H is about Devo (Mjk's Kid)

[slicknickshady]

http://www.vanillacircus.net/book/tool_book.pdf

Read the section about H.

[slicknickshady]

Lyrics
______________________________

What’s coming through is alive
What’s holding up is a mirror
But what’s singing songs is a snake
Looking to turn this piss to wine
They’re both totally void of hate,
But killing me just the same
The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been
My blood before me begs me
Open up my heart again
And I feel this coming over like
a storm again
Considerately
Venomous voice, tempts me,
Drains me, bleeds me,
Leaves me cracked and empty
Drags me down like some sweet gravity
The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been
My blood before me begs me
Open up my heart again.
And I feel this coming over like
a storm again
I am too connected to you to
Slip away, to fade away.
Days away I still feel you
Touching me, changing me,
And considerately killing me
Without the skin,
Beneath the storm,
Under these tears
The walls came down
And the snake is drowned and
As I look in his eyes,
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of those times
I could have cried then
I should have cried then
My blood before me begs me
Open up my heart again.
And I feel this coming over like
a storm again
I am too connected to you to
Slip away, to fade away.
Days away I still feel you
Touching me, changing me,
And considerately killing me
Without the skin,
Beneath the storm,
Under these tears
The walls came down
And the snake is drowned and
As I look in his eyes,
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of those times
I could have cried then
I should have cried then





The Dudes Explanation of the Song Line by Line
________________________________________

In reference to the birth of his son, and of seeing
elements of himself in him
The snake represents his past, the songs his
concerns about the cyclic nature of abuse and
doubts about his ability as a father.
Of course, past and future simply are, being
neither good nor evil. Still his fears are real
and tormenting.
There’s a great concern that his past will compromise
his ability to father well.
While on the other hand, the love for his son
calls him to open up vulnerabilies and compassions
that abuse may have hardened in
him, until now.
The storm (again) is a symbol of the cyclic
wrestling he must do with his self and his past
in order to better himself. The ‘storm’ aptly
embodies meditative calm and tumultuous
thought.
The past is haunting, and painful, doubts and
mental wresting is tiring.
Too connected to his son to escape his fears by
simply leaving; as this new relationship forms
and grows, the father is changing and his
hardened self is weakening.
Hardened parts exposed and sensitive.
Change is upon him.
Weeping (rain from the storm that is change).
He finally opens up and lets his defences
down.
His love for his son is enough to defeat his inner
demons and he comes to realize that there
were many times like this when he should
have opened up and been more emotionally
honest.
Demons defeated and looking forward now,
he is free and able to love with commitment
again. The future is full of possibility.
...And been reborn transformed, perhaps.
There is also the idea that from birth we begin
our path to death, and so are dying every
minute, every day. The time he spends with
his son is spent rightly and makes life (death)
worthwhile, meaningful and joyful.
In this way, with this connection between
life and death (for they can’t be separated),
considerate killing is nothing more than an
enrichment of the life journey.



Introduction And Overview
_________________________________
For some people the song is an essay
about slipping into the deadly trap of a
heroin (H) addiction, and while there are
references that can be construed that way, I
don’t believe that it tells the song’s full story.
If addiction is a theme in H., (and I’m still
not certain it is), then it is only one layer of a
deeper theme.
It is worth considering the song from the
beginning as a narrative with three ‘characters’
– the present person, his past, and his
future. In a show on November 23rd,1996 at
the Electric Facotry in Philadelphia Maynard
gave this introduction: “Any of you ever
watch those Warner Brother’s cartoons?
There is the scene where the guy has a
devil on one shoulder and an Angel on the
other. It’s usually pretty obvious right? The
angel is going to give him the good advice
and the devil is going to try to get him to do
what’s going to be bad for him.
H.
But sometimes it’s not that simple, sometimes
instead of Angels and Devils they’re
just friends giving you advice, urging you
to do what they see as good advice, but
not actually seeing what is going to be best
for you in the long run. So it sort of comes
down to you. You have to make the decision.
This song is called H.”
Further to that, there is this hint in an interview
with Maynard by Carie Borzillo that
appeared in Strobe magazine in 1996;
Borzillo: Who, or what is ‘H’?
Maynard: (Keenan begins to get really
annoyed with this line of questioning.) My
son’s name is Devo H. That’s all I’ll say.
So here is our entry point into the context
of H. We know that Maynard seems to have
some experience with the theme of abuse,
that there are recurring themes of abuse
in Tool’s music and that abuse is a cyclic
behaviour (in that abused children tend
towards abusive behaviour as adults). The
band has dealt with this topic before ‘do
unto others what has been done to you’
(Prison Sex/Opiate) It’s entirely possible
that H. is one of those songs that can be
over-explained due to its densely layered
and personal themes. The best approach
as always is to keep and open and active
mind, and to use your heart as much as
your head.
I should mention that it took me some time
to really get into this song – the minor key
intro and heavy rise and fall of the guitars
put me off for a while, but give it a chance,
it’s an incredible song.

[AMF]

Correct.

[imatoolhed]

Indeed a good read, I've had saved for a long time. But wrong imo, They we're just his thoughts on the songs. Something he wrote to share with his mom. Which is very cool, Cuz' my mom digs it too.

But at any rate ... very good read. ;)

[slicknickshady]

Indeed a good read, I've had saved for a long time. But wrong imo, They we're just his thoughts on the songs. Something he wrote to share with his mom. Which is very cool, Cuz' my mom digs it too.

But at any rate ... very good read. ;)

Nobody will ever really know except mjk unless he comes out and says it directly.

Where did you hear it was too share with his mom? I'd like to read that.

[imatoolhed]

Nobody will ever really know except mjk unless he comes out and says it directly.

Where did you hear it was too share with his mom? I'd like to read that.

It's on the front of the book look at the pics, also he explains it on page 1.

I tried to copy n paste it but it would'nt let me ... fuck. ;)

[Inner_Eulogy]

Nobody will ever really know except mjk unless he comes out and says it directly.

Where did you hear it was too share with his mom? I'd like to read that.

Um, Dude....you posted the link...you didn't really have to use up all the forum space to paste exactly the same thing anybody could've read had they gotten their lazy finger up to click the mouse button

[edit] All in all, that Tool Book is very interesting and he is spot on with many analogies however, I think Eulogy is more towards L. Ron Hubbard but, Hicks makes sense too.

[Inner_Eulogy]

Nobody will ever really know except mjk unless he comes out and says it directly.

Where did you hear it was too share with his mom? I'd like to read that.

Wonder if he'll like, leave all of us loyal fans the secrets to it all on his death bed...like scribbled on a little sticky note or something, ya' know...

<snicker>

[OGT from back in the day]

Um, Dude....you posted the link...you didn't really have to use up all the forum space to paste exactly the same thing anybody could've read had they gotten their lazy finger up to click the mouse button

[edit] All in all, that Tool Book is very interesting and he is spot on with many analogies however, I think Eulogy is more towards L. Ron Hubbard but, Hicks makes sense too.
ya im pretty sure mjk came out and said "the song is about martyrs" but this is not a eulogy thread so i will leave that alone but to the guy that first posted here......good read