marc
11-27-2002, 12:15 AM
my interpretation of this song may seem a bit personal... but i will try my best to keep everything in the infinate scope... as the author of this site has stated, the band likes to sometimes use graphic metaphors to get thier point across... i believe however that the band have used the images in this song both literally and figuratively... i myself am in a band (i will not shamefully promote myself or my band's site or songs though, i feel we are doing just fine on our own ground and not clinging to the heels of another band... sorrry kiddies)... and being in my band i have found that there have been many benefits both financially and umm.. in the excessive drug use and sexual departments.... these benefits can, after a while, become less and less apealing.... reason being after time it takes so much more of said drug or woman to get you off (something has to change,.... boredom's not a burden etc...) hence the gradual deeper insertion of the limb in question in the song... (finger, knuckle, elbow, shoulder... you get the picture)... but as it turns out there is "not enough" you always "need more".... it is a thirst that i have first hand found is not easy to satisfy...
then on to "i don't want it .. i just need it.. to breathe to feel to know i'm alive" which for me tells us that this closeness to these things (whether to the drug or in most cases the sexual partner at the time) is the only thing that makes this person feel alive, almost reminds them they are still here and feeling things, almost like a mirror held up to us for us to say "ok... still here!!" ..... because when one becomes so desensitized to normal everyday life (drug after drug... bizzare sexual act after another) we almost forget we still feel things besides these extremes...
then we move on to: "Something kind of sad about
The way that things have come to be
Desensitized to everything
What became of subtlety?" the speaker is letting in on his realization that this numbness to everyday life is not only occuring for him, but also all over the world.. this disregard for subtlety is everywhere.. in all different levels...
the next lines are kind of personal to me...
"How can this mean anything to me
If I don't feel a thing at all?"
at a previous Tool show i had gone to they had played this song in the set...
when that line came on i was holding a girl that i just fuck every now and then... and the experience brought me to tears... because i knew i cared nothing for this person yet i slept with her... i knew she cared for me yet still i felt nothing... all this because i took something that should be special and abused it... overused an experience that should be kept for those who care for eachother.... but anyway... i feel the speaker is telling us something similar...
the next lines are a very sad truth:
"I'll keep digging
Until I feel something"
this is the speaker saying that the cycle will continue... in almost a desperate manner... the speaker has not learned the lesson from this overstimulation that it must stop in order to feel the rush of the first time again... so they continue to act in the way they do to get thier fix (whether it be a drug, sex, or anything that in small, controlled quantities can be quite wonderful)... only to find that it is not as satisfying as the previous...
then on to "i don't want it .. i just need it.. to breathe to feel to know i'm alive" which for me tells us that this closeness to these things (whether to the drug or in most cases the sexual partner at the time) is the only thing that makes this person feel alive, almost reminds them they are still here and feeling things, almost like a mirror held up to us for us to say "ok... still here!!" ..... because when one becomes so desensitized to normal everyday life (drug after drug... bizzare sexual act after another) we almost forget we still feel things besides these extremes...
then we move on to: "Something kind of sad about
The way that things have come to be
Desensitized to everything
What became of subtlety?" the speaker is letting in on his realization that this numbness to everyday life is not only occuring for him, but also all over the world.. this disregard for subtlety is everywhere.. in all different levels...
the next lines are kind of personal to me...
"How can this mean anything to me
If I don't feel a thing at all?"
at a previous Tool show i had gone to they had played this song in the set...
when that line came on i was holding a girl that i just fuck every now and then... and the experience brought me to tears... because i knew i cared nothing for this person yet i slept with her... i knew she cared for me yet still i felt nothing... all this because i took something that should be special and abused it... overused an experience that should be kept for those who care for eachother.... but anyway... i feel the speaker is telling us something similar...
the next lines are a very sad truth:
"I'll keep digging
Until I feel something"
this is the speaker saying that the cycle will continue... in almost a desperate manner... the speaker has not learned the lesson from this overstimulation that it must stop in order to feel the rush of the first time again... so they continue to act in the way they do to get thier fix (whether it be a drug, sex, or anything that in small, controlled quantities can be quite wonderful)... only to find that it is not as satisfying as the previous...