YOU cake or death? "um.. Cake." Well too bad were all out of cake! "so my choice is 'or death'?... Well then I'll have the chicken"

I am also of the viewpoint that this song is not about a person. Rather Maynard lives a life of indulgances, but he would wish it all away if he thought it would take him away from God, the light, divinity, whatever you want to refer to it as. It is my opinion from studying various Tool lyrics that Maynard does believe in a benevolant higher power and this is the power he is beeseeching to "shine down till the two become one" to conquer the divide within humanity and bring us to a state of unity.

I believe that the relationship between man and god is a part of this story, but not the only one. However, I don't buy "two becom(ing)e one" to be about the divide in humanity as a whole. Humanity is a fractured species- and it is not a clean break. I just don't see Maynard oversimplifying the nature of human division, so I am more inclined to believe that he is refering to something more specific- Maynard and his mother, Maynard and Devo, Maynard and god, or even the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of provincial Jambi. I believe that Maynard is telling all of these stories simultaneously, while using each one to reference and back up the others.

I have just had a thort. The lyric "no pressure could hold sway or jsutify my kneeling away my centre" (thats just what i am hearing, i think some people agree, i might be wrong).
I think that maynard could be saying that despite his mothers passing and her devotion to God, he cannot let himself pray to God for her as it is against his beliefs.
So, i think that he uses the idea of the benevolant sun (i interpreted this as jahova in an earlier post, or as just a pure unaltered spirit of light and love) as something to "pray" to or look to for hope. Or even as if he is being thankful to be alive, and each new day when the sun comes up he is thankful to be alive (almost "celebrating this chance to be alive and breathing" as in prabola).

jut some thorts for you to read and if anyone has a similar interpretation i hope than can elaborate in a more eloquent (sp) way

Totally. This one of the points of the song that I find to be particularly plural. As you have already pointed out, allegory can be drawn between "Kneeling away my center" and a practical disdain for Christian theology- as Maynard has displayed in multiple examples. I would suggest also that this same lyric could be said to represent the conflict of provincial Jambi during Dutch colonization. As Sultan Taha fled accross the river, he was faced with a choice: Surrender and swear fealty (. . . kneeling . . .) to the Dutch and give (. . . away . . .) the last of his homeland (. . . my center . . .) to an invading force, or divide his kingdom and hold on to what little he had left for as long as he could. Sultan Taha opted for the latter, possibly thinking that no pressure could hold sway, or justify his kneeling away his center. I believe that Maynard is telling us stories of personal struggle interlaced with epic historical tragedies in order to liken the grandiose to the insignificant, and symbolically unite the polar differences of the world.

woah. Nice elaboration. Was i slow in picking that point up?
The centre i was refering to was his spirituality taht clearly transcends religious boundries
All this centre stuff takes me back to the whle fulcrum thing. A fulcrum is either a point of support or like a pivot. So a pivot is like a central point of balance, so is the whole "compromise our fulcrum" part related to "kneelig away his centre"?
To compromise the fulcrum is to compromise his centre, so why would he damn his eyes because of this?
Its posisble that hes using "eyes are the gateway to the soul" thing. Perhaps more disain at christian theology? IF his eyes are showing him Gods work (from his motheres beliefs, and taht she is finally in heaven) he is afraid that his beliefs might change? Or perhaps he is somehow scared of death? expressing his mortal fears?

I get your rationale that the "fulcrum" and the "center" are varied iterations of the same central idea. The fulcrum is the center that holds all related objects in ballance, and thus the integrity of the fulcrum cannot be compromised without dire reprecussions. To me, anyway, compromising one's fulcrum is an inherently bad thing, so it makes sense that he would damn/dim/jam his eyes if they should compromise his fulcrum.

so were agreed then? its about divison and therefore unity, personal and on a grander scale with reference to the TV genie?

I think that the reference to the TV Genie is only incidental, but it is possible. I really do want to know if Paul Reubens (PeeWee) chose the name Jambi the genie for any deeper reason than "it sounds funny."

me too. i was kinda joking bout the genie. lol. would be nice to know tho.
ur a very insifgtful person. do u do a lot of research?

Not ussusally, but when the spirit moves me, I do.

I think this song is about relationship. The benevolent son is cupid.

[/tools carreer]

i agree, instead of "divide within humanity" i should have said the "rift between humanity and divinity" as more acurately sums up my feeling of his meaning.

i also agree with the above statement that you are indeed an insiteful person and i would have to say that your third eye had deffinetly been sucessfully pried open

Well jeez, guys thanks. Fistfuls of acid, ingested with confidence, wil do that for ya (pry that ignored eye open). Just make damn well sure that the shit is clean and that you KNOW it will all be alright at the end of the night.

As for the rift between humanity and divinity, I believe that rift to be internalized within every one of us. We are all gods in our own right. We create our own realities and then we decide how to interact with them. Christ said (something like) "The way to the kingdom of heaven is through me." He acknowledges the divinity of every person, and points out that all we need do to make a better collective reality is act selflessly, as does he. When I stop to think about it, I really hate the legacy that dominant, oppressive empires have created for the man that was Jesus Christ. It's like Gandhi said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

The song is about his son, and that he is the most important thing in his life. He would give up everything if he had to choose between his son and ANYTHING else. all the other lyrics are for the flow of the song. Don't dig too deep, you might find something you're not ready to see.

That's super simplistic. And I love what I find when I dig deep. Especially with Tool; they always leave the most complex treasures buried beneath layers of meaning and emotion.

It's about antidisestablishmentarianism >duh<

It's about antidisestablishmentarianism >duh<

It's about antidisestablishmentarianism >duh<

you got it!!!!

It's about antidisestablishmentarianism >duh<

I think Maynard's singing about his vinyard, and how he wants it to prosper. "breathe in union" etc...

It's an American euphamism for boyfriend or girlfriend.

Did it ever occur to you guys that this guy (being from Rome) doesn't speak English as a first language, and may not be privy to our idiomatic subtexts?

it happens alot not only here; but on any forum with a dominant language

. . . doesn't make it OK . . .

why not?

Because dominant paradigms suck.

I guess the song is about Maynards Ding Dong.

I was thinking more along the lies of a HoHo, or a SnoBall.

Nope I can honestly say that this did not occur to me at all... I thought he was being sarcastic.
Foma, were you being sarcastic?
Sorry if you weren't. guess I'll start checking on profiles be for I assume something that seems to be very obvious to me.

Alright! The bigger man- er- woman.

I think this song has more of a Buddhist bent. That is, the whole dividing element could be related to dividing yourself from "GOD", which, without meditation apparently happens very readily. The "feasting" and what-not could be reference to daily indulgences/desires which get in the way of uniting with the essence of life (read: GOD). This would make sense in light of the "Damn my eyes" component (as in - I wish I wasn't seeing all this shit [T.V., Billboards, sexy women/men, bad-ass guitars, etc] that made me lose sight of what's really important). The "benevolent sun" part could be a reference to the pure and eternal nature of energy which is, as I understand it, an important part of Buddhist though. This may also be consistent with lyrics from the Lateralus album

choosing to be here right now
We are eternal.
All this pain is an illusion.

over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy (before enlightenment you may see the world in black and white, that is, without the subtelties or true nature of being. i.e. Nature is not black and white)

I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in (space between sounds!)

So crucify the ego, before it's far too late

And you will come to find that we are all one mind

Just let the light touch you

So, in those few lines you have discussions of light touching you, seperating the body from the mind due to ego interference (which I think is the whole point of meditating), time (or the non-existence of time), and generally tapping into that flow which is so fucking hard sometimes. Anyhow, I've been noticing a lot of similaritiy in lyrical content in this respect. Just a thought.

Woman :)

I love your interpretations Edward and Successfullypriedopen!!! I can't really relate to the theory that this song is about Maynard's son. (not that it couldn't be) but this seems to make more sense. I was raised christian and though i have since rejected it, I can't fully disregard spirituality. I like the idea of a benign force smiling down upon us rather than the old testament god smiting everybody.

Wouldn't it be awesome if they called this song "Significant Other"? I absolutely would've thrown the album in my waste bin.

Well that would've been silly of you.

What like James Joyce? Pretentious is not the word lol (not you, but Maynard). In regards to the ambiguity of what Maynard is desperate not to lose in this song I dont think there is a specific thing. I think its how people need a centre to their world to cling onto, to oreintate themselves in the world, but as we know Tool have always told us to let go and this theme that continues on this album in terms off loss and mourning. So yeah i agree.

Bingo.... The key is the word fulcrum. Fulcrum is the fixed point at the top of a pendulum, ok stay with me on this... ive just been reading Faucaults pendulum which Blair has mentioned a few times on toolband. Now the significant thing about the pendulums fulcrum is that it is a permanently fixed point, as the world turns the point remains static - the one fixed point in the universe which is used as a metaphor for the belief at the centre of your world whatever it is that gives you a sense of fixed purpose amongst the chaos. The problem is, explains one of the characters is that the pendulum is a false prophet, its still up to you where to hang it whether in a church or a brophel the point still remnains fixed.

Ok dont take the book reference to literally ive no doubt that tool has heard of the actual Faucaults Pendulum and its meaning however due to its Templar connections and we all know they love that stuff, This song is about finding where to hang your pendulum that one thing that you would wish everything away for. However the reason we are so divided is that we hang or pendulums in different places (have conflicting beliefs). So we have to 'kneel away my centre' and place a single pendulum for all (breathe in union) and so become one and survive another day and season etc.

Ok thats one theme in this song figured out. Now can anyone work out why legion is mentioned?