the thing i always loved about this song is how very much about ITSELF it is.
starting with "black and white", "red and yellow then came to me"
-- starting out simpler, as much of their stuff from Opiate was, then really expanding into complexity (plus Aenima's cover is black/white, lateralus's is mainly red/yellow).
"Overthinking, overanalyzing, separates the body from the mind, etc."
-- is a clear warning us all about reading too much into tool's music.
and especially the whole end run climax, from the POV of the singer about his own music ...
"I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to...."
the thought is to not overthink it all. feel it. feel connected enough to just feel inspired, to witness the beauty, to let the music take the singer away to that awesome place you go when you are creating, and to still remain a normal everyday person ("still be a human") ... with his feet planted firmly on the ground ...
"With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,"
which is the singer, mouth open, surrounded by thundering amps, arms out to the crowd....
"I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been."
...symbolically reaching out for whatever is next. the idea: follow their own noses, create, create, create ... and maybe make music like nobody ever has.
meta-song. word.
__________________
this is the voice of original sin • take it. [attrition]
to be sure, it's written in such a way (like most tool songs) to be interpret-able in a very broad way. but i am pretty certain this was the original specific meaning.
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this is the voice of original sin • take it. [attrition]
[QUOTE=kabir] starting with "black and white", "red and yellow then came to me"
-- starting out simpler, as much of their stuff from Opiate was, then really expanding into complexity (plus Aenima's cover is black/white, lateralus's is mainly red/yellow). QUOTE]
A suggestion: The pattern he describes is similar to that experienced by newborns as they discover their world. Their vision at first has poor focus and is without colour. The first colour they perceive is red. You get the drift. In fact, in many contexts, infants have quite a bias towards red objects.
A suggestion: The pattern he describes is similar to that experienced by newborns as they discover their world. Their vision at first has poor focus and is without colour. The first colour they perceive is red. You get the drift. In fact, in many contexts, infants have quite a bias towards red objects.
Yes, red and yellow. McDonalds knows this very well.
wow Kabir...I have NEVER thought of that song in that way, and im sure that that is EXACTLY what Maynard was talking about.
However, I beleive that music is about whatever you want it to be about. And it's possible to push the lyrics in any direction that the listiner pleases. And I choose to beleive that this song is about transcending, and becoming a more powerful being. To strive to find the power to rise above our average selves and become, something more.
"to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human."
Listen to Maynard. For some Reason he knows more about us than we do.
__________________ "Cold Silence has a tendency to,
Atrophy any sense of Compassion"
-Schism
this song is sublime, and I agree with the opening post. I remember when listening to Lateralus(the album) in the first months, this is the song that I would play over and over and over again. I felt there was something the song wanted to transmit to me... something that no other song has ever tried to transmit to me before... almost overwhelming. I'm still wide eyed and amazed, looking... ;)
I hear a lot about the "overthinking, over-analyzing seperates the body from the mind" statement as a warning, in that we wouldnt want these two to split. Well being that we already are disharmonic creatures I always thought this statement to be an anthem for people who do no such thing(analyze). Just questioning everything is a simple exercise and very effective in opening the mind up to stimulating possibilities, which could then bring us back to our physical being with a new light.
I realize theres these Mind/Body philosophies and practices, and this could be the ultimate goal... but then again I consider seperation from the physical body to be a way of freeing ourselves from all desires the body suggests. We do that, and we are free to be. I believe we can overthink ourselves into feeling whatever we want, and this would allow passage to..
"meta-physiological, meta-biological involving contelligence projected out from the Quantum Projection Boooth." To become non-local.
I could go either way on any of this... s'all good
If it is Tool saying slow down on the analyzing of our songs and feel it, i get a chuckle " think for yourself... christ, stop for a second!"
__________________ And so what you're saying when you say 'I understand it intellectually, but I don't get it intuitively,' or 'I don't feel it in my bones,' is that you understand it in the sense of being able to repeat a form of words.
Last edited by (self(other; 08-05-2006 at 09:29 AM..
I hear a lot about the "overthinking, over-analyzing seperates the body from the mind" statement as a warning, in that we wouldnt want these two to split...
I don't think this particular line is about the actual separation of one's body from one's mind. It is claiming that overthinking/analyzing is what DISTINGUISHES the body from the mind - i.e. it is what separates them CONCEPTUALLY.
It is a reference to the mind/body problem in analytical philosophy, and by saying that overthinking/analyzing provides the distinguishing criterion, the line tells us we need to move beyond a life of mere intellectual contemplation if we are to fulfill our true potential as human beings.
So to question whether it is good or bad to actually separate one's mind from one's body is to misunderstand this lyric IMO.
__________________ "The only gratification that science denies to us is deception" - Ann Druyan
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Re: meta-song
i find this song to particularly set on the evolution of ones own being, starting off with the only visable things in life being black and white until one begins to grow <spiral out> to experience the other colors within the spectrum, the fibbonacci spiral itself is symbolicly implying growth, now im not saying this is a pureply metaphysical growth but that this idea could be integrated to any part of life. life is movement, stagnation is death, ride the roller coaster of life and see where it goes not where it ends. whats more important anyway the exileration of the ride or the stop at the destination.
if i could sum this song up in word it would be "Feel"
This song to me is truly a masterpiece. There are so many things to this song, the layered instruments, the fibonnacci verses and time sigatures, the way the guitars seem like they are swirling around you (especially in surround sound, like a car) and my favorite part has to be is the "to feel connected, to weep like a widow, to fathom the power to witness the beauty" part. That might be out of order off the top of my head. But I can play this song over and over again and never get tired. It's just so masterfully put together.
__________________ "WITHOUT A LITTLE EVIL, GOOD WOULD NEVER EXIST"
