Metalanarchist
11-25-2002, 12:19 PM
This song is one of my favorites. Maynard's deadly scream at the song's climax is one of the main reasons.
Of course, the lyrical content is right on: there are so many total assholes running around in our society — gee, even some who show up at Tool's concerts in the moshpits — and only a percentage of them are "caught" and punished for their cruel actions. So Maynard expresses something that I think most of us have experienced: we wish we could be the ones dealing out justice. "I'm tired of waiting" for someone else, some authority structure to enforce the rules that should apply equally to all. Why can't I do it myself? Of course, the catch to the song is that in succumbing to the temptation to play God, we become like those we despise. Now YOU are the jerk-off.
Maynard's comment at a show in California in summer '98 is telling. They closed the show with this song, after explaining why they don't often play it: because people misinterpret the lyrics, and there's a difference between anger, which is a constructive emotion, and hate, which is destructive. Maynard said Tool creates music to get that anger they have out of them in a constructive manner, and not let it turn to hate where they would do destructive things like he sings about in the song. So it is an exorcism of emotion that is cleansing, and the band's music carrying these sentiments is what makes the tune so amazingly kickass!
To the fellow who noted the performance at Coachella, indeed the "let it go" repetition during the bridge anticipated "The Grudge" and underscores the point of the song: to work through that anger we have against the total assholes in our society and not act it out and become total assholes ourselves.
Of course, the lyrical content is right on: there are so many total assholes running around in our society — gee, even some who show up at Tool's concerts in the moshpits — and only a percentage of them are "caught" and punished for their cruel actions. So Maynard expresses something that I think most of us have experienced: we wish we could be the ones dealing out justice. "I'm tired of waiting" for someone else, some authority structure to enforce the rules that should apply equally to all. Why can't I do it myself? Of course, the catch to the song is that in succumbing to the temptation to play God, we become like those we despise. Now YOU are the jerk-off.
Maynard's comment at a show in California in summer '98 is telling. They closed the show with this song, after explaining why they don't often play it: because people misinterpret the lyrics, and there's a difference between anger, which is a constructive emotion, and hate, which is destructive. Maynard said Tool creates music to get that anger they have out of them in a constructive manner, and not let it turn to hate where they would do destructive things like he sings about in the song. So it is an exorcism of emotion that is cleansing, and the band's music carrying these sentiments is what makes the tune so amazingly kickass!
To the fellow who noted the performance at Coachella, indeed the "let it go" repetition during the bridge anticipated "The Grudge" and underscores the point of the song: to work through that anger we have against the total assholes in our society and not act it out and become total assholes ourselves.