Source: Toolarmy.com

JAMBI
Here from a kings mountain view,
Here from a wild dream come true,
Feast like a sultan, I do, on
Treasures and flesh, never few,

But I would wish it all away if I thought I'd lose you just one day.

The Devil and his had me down.
In love with the dark side I'd found.
Dabbling all the way down.
Up to my neck, soon to drown.
But you changed that all for me.
Lifted me up. Turned me round.

SO I would wish this all away...

Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn.
Begged like a hooker all night long.
tempted the devil with my song.
And Got what I wanted all along.

But I would wish it all away...
no prize that could hold sway or justify my giving away my center so

If I could I'd wish it all away if I thought tomorrow would take you away.
You, my piece of mind,
my all, my center, just trying to hold on one more day.
Damn my eyes if they should compromise the fulcrum.

(if) wants and needs divide me then I might as well be gone.

Shine on forever. Shine on, benevolent sun.
Shine down upon the broken . Shine until the two become one.
Shine on forever. Shine on, benevolent sun.
Shine down upon the severed . Shine until the two become one.
Divided, I'll wither away. Divided I'll wither away.
Shine down upon the many. Light our way, benevolent sun.

Breathe in union. Breathe in union. Breathe in union. Breathe in union.
Breathe in union so as one survive another day and season.
Silence, legion. save your poison. Silence, legion. Stay out of my way.


Words
by
Maynard James Keenan

So there you have it!

As for what it means.....
Could be about the last days of his dying mother. I never thought of it that way until now. But 'You, my piece of mind,
my all, my center, just trying to hold on one more day" leads me to at least entertain this possibility

Dunno... Thats all there was.
I think it is safe to say it is neither Dim my eyes or Jambi eyes. Not ever.

fair enough. :)

(You present an excellent argument by the way)

excellent. just excellent.

"As for what it means.....
Could be about the last days of his dying mother. I never thought of it that way until now. But 'You, my piece of mind,
my all, my center, just trying to hold on one more day" leads me to at least entertain this possibility"


Add in the "Shine down upon the SEVERED" and you may have the right idea.

Fantastic. I don't think there was much contention over these lyrics though, compared with others. Except "damn my eyes".

That pisses me off. I read the "Jambi eyes" thing only a few days ago and had convinced myself it sounded more like that. God damn you people!

yay i heard most of these words....

I KNEW it was "Damn my eyes"! Mwa ha ha ha haa!

Funny, wouldn't they have posted this in the official news had this been "official". Nice try though.

i wish i never knew his mother died

toolarmy is official

i'm sure it will surface over to toolband shortly

I'm aware of that but a couple of those lyrics were definately incorrect, not to mention he could have "possibly" just typed that up himself. Many on here have claimed to "know something others do not" or that they "have the correct information or lyrics". I guess I'm just being a pessimist.

a lot of lyrics straight from the source (maynard) have been incorrect on toolband.com though

i don't have toolarmy though so i can't vouch for the validity of this

Its from toolarmy.com!
I'm not lying!!

It's funny.

You know Maynard himself could tell people it's 'Damn my eyes.' and they would look him right back in the eye and say, "No, it's dim my eyes."

Very true! Dont people understand that words can be pronounced differently in order to fit with a song! I mean, if you want proper english then go watch the bill or something like that!
How about Nirvana, smells like teen spirits, at the end, I always thought, la-de-da-da la-de-da-da la-de-da-da

Apparently its "a denial" Well, I can kind of hear it, but years and years of reinforcing my own conclusions has actually made it difficult to hear to correct words. Simply because it was pronounced the way it was!

When he says legion, what do you think he means? Is he referring to the host of demons named Legion (that Jesus casts into a group of pigs who proceed to jump off a cliff)? Or a legion of people pulling him in directions that he shouldn't go? Or a legion of unhealthy desires/wants/needs?

Probably all three. Maynard likes the fact that you keep your mind open to three different ideas. ;)

IT IS "DIM MY EYES..." AND A COUPLE MORE WRONG WORDS AS WELL. CAN'T BE OFFICIAL LYRICS... HOW CAN THE SUN BE BENEVOLENT? IT'S SON. AND IT'S NOT SILENCE "LEGION" IT'S LEECH. LEAVES ME TO BELIEVE THESE ARE NOT THE OFFICIAL LYRICS.

IF YOU THINK THAT THE SUN CAN BE BENEVOLENT, THAN YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T KNOW WHAT THE SONG IS ABOUT.

I'M TALKING IN CAPITAL LETTERS, THEREFORE I MUST BE RIGHT! I KNOW MORE ABOUT MAYNARD'S LYRICS THAN HE DOES! SPIRAL OUT D00D!

doesnt sun and son mean the same thing when you think about it in a tree of life/qabalistic context? tiphareth = son/sun (of male chokmah and female binah)

maybe there's some meaning behind this word? ;)

obviously lolz

You, sir, are a fucktard.

Legion makes perfect sense (if you'd read more than just this thread for more than just the past year), and is CLEARLY (based on OFFICIAL lyrics and what others have mentioned for countless posts) what the line is here. Check your high-handedness at the door (might want to pick up a brain while you're at it) and realize that YES, these are the official lyrics as posted by Blair. If you're in ToolArmy, check that site, or check www.theninhotline.com/toolnews/ and the link there to double-check.

And the Sun, indeed, can be benevolent, but if you want to argue that point, try not using all caps and telling others that they don't know what the song means. Because you clearly do not.

My $0.02:

I am actually relieved to have this all cleared up - the whole Damn/Dim/Jam thing. I've wanted to believe that it was simply him saying "Damn my eyes" with different inflections, but haven't made too much of it because I knew that flaming was going to happen with people saying "OMGWTF N00B!!!1 It's DIM" and others saying "NUH-UH, it's JAM, IDIOT!!!" - so I stayed out of the commentary until the official lyrics came out.

If you know a bit about phonetics at all, you'd remember that the D- and J-sounds are actually quite close in pronunciation (in fact, in the Russian language, in order to get the J-sound, they put a D-sound and a Zh-sound together). It's quite possible (and seemingly the case given the lyrics) that, in changing his voice to match the music, Maynard just warps the way he says "Damn".

Regardless of whether or not you believe this, could we please refrain from saying that we still think it's "Dim/Jam" when the lyrics do not support this (though your ear might). For the sake of expounding upon the meaning of the song, we have been given clarification, and no longer have to worry about which one it is. The narrator is asking for his eyes to be damned - and that's what we have to go with. Hopefully even Three_Deviations won't debate this, claiming that her ears are more trustworthy than the official lyrics for the umpteenth time.

Man, I was rolling until this part. I really wish people would back off of the whole "You can't know what you're talking about - you believe in Jesus" or "The Bible is all lies and contradictions and only small-minded people would believe it". I appreciate the sarcasm and everything here, but it's quite unnecessary to completely trash certain beliefs (when it's not actually clear what laynesthe1 believes) simply because you have a problem with it. It's not like anyone here is trying to proselytize or convert you to anything. I said this all much more eloquently in another thread. Check it out: http://toolnavy.com/showpost.php?p=2197816&postcount=19

Anyway, thanks for the laugh. I'd just appreciate it if we didn't knock on religion simply because we don't agree.

funny because i was watching a show on pbs just last night and the exact phrase "benevolent sun" was used. you lose.

Damn my eyes
Jambi eyes
Damn my eyes

End. Of. Story.

SHUT UP ALREADY.

how is jambi the genie or the Indonesian place pronounced?

Jam-bee? or jam-bye?

i don't think jambi eyes makes any sense at all

grandma eyes

joooan baeeeeeeezzzzzz

clearly you are mistaken.

I guess someone could argue that Maynard should have sang "Shine on ambivalent and coincidentally beneficial to man kind by no choice of its own...sun."

yes.

but that'd take up too much space in the song... much better to abbreviate.

TO ALL: YOU HEAR WHAT YOU WANT AND I HEAR WHAT I KNOW. AND I AM A WOMAN ( TO THAT GUY WHO CALLED ME A "DOOD" ) AND I CAN WRITE WHATEVER I WANT. I HEAR WHAT I HEAR IN THIS SONG. IT'S MY EARS AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO AGREE BUT TO BE MEAN ABOUT IT LEAVES ME TO WANT THE BENEVOLENT SON AROUND ME EVEN MORE...... AND I WRITE IN CAPITALS JUST BECAUSE I LIKE TO. ANY HARM IN THAT??

I had an employer who typed in all caps in all e-mails. It always gave me that 'oh man what did i do wrong' feeling when I'd first open my e-mail. Then it would just read something like "THAT SOUNDS GREAT, WE SHOULD DISCUSS THIS OVER LUNCH. I'LL BUY." I always wanted to tell him he wasn't being very 1337.

Anyway, though I might be giving him too much credit, the use of sun/son was most likely intentional. Maynard seems to use any chance he can to be ambiguous. I think he likes to read threads in which people are flamed for thinking he's talking about a person. He gets a little kick out of it.

ok, for the sake of arguement, i'll not write in capitals. so... if "the devil and his had him down" why, then, cannot the "benevolent son" lift him up?? wouldn't you want to think that way?? it's much more calming and realistic. it's my fav song because of what he's talking about. puts me at ease and in a good mood. we hear "devil" in songs but seems to be hard for people to comprehend using the word GOD. this is exactly why i hear what i hear. :)