endless_nameless
10-26-2007, 11:52 PM
I think this song encapsulates and clarifies the meaning of the album as a whole.
Undertow - A current below the surface of the sea moving in the opposite direction to the surface current, especially away from the shore.
I see Undertow, the album, as a journey into the dark side of life, the yin side of the Taijitu viewed through the subjective lens of Maynard's personal life experiences. Each song is an exploration of a particular aspect of the negative side of life, the force that counteracts the search for truth and attempts to drag us down, the shadow of the human condition. The exception to this rule is 4*, which is like the oasis of light at the center of the dark side.
Disgustipated offers a justification for this, the reason why this dark current exists: life can only exist by feeding on other life. This process is necessary, and is a natural, intrinsic part of life in this dualistic reality.
I think this is the same reason Maynard makes fun of vegetarianism at the beginning of the track. When you actually think about it, the only way heterotrophic organisms can exist is by consuming life. Virtually all matter humans are capable of eating is derived, either directly as in the case of meat or indirectly in the case of bread, from something that was once alive. The only exception to this law of nature is autotrophic organisms such as plants which derive their sustenance directly from the sun, which could be argued is also an example of life feeding on life, albeit in a somewhat more controversial fashion.
The same principle that operates in the plant/animal world also operates in the world of human life. Its the second most fundamental law of nature, Darwin's evolution through natural selection, survival of the fittest, kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. The universe is hostile, so impersonal. Devour to surive - so it is, so its always been. (I would argue that the most fundamental law of nature is actually balance and co-operation, the harmonious and symbiotic interactions of organisms in complex ecosystems that enables life to exist and evolve).
After wading through all the muck and shit in Undertow, and deciding in Flood to confront the darkness and fight to get back to the surface (where it is possible to catch a wave into the shore), Disgustipated is the recognition of the reason why this trial exists in the first place. The track number says it all: 69. Yin and Yang. If you don't tackle life head on, life may rebound on you and swallow you whole. Its the law of the jungle; only the strong survive the crucible of the dark side, and in the process are shaped and defined by the experience. We can either run away from our shadow or choose to confront it and grow through the reconciliation of opposites. Aenima thus picks up where Undertow leaves off: an exploration of how to transcend the duality of Yin and Yang, current and counter-current, and what is possible when the two sides are balanced and in a state of harmony (46&2 is a prominent example of this).
As for the spoken word section at the end, my interpretation is that this is an acknowledgement of the other side of the coin, what can happen to people who aren't able, for one reason or another, to escape the downward pull of the undertow and are instead sucked right down to the bottom, never able to get their heads above water again (Layne Staley and Kurt Cobain come to mind). Murderers, suicides, drug addictions and mental illnesses can be pointed to as examples of this phenomenon. I think the spoken word section is looking at the world through the eyes of a psychopath; waking up in a ditch, in pain, head almost empty, covered in goo, in possession of a knife and about to make those little people out across your field yours too (the id and ego let off the chain and running amok in the world, without restraint and deluded into thinking they own everything). A warning of the power and depth of the dark side, the threat of the downward spiral into oblivion.
Undertow - A current below the surface of the sea moving in the opposite direction to the surface current, especially away from the shore.
I see Undertow, the album, as a journey into the dark side of life, the yin side of the Taijitu viewed through the subjective lens of Maynard's personal life experiences. Each song is an exploration of a particular aspect of the negative side of life, the force that counteracts the search for truth and attempts to drag us down, the shadow of the human condition. The exception to this rule is 4*, which is like the oasis of light at the center of the dark side.
Disgustipated offers a justification for this, the reason why this dark current exists: life can only exist by feeding on other life. This process is necessary, and is a natural, intrinsic part of life in this dualistic reality.
I think this is the same reason Maynard makes fun of vegetarianism at the beginning of the track. When you actually think about it, the only way heterotrophic organisms can exist is by consuming life. Virtually all matter humans are capable of eating is derived, either directly as in the case of meat or indirectly in the case of bread, from something that was once alive. The only exception to this law of nature is autotrophic organisms such as plants which derive their sustenance directly from the sun, which could be argued is also an example of life feeding on life, albeit in a somewhat more controversial fashion.
The same principle that operates in the plant/animal world also operates in the world of human life. Its the second most fundamental law of nature, Darwin's evolution through natural selection, survival of the fittest, kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. The universe is hostile, so impersonal. Devour to surive - so it is, so its always been. (I would argue that the most fundamental law of nature is actually balance and co-operation, the harmonious and symbiotic interactions of organisms in complex ecosystems that enables life to exist and evolve).
After wading through all the muck and shit in Undertow, and deciding in Flood to confront the darkness and fight to get back to the surface (where it is possible to catch a wave into the shore), Disgustipated is the recognition of the reason why this trial exists in the first place. The track number says it all: 69. Yin and Yang. If you don't tackle life head on, life may rebound on you and swallow you whole. Its the law of the jungle; only the strong survive the crucible of the dark side, and in the process are shaped and defined by the experience. We can either run away from our shadow or choose to confront it and grow through the reconciliation of opposites. Aenima thus picks up where Undertow leaves off: an exploration of how to transcend the duality of Yin and Yang, current and counter-current, and what is possible when the two sides are balanced and in a state of harmony (46&2 is a prominent example of this).
As for the spoken word section at the end, my interpretation is that this is an acknowledgement of the other side of the coin, what can happen to people who aren't able, for one reason or another, to escape the downward pull of the undertow and are instead sucked right down to the bottom, never able to get their heads above water again (Layne Staley and Kurt Cobain come to mind). Murderers, suicides, drug addictions and mental illnesses can be pointed to as examples of this phenomenon. I think the spoken word section is looking at the world through the eyes of a psychopath; waking up in a ditch, in pain, head almost empty, covered in goo, in possession of a knife and about to make those little people out across your field yours too (the id and ego let off the chain and running amok in the world, without restraint and deluded into thinking they own everything). A warning of the power and depth of the dark side, the threat of the downward spiral into oblivion.