Attention Seeking

[ParabolicSchism]

I think this song is all about someone seeking attention from someone else. The beginning verses:

Something has to change.
Un-deniable dilemma.
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear.

Constant over stimu-lation numbs me
and I wouldn't have
It any other way.

seem to say that the person that Maynard is talking through is bored and spoilt, and looking for something new to do. The next verse:

It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To feel, to breathe, to know I'm alive.

could be after the person has recieved all the attention, when the person is thinking to himself, telling himself that he needs more. Then:

Finger deep within the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Relax, turn around and take my hand.

could be the person saying to the other person that he is seeking attention from to come inside his mind, to love him, to know him.

I can help you change
Tired moments into pleasure.
Say the word and we'll be
Well upon our way.

Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not have me any other way.

This is when the person is now leeching on to the other person who was stupid enough to give them attention, and is trying to gather more attention with fake offerings of help. Finally,

Something kinda sad about
the way that things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything.
What became of subtlety?

How can it mean anything to me
If I really don't feel anything at all?

I'll keep digging till
I feel something.

These verses I think show that the attention seeker has thought about what he's doing, and why he's getting nothing out of it, and then deciding to carry on doing it until he does.

It's a bit sketchy, I know, but this is just how this song speaks to me. I'm probably way off.

[MykeAC13]

Well, that last post was deep. But I think the true meaning is right there below our noses. I believe Maynard has his slightly perverted side ("Thinking of You" by A Perfect Circle is about masturbation) and that Stinkfist is about fisting. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. The borderline being a vagina, and through out the song, the arm disappears into the "borderline."
"Constant over stimulation numbs me and I wouldnt have it any other way." A reference to being rough and enjoying it.

[jotun]

this song is about that we are going numb from all the things in our modern world...shopping, media etc...we dont want it...we just need it and we dont know why
we get more and more addicted to these things(compare with bigger and bigger objects are inserted in our bodycaverns)...and need more, bigger stuff to feel something...
the question: "how can this mean anything to me, if i can't feel a thing at all" sums it up pretty good...

at least that's what i think

[Manik_Munkey]

I think for me, the point of the whole song is summed up in the line:

"Constant over stimulation numbs me"

Meaning that we gain a level of stimulation, and need to bring it up a level in order to get the same feeling that we did before.

So he still wants the same thing that he had before, but he wants more of it, in a more intense way. Literally, taking Maynards sick mind into account, the song is about... anal... prodding. ie, he gets a finger in, but becomes to used to that, so he needs two fingers, then the hand, until he's got a whole arm in there (Hmm, I think I saw something like that on my mate's computer...)

[dowser]

remember this is a concept album, and although the songs have meanings individually they each fit a part of a whole story which had begun in undertow.

stinkfisting is the metaphor used to show the process needed to break free from the overstimulation of society. in undertow the character essentially worked through his emotional, more primal urges. now he confronts his intellect and ego, and the constant numbness the ego requires to exist. hence the cover artwork -the symbol represents tv as a distraction that blinds you and grays out the world (see the video). of course this story ends with the character 'prying open my third eye', defeating the ego. the first step to fixing any problem is identifing it ('how could this mean anything to me....') and determing a solution. ('i'll keep digging')

but of course the anal fisting theory does make sense, as long as you want to look at it like that...