First I'd like to say that I think alot of Maynard's lyrics work on many levels, but ultimately point to general themes conserning deeper philosophical querys...
To me, the theme that these lyrics point to is "we look for love in all the wrong places", and that we are searching too hard for it these days...
(we=humanity/or society collectively)
Ok, I have rewritten the lyrics into my own words to convey the same message/theme that I believe was intended from its original form...This is a bit more blunt, sort of...
"..we search for love because we are listless/extremely bored with ourselves...
i overstimulate myself to distract my attention away from the fact that I feel so incomplete as a person..
but I'd rather continue smother myself in complex relationship bull shit than find another way to complete myself (choosing a temporary solution to ennui rather than being brave and embracing change for the better)
but none of it is enough to satisfy my needs....i need to keep filling this black hole in my psyche by continuing to force myself upon you, and you unto me....
*smothering.....(stinkfisting)*
do you feel this way too? take the easy way out like i am, because i will turn your lonely moments into pleasure...just ignore how painful its going to feel to help soothe our problems...
its still not enough though...
*smothering.....(stinkfisting)*
was this really worth it?? now we're practically lifeless...we cant even care about what we began...were mindless because we still continually do it...
what happened to accepting subtle gestures of love, rather than demanding it?
how am i supposed to get meaning from this relationship if its already dead?
no matter....just continue to smother one another....mabey it will yield good results in time...no matter how far we have to reach for them...
just take it..."
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Obviously, in the origional lyrics, the act of stink-fisting someone is the extended metaphor for "searching for love in the wrong places".....
(Maynard does a wonderful job of using really good diction to connect these two ideas.....for example: we DIG for satisfaction, what we crave, like we DIG in our ass)
At first, human instinct compels us (the best of us) to point our fingers to a problem, but in the wrong direction (an asshole/ or borderline)
We cautiously probe deeper and deeper....the asshole consumes the finger....the knuckle....the elbow...and finally the shoulder...
^Thats pretty FAR....And its really funny, because our human impulses really do compel us to lengths THAT drastic....All simply done in order to satisfy our lack of affection, love, compassion, and understanding of one another....
So there you have it...
Society as a whole: "..Mabey we should "dig" somewhere else???...nah, that cant be it....just relax...take my hand (LITERALLY, if you catch my drift).."
^What do you think??? Anyone agree with my interpretation?? Some of it is a bit iffy in a few segments of the song, but on the whole, I think I grasped the main theme (or what I get/learn from the song personally)
I think that that is a good interpretation of the lyrics. You took it in a differant direction than the common 'desensitization of the media' path that most people follow. I deffinatly think that Maynard's lyrics are meant to be take on many levels and that the song is clearly not just about anal fisting. (Although it is a topic worthy of writing songs about.) Your interpretation was kind of along the sme lines of the media concept although you took it in a more literal meaning by still relating it human affection. However both interpretations both focus on the theme of desensitization, and how with us it is never really enough,(with just about anything that you relate it to with humans, whether you are talking about drugs, love, shock value, or even anal fisting; we always cant help but think about how things could be a little better) and that we will always need more. Will we ever be satisfied? I dont think so because never nessesarily want it, we just need it to feel, to breathe, to know we are alive.
