H. as a diagram, not standing for a word

[paraflux]

H.
There are sooooo many theories about H. that have floated around over the years. And whatever is true for those people, is fine. However, when listening to their music, I see the layers, and I want to climb to the top one, because it is my experience that each new layer is something better than the last. Let's start with the title of the song. H. With a period after the letter. I dont think, nor have I ever thought, that this letter H stood for a word that starts with the letter H. I take it as a diagram, not a letter, as two sides, with a chasm in between, being connected by the horizontal bar. The period, to me, is simply them saying, "that's it." Just the diagram. Just happens to be a letter in the English alphabet.

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.

Those coming through, are alive, and "alive" here I think takes on a slightly different meaning to them than it would to us. To who the band represents (those helping), if you havent found your way, then you are not alive. Or at least you are very asleep. The snake, I take to represent Satan, is trying to convince them that that is enough, leave the rest to him. Turning this piss (the fact that there are so few trickling through) into wine (That's enough! Look at them all!).

Venomous voice, tempts me,
Drains me, bleeds me,
Leaves me cracked and empty.
Drags me down like some sweet gravity.

Tempts them with the fact that they dont have to be doing this. They know it, the snake never lies. Twists the truth, yes, always, but never lies. It drains them, knowing that they dont have to be in this place, on this side. It pulls them down.

The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been.
My blood before me begs me
Open up my heart again.

(Look! That's enough. Leave the rest to me. You've already gotten more than you deserved, you've already taken sooooo many souls from me, you could have gotten none at all, think about what damage that would have done to your little race)
But the compassion of being the messengers, helping, healing when they can, begs them to continue ignoring the snake.

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.

Too connected. Through the net of being, which I like to refer to as something else, but that's not important. Connected to everything we think, so in tune with the network they are. And their deaths, their last chance to be "alive," are coming soon.

The music changes here, drastically, after a brief musical segue. Everything seems to be a little safer here. Or perhaps the messenger has simply centered himself, as he probably has done millions of times before, against the snake's temptings.

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.

His tears cause the snake to drown. His tears of compassion. Jambi mentions that he should "dam my eyes" and stop this drowning of the snake, if it would mean his own demise. And if the snake gets loose... I think we can all reach the same conclusion of what that means... All I know is that the messenger regains his composure, and then this...

And as the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died
and will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind.

Somehow he got rid of the snake, at least for the moment, The fear fades, and he thinks about all the times he has died over this, before. How many times he has given in only to be put back in the same position. But it was all worth it, apparently, as he screams that he doesnt mind, before going into the ending chorus, again stressing the fact that he is too connected to just slip away, he feels all of us, even though it's

considerately killing me

Now, this may be flawed. I havent, still, worked it all out yet, even after all these years. But the music tells me I am looking in the right direction, FOR ME, on a lot of counts.

[Pughwe]

wow...never thought of it this way.....nice thinking outside the box. Good post

[imatoolhed]

Hmm ... could be.

That's what i like about tool ... they make one think.
Even after years of listening, It shall all go down as timeless, like some of the great ones before them.

[koobcam]

It looks like an electron outside of a potential well. Anyone else know Quantum Mechanics?

[paraflux]

If you consider the H. as a gap and not as the beginning of a word your theory is okay. Good reasoning.

But I think H. is still the beginning of a word. Multiple words.
The original name for this track, according to the FAQ, was "half-empty." Shortening it to H. and using the diagram deal would serve both purposes, I think.

[wearethestories]

So many layers and understandings...

It really is great to read all of this and to just take in the breadth of imagination that humans possess.

Thanks.

[koobcam]

So many layers and understandings...

It really is great to read all of this and to just take in the breadth of imagination that humans possess.

Thanks.


^^ nice post. Tis true. This is why we'll never acheive a theory of everthing is physics. The world cannot be deterministic because this eliminates free will. There surely can't be a way to predict (to certainty) the exact reaction someone has upon listening to a song!?

I like the half empty thing. H.

[ARMZ]

I didn't read all of your interpretations Flux(sorry) only because I already believe in my own interpretation of this song but that's not to say you are wrong.

What struck me the most about your post was pretty much the title, H ("as a diagram, not standing for a word")

The question is then "The bridge? is it separating the 2 side bars? or is the bridge keeping them together?"


My first initial feeling on this song was that Maynard was the middle figure in the song being torn between two parent figures(could be real parents, or step dad as I've read) and initially since Maynard's original name is James Herbert Keenan, I always took the song H as a metaphor into Maynard's life and the H is stuck in the middle as in Maynard is torn between 2 voices who constantly are in his ear about good and bad.

"Days away I still feel you"
I take it as those elder figures in his life and they really affected him

Also another thing, regardless of what this site says about the lyrics, some of them are wrong or some have been left out. Example....H, "What's coming through is alive, what's holding up his mirror, what's singing songs is a snake 'AND HE'S' looking to turn my piss to wine...."

Anyway, I think your main thought on 'H' being a diagram more than a letter makes complete sense to me, even if I didn't explain my own theory.



15 MB cans and still craving.

[paraflux]

The question is then "The bridge? is it separating the 2 side bars? or is the bridge keeping them together?"

Is this rhetorical?

[Erowyn]

i have always been told and have found many reasons to believe that H. is Devo... his name Devo H. Keenan... "whats coming through is alive" this is representative of the day that Devo was born and the beginning of his new life... it has always been assumed that Maynard lived the typical rock star life of over indulgence and with the birth of his son he gave most of this up for him... he reflects on all the times his choices could have killed him but looking in the eyes of his child his fear begins to fade away but there was a hesitation at first that took time to overcome before he finally let the wall down and let this love come over him...

[paraflux]

That's fine, you have your reasons, same as anyone.

[ARMZ]

Is this rhetorical?
No.................one would think that this is quite simple, especially from your side of the barn, coming from my side of the barn.


The bridge? do you separate or conjoin?

[paraflux]

The bridge is not what separates, the bridge is what allows both sides to still exist, it allows passage, as long as it is standing. Rather than separate, it offers a way across the separation.

[imatoolhed]

have you ever thought of as a love song... a breaking up song.

that's how it always struck me from the first time i heard way, way back when. that's also i still feel about today.

i'll break down the lyrics, the way i see them that is... if you want.

as for it being called "half empty" does that sound like a tool track to you? not me.

[researchtriangle]

I noticed early tour setlists listed this as "Half Empty"...this was when they played it live before the album came out...check it out for yourself on toolshed's old concert reviews...that is probably what H. stands for.

[Ardent]

H.
There are sooooo many theories about H. that have floated around over the years. And whatever is true for those people, is fine. However, when listening to their music, I see the layers, and I want to climb to the top one, because it is my experience that each new layer is something better than the last. Let's start with the title of the song. H. With a period after the letter. I dont think, nor have I ever thought, that this letter H stood for a word that starts with the letter H. I take it as a diagram, not a letter, as two sides, with a chasm in between, being connected by the horizontal bar. The period, to me, is simply them saying, "that's it." Just the diagram. Just happens to be a letter in the English alphabet.

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.

Those coming through, are alive, and "alive" here I think takes on a slightly different meaning to them than it would to us. To who the band represents (those helping), if you havent found your way, then you are not alive. Or at least you are very asleep. The snake, I take to represent Satan, is trying to convince them that that is enough, leave the rest to him. Turning this piss (the fact that there are so few trickling through) into wine (That's enough! Look at them all!).

Venomous voice, tempts me,
Drains me, bleeds me,
Leaves me cracked and empty.
Drags me down like some sweet gravity.

Tempts them with the fact that they dont have to be doing this. They know it, the snake never lies. Twists the truth, yes, always, but never lies. It drains them, knowing that they dont have to be in this place, on this side. It pulls them down.

The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been.
My blood before me begs me
Open up my heart again.

(Look! That's enough. Leave the rest to me. You've already gotten more than you deserved, you've already taken sooooo many souls from me, you could have gotten none at all, think about what damage that would have done to your little race)
But the compassion of being the messengers, helping, healing when they can, begs them to continue ignoring the snake.

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.

Too connected. Through the net of being, which I like to refer to as something else, but that's not important. Connected to everything we think, so in tune with the network they are. And their deaths, their last chance to be "alive," are coming soon.

The music changes here, drastically, after a brief musical segue. Everything seems to be a little safer here. Or perhaps the messenger has simply centered himself, as he probably has done millions of times before, against the snake's temptings.

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.

His tears cause the snake to drown. His tears of compassion. Jambi mentions that he should "dam my eyes" and stop this drowning of the snake, if it would mean his own demise. And if the snake gets loose... I think we can all reach the same conclusion of what that means... All I know is that the messenger regains his composure, and then this...

And as the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died
and will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind.

Somehow he got rid of the snake, at least for the moment, The fear fades, and he thinks about all the times he has died over this, before. How many times he has given in only to be put back in the same position. But it was all worth it, apparently, as he screams that he doesnt mind, before going into the ending chorus, again stressing the fact that he is too connected to just slip away, he feels all of us, even though it's

considerately killing me

Now, this may be flawed. I havent, still, worked it all out yet, even after all these years. But the music tells me I am looking in the right direction, FOR ME, on a lot of counts.

i agree for the most part.

[justify_denials]

H.
There are sooooo many theories about H. that have floated around over the years. And whatever is true for those people, is fine. However, when listening to their music, I see the layers, and I want to climb to the top one, because it is my experience that each new layer is something better than the last. Let's start with the title of the song. H. With a period after the letter. I dont think, nor have I ever thought, that this letter H stood for a word that starts with the letter H. I take it as a diagram, not a letter, as two sides, with a chasm in between, being connected by the horizontal bar. The period, to me, is simply them saying, "that's it." Just the diagram. Just happens to be a letter in the English alphabet.

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.

Those coming through, are alive, and "alive" here I think takes on a slightly different meaning to them than it would to us. To who the band represents (those helping), if you havent found your way, then you are not alive. Or at least you are very asleep. The snake, I take to represent Satan, is trying to convince them that that is enough, leave the rest to him. Turning this piss (the fact that there are so few trickling through) into wine (That's enough! Look at them all!).

Venomous voice, tempts me,
Drains me, bleeds me,
Leaves me cracked and empty.
Drags me down like some sweet gravity.

Tempts them with the fact that they dont have to be doing this. They know it, the snake never lies. Twists the truth, yes, always, but never lies. It drains them, knowing that they dont have to be in this place, on this side. It pulls them down.

The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been.
My blood before me begs me
Open up my heart again.

(Look! That's enough. Leave the rest to me. You've already gotten more than you deserved, you've already taken sooooo many souls from me, you could have gotten none at all, think about what damage that would have done to your little race)
But the compassion of being the messengers, helping, healing when they can, begs them to continue ignoring the snake.

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.

Too connected. Through the net of being, which I like to refer to as something else, but that's not important. Connected to everything we think, so in tune with the network they are. And their deaths, their last chance to be "alive," are coming soon.

The music changes here, drastically, after a brief musical segue. Everything seems to be a little safer here. Or perhaps the messenger has simply centered himself, as he probably has done millions of times before, against the snake's temptings.

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.

His tears cause the snake to drown. His tears of compassion. Jambi mentions that he should "dam my eyes" and stop this drowning of the snake, if it would mean his own demise. And if the snake gets loose... I think we can all reach the same conclusion of what that means... All I know is that the messenger regains his composure, and then this...

And as the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died
and will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind.

Somehow he got rid of the snake, at least for the moment, The fear fades, and he thinks about all the times he has died over this, before. How many times he has given in only to be put back in the same position. But it was all worth it, apparently, as he screams that he doesnt mind, before going into the ending chorus, again stressing the fact that he is too connected to just slip away, he feels all of us, even though it's

considerately killing me

Now, this may be flawed. I havent, still, worked it all out yet, even after all these years. But the music tells me I am looking in the right direction, FOR ME, on a lot of counts.

This is kind of old (I thought about it in 2004) but good job coming up with it on your own.

[11pagans]

H. is the 8th letter in the alphebet, it is a powerful number in countless ways ,for one it is the number of thoth- also its a symbol of completion,of the initiate- or the snakes of the caduceus that form an 8 ...well i like digging and in my studies have found many connections with tools songs.
"OGDOADIC MAXUM"

[paraflux]

This is kind of old (I thought about it in 2004) but good job coming up with it on your own.
This is what I came up with in 97.

[ARMZ]

The bridge is not what separates, the bridge is what allows both sides to still exist, it allows passage, as long as it is standing. Rather than separate, it offers a way across the separation.
While this is true so is mine. The bridge does allow access but it can also deny access. If someone is guarding the bridge then it might be harder to pass and if someone is guarding it then one might presume that Maynard is the bridge and is guarding both sides from direct contact, but as you said, he may be allowing contact.

If you take the H as a diagram then you have to accept that there is 2 sides and of course every side has a story. It's up to the person in the middle to decide what's wrong and what's right.

[Old formula]

H. is the 8th letter in the alphebet, it is a powerful number in countless ways ,for one it is the number of thoth- also its a symbol of completion,of the initiate- or the snakes of the caduceus that form an 8 ...well i like digging and in my studies have found many connections with tools songs.
"OGDOADIC MAXUM"

Anthony Burgess explored the religious relevance of the number 8 in his book "Last mission". It's not much, but it sure makes for an interesting interpretation....if you want, I can find the book and type the part.

[Track 01]

I thought this song was about what its like to be on heroine...I mean you read the lyrics and it could make sense if you looked at lot of things he says in the song as metaphors

[stardragonii]

I think it's mostly about a love that kills... The snake being the gravity that can keep you away from what your heart truly loves and desires...

[paraflux]

I think it's mostly about a love that kills... The snake being the gravity that can keep you away from what your heart truly loves and desires...
How is this different than what I have proposed?

[paraflux]

I guess it isnt.

[MORNING_GLORY]

I like this interpretation... I never thought of it this way. What do you call the net of being?


I didn't read all of your interpretations Flux(sorry) only because I already believe in my own interpretation of this song but that's not to say you are wrong.

I can't imagine why you wouldn't welcome any change my friend.

^cliche

[paraflux]

I like this interpretation... I never thought of it this way. What do you call the net of being?


Why call it anything else?

[imatoolhed]

quality thread


i still think its a love song tho

[Polish_Rides_The_Spiral]

i think H. stands for hahaha, as in mjk laughing in your faces as you spend hours trying to find meaning. but if there is a clearcut answer, get it out in the open already

[paraflux]

Thats such a great analysis, Polish.

[McButterpants]

^^ nice post. Tis true. This is why we'll never acheive a theory of everthing is physics. The world cannot be deterministic because this eliminates free will. There surely can't be a way to predict (to certainty) the exact reaction someone has upon listening to a song!?

I like the half empty thing. H.

No, the world can be deterministic. In fact, I would argue that on any even remotely sensible interpretation the world is deterministic - but I don't need to here. Many philosophers, Kant most famously, have shown that all one needs for a deterministic world to correspond with our human experiences is that we have the illusion of free will. Our limited knowledge means we do not know how we are determined, so we feel free but are determined.

The riposte to this may be that there is a difference between 'feeling' free and actually 'being' free. This (if any one is interested) kick started the existentialist movement which emphasises above all else that EXISTENCE must come before ESSENCE. Thus we can only ever 'feel' a certain way about ourselves, because it is us who interpret things - we cannot take an objective view on humans (although we can, potentially, on their social structures etc...) because we are looking at humans through human eyes.

THIS is why we cannot have a theory of everything in Physics - we can't see everything - no matter what instruments we use to perceive reality, we have to perceive it from within.

Has no-one considered that H. 'stands' for Human? Now I know the whole 'stands for' thing has been done to death - but I don't think it unrealistic for someone as creative as Maynard to have deliberately written a song with many ambiguous meanings that are all powerful. I think this is the case with this track in particular - hence the inspecific title.

H. could well be about choice - I won't go through my own analysis, having read what other people have said my connections to the lyrics will not be new:

Nonetheless, choice about the future, and pushing us into the future is our past. Creating a future for ourselves is at the same time destroying our past - or at least abandoning it - especially if one is faced with a tough and important choice. 'It' that the narrator 'feels coming over like a storm' may well be this choice. I do think this song stands up quite well to such an Existentialist interpretation, although it's not my favourite. It also corresponds quite well with Vedrimir's good analysis of H. as originally being titled 'Half Empty/Half Full' and his interpretation of the track as an analysis of an artist (of any form).

For me, it's a love song - although I am pretty much persuaded that Maynard wrote it with his son as the object (given the evidence of what he has said). I don't think it is contradictory for him to have written it for others as well - so that whilst the object of H. is Devo Keenan, changing the subject (from Maynard to the listener) means the object may change too - and I think this song works for any powerful (human) love.