whole anal sex thing that some people subscribe to. Not knowing too much about human anatomy I've often read on here that supposedly the anal shaft is 4º warmer than the cervix. If that's true than the mouth should likewise be regarded as 4º warmer since it is the same temperture as the anal shaft. Rectal theormeter anyone? So automatically the song no longer need be about sodomy. Likewise as is pointed out by others, sodomy is not strickly associated with either gender. Is there a possibility that anything relating to sodomy or homosexuality was intended in the song, probably not but I'm sure TOOL has been much entertained by the infrence made by so many. Either way the song speaks quite highly of it, whatever it is.
The whole of that idea could be filed under the entire heading of sex. It is not difficult to see how the song could be interpreted as about sex with lines such as "lay back and let me show you another way" and "take it all in, all the way in"> It wouldn't take a huge leap of faith to make the connection. On the whole the song seems to be quite possitive about the experience of sex when it does bring you closer than dying cancer and crying. If in a loving relationship, the sex does not make you feel closer to that person than anything else in the human experience than quite frankly I can't fathom that thinking. Without sex you are not even here to argue the vitality or meaning of life, or waste countless hours typing out your feeble views on some silly band's music.
On the other end there's the whole idea of communication of feelings, thoughts, emotions, and opinions. When getting to know someone you have no idea of their potential and they barely seem real until they "open themselves" up to you. Let's go digging. The art of communication also brings people closer together, although the crying part could be argued to be part of the communication process. Furthermore the act of dying some could say also brings people closer together than communication. The idea of opening yourself to someone is a matter of exploration of your own potential for kinetic thought. If you don't explore yor own mind and body how can you know yourself? Whether it's you opening up to someone else or they to you or you to yourself the lyrics lean towards a possiitive view on the art of communication.
Both sex and communication can be grouped under the entire idea of human experience. And the idea of being open to new experience in order to explore what makes you you. The idea being the promotion of not closing yourself off to anything new ie "the ocean refuses no river" or as bruce lee might put it "be like water" Don't limit your own possibilities to become what you must become. This kind of fits under the idea that you are not entirely you and that the entire concept of the self is an abstract social construction. With that mentality the line "free yorself from yourself" and "take it all in" cum into a diffrent kind of focus. This makes two assumptions however. 1) free yourself-- implies that there is already some internal mechanism that does not allow you to see beyond your own nose, so to speak. That you can't get passed your own opinions or ignorance of other's emotional states. The entire concept of lying somewhat flies against that theory. You can't lie to somebody if you are not aware that they think diffrently from you.
The second implication is the ignorance of subject object or caus and effect. If you free yourself from dualistic thought and embrace either pluralism or monism or both you will get some better understanding of the reality that you are a part of. If you free yourself from body and mind you might find something that feels closer to truth. ie closer than dying cancer and crying. This thinking is explored heavily in Parabol/Parabola. Discount the idea of you in reality and embrace you as reality as part of...... Almost all religons cover this idea of great extended consciousness, usaully right before they get bogged down by dogmatic thoughts and social agendas.
If you erase the subject/object the song really opens up to any idea. You no longer has to be a person at all. Likewise "it" can be anything possibly imaginable. From there is where the song as many songs by tool are able to leave themselves open to interpretaion. All their songs become a matter of fill in the blanks with your own meaning. You can be a person, idea, god, etc etc etc
As far as personal feelings of the song it comes to mind whenever I meet someone new and have my usual misanthropic thoughts about their supposed ignorance (as though I'm oh so intelligent) It's kind of a self defense from having met far to many disappointingly stupid people. (keep stroking your own ego). Or more recently a friend of mine opened herself up to me and her experiences in life which I had never thought about. And never considered. What she revealed to me made me have to stop viewing her as a friend and now she is an actual three dimensional person. Having to view people as that real and seperate can be quite difficult in your dealings with them. Anyways.......
I'm going to end this here because it seems to me by the lack of intrest in my other posts that no one likes long meandering tirades of philosophical diarehea. I've also momentarily forgetten numerous other ideas I intended to explore and expound upon. I apologize for any misspelling, typos, and shortcomings in regards to actual sound logical philosophy.