A series of yawns...

[Godin]

Ever seen somebody yawn, or even just heard a yawning sound, and been induced to yawn yourself? That's the purpose of this track.

Yawning increases oxygen flow to the brain and helps you to WAKE UP.

[AloneOnceAgain97]

Good theory, I guess... But I don't think you're correct.

I think it may quite possibly just be a cool noise that sets the mood for Schism.

Schism sounds MUCH gloomier if you listen to Mantra first.

[philipg]

its a cat making a noise played in slow motion.

[Godin]

What makes you think it is even MEANT to be sped up in the first place?


Ok people. Here's the thing. A mantra is something which is meant to be spoken, or voiced, over and over again. Everything about the experience of repeating the mouthed sounds of the mantra is supposed to enlighten the individual who actually speaks it. The meaning of the words, or the sounds, of the mantra is only ONE aspect of the mantra itself. The phonetics are another. How the vibrations from speaking the mantra ring in your mouth and skull is yet another aspect. The muscles that you use to voice the mantra are also an aspect of the mantra.


Tool titled this track "mantra" for a reason. The primal yawning sounds are repeating in this track as one would repeat any mantra, therefore, we must assume the mantra in totality is one yawning sound. So, Tool is saying that a deep yawn is to be used akin to the way a mantra is used. We are to take more from the experience of a deep yawn than just the normal reflex that we usually experience it via.

We are to engage in the experience of deep yawning (with your mouth wide open while stimulating all the very sensitive nerves in your face) for its own sake as one would chant a mantra, and this will be an enlightening experience in itself. I can't remember where exactly I saw this picture.. somewhere on the web.. but it was a profile image of Maynard's face engaging in an extremely wide-mouthed facial posture as one would do in such an intense yawn. To me, this suggests "hey guys, try this".


I don't care if it DOES sound like a cat when sped up. That should be a hint that the track is NOT meant to be sped up in the first place.

[philipg]

its not meant to be sped up, they just slowed down the noise to get it to sound like it does
its a sound played in slow motion
it doesnt just sound like a cat, it is a cat making a noise
they probably just put it on the album because they thought it sounded funny, kind of how viginti tres was a sound effect they accidentally made in the studio and thought sounded cool.

[Godin]

I would at least agree that Viginiti Tres is just meant to sound cool... along with "Ions (-)".. They're both stimulating tracks to listen to, when the volume's way up and you can hear all the subtleties of the sound affects.

I don't think that's the case with Mantra. Obviously, it serves that purpose, but it also serves a more profound purpose. They are meant to be a series of primal yawning sounds. I would not discount that track as merely a sound affect.

[<8>jF<8>]

IMO, I think Mantra a necessary precursor to Schism. Whilest listening with open enough ears, with an open enough heart and an open enough mind, I think these two songs (hell, this whole damn album!) are meant for each other. I look at it like this, a mantra has many properties, as Godin briefly described. Okay, one of the correlations that I've been attaining to mantras is a similar effect to the phenomenon of photic driving. Photic driving is the brain perciving light stimuli set a specific intervals, in cetain patterns and frequencies of patterns, and then harmonizing brain waves to match the patterns. The same occurance is apparent with sound stimuli. So, one effect of a mantra may be to harmonize the frequencies of waves between the two hemisphers of the brain. I've been considering this correlation to understand the song Mantra. I think it's a possibility that the song Mantra may in fact act as a Mantra to put the listener in the right mindset to listen to the next song, Schism. Also, I think that volume is a huge aspect of this understanding of mantras, in that if a mantra is not loud enough, the vibrations emitting from the mantra will not affect the brain like it does. I think you have to be able to feel music, not just hear it, or certain music, anyway (like that of Tool). So, as the song Mantra is kind of soft, it gets people to turn up the volume. Next, is the soft sounding intro to Schism, which remains low until 27 sec. into the song where it starts to kick up a bit, a little more at 40 sec., and then it really starts to pick up pace at 1:07 and then structure at 1:40. The song slowly builds and seems to get louder and louder. I've noticed there's quite a bit of dynamics like these, high and low points in volume. I think they're to get people to listen to the songs at an 'appropriate' volume to initiate that which a mantra may initiate. Does anybody relate to what I'm talking about?

[Exarch]

i hear you brotha

[base metal]

Hmmm, interesting. I always thought that it sounded like an Ogre getting a blow job.

[<8>jF<8>]

Hmmm, interesting. I always thought that it sounded like an Ogre getting a blow job.

LoL

[ajp1982]

I read somewhere that it Mantra is performed by Danny... whether or not its got something to do with whatever hes into im not too sure. You're right in that it sets the stage for Schism. Good call.

Sure beats the hell out of those monks in 'Quest for the Holy Grail lol.

Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem.
[bonk]
Pie Iesu domine,...
[bonk]
...dona eis requiem.
[bonk]

A.

[El Shaggy]

its a cat making a noise played in slow motion.
induced by squeezing.
squeezing animals is fun.

[TEST]

it's a freaking interlude...
maynard recorded his cats,for christ sake.

[TurdEye13]

I thought it sounded like whale sounds.

[Khastra_KSC]

maynard has said that it is his cat.

look at the faq

[mr. nikki jensen]

Ever seen somebody yawn, or even just heard a yawning sound, and been induced to yawn yourself? That's the purpose of this track.

Yawning increases oxygen flow to the brain and helps you to WAKE UP.

correct.

[Mattywasaracecardriver]

Before you mentioned yourning, i always took the noises to be moans, not in a moan of pain, but in like a moan of grievance, or that moan that you might consider when you feel you are about to give up.

Now ive listened to Mantra and its effects on schism as a yourn i still think moans are more appropriate. Even though the yourning noises to wake you up are a good factor to have when schism is about to play.

[Inner_Eulogy]

its a cat making a noise played in slow motion.

That very well may have been a little bit of Maynards sarcastic humor

[Inner_Eulogy]

What makes you think it is even MEANT to be sped up in the first place?


Ok people. Here's the thing. A mantra is something which is meant to be spoken, or voiced, over and over again. Everything about the experience of repeating the mouthed sounds of the mantra is supposed to enlighten the individual who actually speaks it. The meaning of the words, or the sounds, of the mantra is only ONE aspect of the mantra itself. The phonetics are another. How the vibrations from speaking the mantra ring in your mouth and skull is yet another aspect. The muscles that you use to voice the mantra are also an aspect of the mantra.


Tool titled this track "mantra" for a reason. The primal yawning sounds are repeating in this track as one would repeat any mantra, therefore, we must assume the mantra in totality is one yawning sound. So, Tool is saying that a deep yawn is to be used akin to the way a mantra is used. We are to take more from the experience of a deep yawn than just the normal reflex that we usually experience it via.

We are to engage in the experience of deep yawning (with your mouth wide open while stimulating all the very sensitive nerves in your face) for its own sake as one would chant a mantra, and this will be an enlightening experience in itself. I can't remember where exactly I saw this picture.. somewhere on the web.. but it was a profile image of Maynard's face engaging in an extremely wide-mouthed facial posture as one would do in such an intense yawn. To me, this suggests "hey guys, try this".


I don't care if it DOES sound like a cat when sped up. That should be a hint that the track is NOT meant to be sped up in the first place.

You just ruined a perfectly fine...SIMPLE yawn. Now that's one over-zealous person to make a yawn into something spiritual. You yawn because your lungs and blood need to refill with more oxygen....simple as that. And yes, Maynard or Adam once said that the sound was made when Maynard squeezed his cat and then they distorted and slowed it down, however as said above, it may have been a sarcastic joke. It's also been said to have been an actual mantra being done and distorted and slowed down...who knows but uh...yeah, a yawn is just that, a yawn...not a state of enlightenment

[Inner_Eulogy]

Posted on Wikipedia for the search engine impaired:

The fourth track, "Mantra", was alleged to be a slowed-down recording of someone—possibly an old woman—saying "I love you". Keenan has since stated that the song is a slowed-down recording of one of his Siamese cats being squeezed. It has been noted that when the vinyl record is played on a phono player at 78 rpm, the track actually sounds like a recording of a mantra being recited.[citation needed]

[PhilTheVoid]

I read somewhere that it Mantra is performed by Danny... whether or not its got something to do with whatever hes into im not too sure. You're right in that it sets the stage for Schism. Good call.

Sure beats the hell out of those monks in 'Quest for the Holy Grail lol.

Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem.
[bonk]
Pie Iesu domine,...
[bonk]
...dona eis requiem.
[bonk]

A.



:D

[Nietzsche's Dead]

What makes you think it is even MEANT to be sped up in the first place?


Ok people. Here's the thing. A mantra is something which is meant to be spoken, or voiced, over and over again. Everything about the experience of repeating the mouthed sounds of the mantra is supposed to enlighten the individual who actually speaks it. The meaning of the words, or the sounds, of the mantra is only ONE aspect of the mantra itself. The phonetics are another. How the vibrations from speaking the mantra ring in your mouth and skull is yet another aspect. The muscles that you use to voice the mantra are also an aspect of the mantra.


Tool titled this track "mantra" for a reason. The primal yawning sounds are repeating in this track as one would repeat any mantra, therefore, we must assume the mantra in totality is one yawning sound. So, Tool is saying that a deep yawn is to be used akin to the way a mantra is used. We are to take more from the experience of a deep yawn than just the normal reflex that we usually experience it via.

We are to engage in the experience of deep yawning (with your mouth wide open while stimulating all the very sensitive nerves in your face) for its own sake as one would chant a mantra, and this will be an enlightening experience in itself. I can't remember where exactly I saw this picture.. somewhere on the web.. but it was a profile image of Maynard's face engaging in an extremely wide-mouthed facial posture as one would do in such an intense yawn. To me, this suggests "hey guys, try this".


I don't care if it DOES sound like a cat when sped up. That should be a hint that the track is NOT meant to be sped up in the first place.

No, seriously. It's one of mjk's cats that they discovered made a funny sound when the sqeezed it :D. Then they slowed it down, and put it on Lateralus XD. What they were doin squeezin cats, idk, but..

[TJP]

maynard has said that it is his cat.

look at the faqYeah But they have been known to lie when giving information about songs and albums etc

[Aunt Acid]

Yeah But they have been known to lie when giving information about songs and albums etc

^ This.

[*~*»¤«(Đispositioñ)»¤«*~*]

So I may have just subscribed here but I have been reading the idiotic theories like this since looong ago. It's not trying to "wake you up" or whatever. READ THE FAQ. If you don't agree with some of it then at least use it as a starting point for some of your own ideas. Maynard told Japanese fans in an interview that he picked up one of his Siamese cats, squeezed it, and thought the sound was so odd that he recorded it and slowed it down, and you have mantra. If you have ever heard a Siamese cat meow or make any sort of noise you would know they sound nothing like other cats, it is just like a whole different noise.

[ASnakeForEveryEden]

maybe it's maynard's cat, but it sounds more like a whale at the end.

[Eulogy33]

lol. it's Maynard's siamese cat being squeezed.

[Resolution]

its sonor for whales to be gathered into a concentrated body of water.

[Wolfman's Imaginary Band]

I'd rather laugh with Maynard than him laugh at me, be sure to believe all the FAQS so we can keep this giggle train goin, if it was a cat squeezin tune, it was definitely Gandhi's cat, that's why it makes you feel so high...man

[insectpinsNR]

COMMON KNOWLEDGE!

IT IS WHALES SINGING

[Resolution]

COMMON KNOWLEDGE!

IT IS WHALES SINGING

quit feeding off my comment pigs feet

[jpoling13]

How is it common knowledge that it is a whale singing if we already know it's Maynard's cat being squeezed?!

[Resolution]

How is it common knowledge that it is a whale singing if we already know it's Maynard's cat being squeezed?!

a grain of salt my friend even if it's spit from the horse's mouth

[insectpinsNR]

YOU GUYS ARE AS FUNNY AS THAT SINGER GUY MAFIELD FROM A PERFECT OCTAGON UN DIE TOOL BAND!!

U Better Luv Me, Adolf Jr, Hailing S.E. MI BIRCHES UND C. BOYS!!!!

[miketh74]

It's chanting monks slowed down!!! Geez!!!

If you don't believe me, check out Dan Carey's website and read the Modern Drummer articles.

INGREDIENTS: explanation, enlightenment, moments of clarity.