Lyrics

[wuphat]

While Tool may not submit their lyrics in the liner notes of their releases, they do appear both on this site and at the band's official website. Both sites have the line in question as "cold and fated anchor" not "gold inflated anger" or cold and faded anchor."

As for the lyrics not meaning much or not too be looked into: why bother writing lyrics at all if there was no meaning behind it? Maynard's lyrics are much more than words to songs. He uses the words, the connotation, and the delivery of them as another instrument. His words, his voice is as integral to the overall song as the guitar, drums and bass is. Furthermore, the lyrics are not only lyrics, but poetry, and nearly all poetry is symbolic in nature. While literal meanings can be taken, there is usually something behind the words. For each listener it will be different though many may derive the same interpretation.

Search for the meanings. Find out what they mean to you. Make something positive of them. That's really what Maynard is saying. Don't sit back and just take it all in...you can do that with Britney Spears. Tool is so much more than that, to say that the lyrics are not so important is really an insult to the band and to those who have found something in them.

[sk8ingknot4659]

I agree with you some what with the fact that the lyrics don't make much sence, but i'm sure that they do mean something (especially to the members) you just have to read between the lines before you can understand...

[ShackledEidolon]

The lyrics aren't That difficult to understand if you make an effort to educate yourself on some of their philosophy...or just spend a little time analyzing it. Its just a matter of not taking the song for the surface value...yeah sure the song can be a neat song but without actually digging into the meaning and purpose of the words and their arrangement we miss a lot of the message that is being conveyed. To look at the song from a purely literal sense is to ignore body language and connotation in normal conversation. Sure if I said that I thought Britany Spears was the greatest performer in the world and someone didnt look deeper then they would think i was being honest...but by looking at my body language and the thick hint of sarcasm in my voice they realize there is more to the statement then the surface.

I guess lately ive been kind of disgusted by the over abundance of anti posts...that talk about how we shouldnt have opinions or dig into the lyrics or even have opinions on the values of a song because we didnt create them...it pains me to see fellow Tool fans that aren't using their heads to the fullest.

And to stay more on topic I do think that the lyric indeed is "cold and fated anchor"

[Traveller]

Not look into the lyrics!
How's this for not looking into the lyrics?

People hold grudges to justify their world view, to stop them from seeing beyond the projection of their anger/hate/pain to it's source in their selves "contemplate what we will or will not tolerate, Desperate to control all and everything"

If they were to drop this facade they would be faced with themselves and not be able to handle it "Clutch it like a corner stone, Otherwise it all comes down. Justify DENIALS and, grip 'em to the lonesome end"

But,
Saturn ascends.....

Astrologically speaking, Saturn is the planet of conflict, change and opportunity.

When Saturn ascends for you, you are faced with your deeper
conflicting patterns. However you are given an opportunity to this time. face them and begin to work through them or to deny them once again "choose one or ten"

If you can surrender your pride/fear then you can begin to
"give away the stone"
and open that space in your heart to recieve any of life's countless gifts and opportunities
"let the ocean take and transmutate this cold and fated anchor. Let the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold."

Let go. Let go. Let gaaaaooooouuuw..........

and if that wasn't quite enough.....
leaden grudges being turned into gold is a reference to the art/science of alchemy who's goal was to refine transform and distill the element of lead so as to make gold
This in turn being a metaphor for the purification of the human soul.

[Ghetto Boy]

There's no one way to enjoy music... you can enjoy music any way you want to. If you choose to look deeply into the lyrics and analyze them to death, if that's what you enjoy, then that's great... more power to ya. But if you choose to just sit back and listen to the song and enjoy it for what it is without having to look into the lyrics and tear apart the song, then that's alright too. Sometimes you can just sit there and rock out to the instruments and not care what the lyrics are. Sometimes the song sucks until you read the lyrics, and it's the most emotional and intense song you've ever heard. It really depends on the person... but Tool doesn't have to be interpreted to death. I think if you enjoy the song for its surface value, and can just sit there and listen to the song and you like it, then you shouldn't force yourself to read into the lyrics. Eventually, after sitting there and listening to it for long enough, you're gonna find new things in the song and eventually you're gonna wanna look at the lyrics. But it's not always the first thing you should do after you listen to a song.

Anyways, as far as the song goes, I agree with the last interpretation. I haven't yet analyzed every single line of the song, but the lyrics are incredibly powerful. Especially when he says "give away the stone, let the ocean take and transmutate ... let the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold." After I listened to the song for a couple months, I started seeing the same image every time I heard the lyrics, so I started drawing it (I'm an incredibly shitty artist) and it's actually evolved quite nicely in the last 3 months that I've been tediously drawing and re-drawing it. I might scan it one day.

...And that concludes my first post here. :)