Hey everyone... can anyone give me a better idea what this song is about? This was probably the hardest song of all the ones on Ænima to 'get into'. After a while the musicality of the piece made sense to me, but I still don't really understand the lyrics.
Thus far, all I have decided is that Maynard is making reference to the way in which one must give themselves up fully to their feelings when in a relationship. Hence the line: 'There's no love in fear' being one of the final refrains of the song - essentially you can't love someone if you aren't prepared to give everything about yourself and your way of life up in thier favour. The constant 'pushing' and 'shoving' present in the song could refer to the distance created if you don't comply with this approach.
I started to believe this more when I heard the Salival version of the song. I thought that maybe Tool felt that the recorded version was too abrasive and metallic to represent this more sensitive topic, so it was necessary to give listeners a different route of entry.
However, it is a devil of a job trying to get some of the earlier lyrics to match up to this pretty skeletal theme ('Bang my head upon the fault line'...?). I'm also not altogether happy with these ideas as they seem to fundamental and obvious...
So if anyone can give me something else to think about I'd be much obliged.
I remember once, at a concert, just before TOOL played Pushit, Maynard said something along these lines:
"this song is about a friend of mine...she was in a strange spot when I wrote the lyrics...she has changed so much since then, this song doesn't even apply to her anymore"
So I am guessing the lyrics to Pushit are filled with very personal references to this friend of Maynard.
Personally, this is one of my favorite TOOL songs, for many personal reasons.
In a more umbrella approach, I believe Pushit is simply about being in/dealing with an abusive relationship.
'bang my head upon the fault line': well, a fault line is a dangerous place to be. Banging your head against a dangerous place is well, dangerous. Its like holding a bullet while smacking the end with a hammer.
I have thought about this song and I believe that it is about an abusive relationship between parent and child. The pushing and shoving can be two things. The 'Pushing me to do something' or the 'physical pushing'(hurting). Either case, it seems that it is related to the infant.
My impressions were that the infant is causing pain. The person singing is deliberating within himself whether or not to silence the screams, or go into the gap again. The music goes along with this. The harsher sounds represent the part of the mind where he feels that he wants to end the screams of the infant.
The time signature 12/8 is used here, and the sound is deliberate, but frantic. The sound is less acoustic (pure) and more distorted, like the man's thought process. The section in the middle of the song is in 6/4 time, though the beat is faster, it gives a much slower more thought filled effect. The sound is less distorted. As the song progresses toward the end the music becomes more frantic and distorted. The ending is frantic, the man is entering insanity and then he ends it (There is no other way) he kills the child.
This also allows Cesaro Summability to make more sense. The baby makes a last scream. After that, if you listen it sounds like a car is fleeing from the police. The reving of the engine and the police on their radio. Then the car drops off of a cliff and it is all over.
That is my take on that song. I doubt that it is Maynards, but the songs are written to inspire us to think for ourselves. We will think how we want to think, even if it is not the 'right' way.
Yeah, this could just be Maynards version of a love song, or possibly about his experiences with love in past times, or mabey just about a harsh relationship. But hey, everyones got there own good veiw.
I always took this song as one that the writer is looking for love, but the person giving the love (finally) is pushing it so hard, and too late that no longer does the writer want it, i.e. "pushing me, shoving me...you still loved me...but you didn't "need" pushit on me". For so long it seems he dwelled for love affection and acceptence, but a day late and a dollar short is what he got, and by this point he's matured enough himself to find that he no longer needed it.
HumbleOne
__________________ Be not what you are, but what you are to be.
I see this song speaking veiled descriptions of the physical body. In this light, "Bang My head upon the fault line," certainly seems to have a meaning that is sexually oriented. This song possibly describes a forceful sexual act and the repercussions that the participants are involved in.
this song is a love song, and it illustrates the pitfalls of loveing someone. like the pain that goes along with loveing someone and being loved by someone. you feel compelled to do what they want, and they do to for you. so sometimes the other gets hurt when one does something or says something, hense the whole pushing around buisness and shit being hurt/pain. i belece this song is life. this song to me speaks volumes and has a very speical place in my heart. if i connect with anyone else that feels the say way about this song that means something.
other songs that mean life to me are whitewater by kyuss and you may laugh but, ol diamond back sturgen by primus.
i gues in the end maynerd says love ends wrong, but we make it work
I was always under the impression that Pushit was about an oppressive relationship that someone was desperate to get out of, whether for fear of love and losing ones self in it or otherwise.
I think the 'infant' in the song is really supposed to be a metaphore for fragility perhaps in the other person in the relationship or the relationship itself.
There is a lot of violent imagery in the song, but I never took it literally and thought it just emphasized the feelings of frustration and desperation about the relationship the person has. They want to escape for whatever reason, but their partner is hanging onto them so tight that it's smothering, and they keep getting pulled back in. Conditions are given in the song ('If, when I say I may fade like a sigh if I stay, You minimize my movement anyway, I must persuade you another way.') But it's gotten to the point where the person is afraid they're really going to have to hurt the other to get away, but they're getting prepared to do so if necessary.
Both songs have this intense build up that I always thought reflected the building up of tension and desperation to the point they can't be handled anymore.
Maybe I just see it that way because it's a personal situation I've been in, and I think a lot of other people have been in as well, but it always made sense to me.
My interpretation is kinda along the same lines but a little different. see this is one of my favorite songs by tool because i think we can all relate to it. Some people more than others depending on your experiences. i believe it is about how much of an impact parents have on our lives. They push us and make us try to do the right thing but sometimes it can turn out to be manipulative and controling. when we get older we develope our own ideas and try to break free of our parents restraints but we find it hard to on both ends. "remember i will always love you, even as i tear your fucking throat away. but it will end no other way." This part in the song is kind of an eye opener for the parents. the child sees that his/her parents are manipulative and try to break free. they still love them of coarse but despise the way they are treated, and are so frustrated that they will metaphorically tear their fucking throat away. and that is the only way that the parents will open their eyes: "but it will end no other way". "if when i say i might fade like a sigh if i stay. you minimize my movement anyway. i must persuade you another way." if parents don't let go of their child and not let them develope they may just fade away and not be their own person. only what they manipulated them to be. minimizing movement indicates controling their behavior. there must be some other way to break free. I don't know i guess if i gave you my experience it would be a lot easier to understand my point of view. but it is a bit personal. i hope you all understand my interpretation. please tell me if i'm extremely confusing and i'll elaberate more
The songs has a play on words. 'You still love me and you pushit on me'sounds like 'You still love me and you shit on me'. To me, the song is about loving someone who either doesn't love you back or abuses you metally or physically.
i have always associated pushit with h. my interpretation of h. is a bit different than some other ones because i have never thought of h. as being a song about drugs or anything of the sort. i think of it in terms of a strained, harmful relationship with another person, be it one's lover or friend or whatever. the lines "i'm alive when you're touching me, alive when you're shoving me down" and "considerately killing me" just go hand and hand in my mind.
__________________ I felt almost outside myself which is unusual for me since I am so pathologically self-absorbed that I can't take a step without thinking to myself, "I am taking a step."
I am in agreement with most of you, especially nikki and manifestcontent. Both versions of Pushit are probably my two favorite songs, and can mean a variety of different things to different listeners. I feel its about an individual wanting to escape from a bad relationship or personal struggle, but is too "in love" with that person or inner demon to leave, even though their love is really only fear of being alone. "The Gap" is the opportunity this individual has to escape, and must push this person/inner demon away in order to survive. The ending is sort of bittersweet, since the ending is not happy, much like in reality. The Salival version adds to this idea and is a musical masterpiece, but I feel the original touches me in a more impactful way.
__________________ I can't live the button-down life like you. I want it all: the terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles. Sure, I might offend a few of the bluenoses with my cocky stride and musky odors -- oh, I'll never be the darling of the so-called "City Fathers" who cluck their tongues, stroke their beards, and talk about "What's to be done with this Andy DV?"
i think everybody is wrong. my interpretation is that it somewhat relates to 46&2. pushit is a song about the relationship between the ego and his new egoless consciousness when on lsd or whatever. what he talks about in the song that sounds like people arent people they are states of mind that are pushing and pulling at him. i think that pushit is a song about psychadelics and there appeal. the gap can be interpreted as the synaptic gap or the subconscious or the space between the conflicting parties.
"Put me somewhere I don't wanna be.
Seeing someplace I don't wanna see.
Never wanna see that place again."
if anyone has ever had a bad trip on lsd or mushrooms you know what that paragraph is about.
Is giving in to frustration. Whn you argue with someone who just won't see it your way, you think of them as an infant who doesn't understand the truth of things. When the argument escalates, so does your frustration towards this infant who can't comprehend your point of view.
"Bang my head upon the faultline"
Follows the same idea. Falling into the trap of an argument's pettiness and malice. By "Stooping" to the level of arguing in an attacking way, by getting vicious rather than contemplative, we hurt ourselves.
We will hurt ourselves by allowing our frustrations tumble into incoherent anger.
DMT, how can you say we are all wrong and you are right? did maynard and the rest of the band personally tell you what the song is about? and even if our interpretations are not what the band intended that still doesn't make us wrong. the songs tool writes are for us to interpret and us to decide how to use their meaning. no one is wrong no one is right.
Originally posted by Clarity "Choke this infant here before me"
Is giving in to frustration. Whn you argue with someone who just won't see it your way, you think of them as an infant who doesn't understand the truth of things. When the argument escalates, so does your frustration towards this infant who can't comprehend your point of view.
"Bang my head upon the faultline"
Follows the same idea. Falling into the trap of an argument's pettiness and malice. By "Stooping" to the level of arguing in an attacking way, by getting vicious rather than contemplative, we hurt ourselves.
We will hurt ourselves by allowing our frustrations tumble into incoherent anger.
Nice. I've always seen this song as a defining moment in a relationship where he wants to back off and calm down but she keeps pushing him and shoving him. We've all been there before. You just want to walk away but she won't let it rest. The pushin and shoving continues and your "bangin' your head on the faultline" which you dare not cross. Because if you do, "you both mat disappear". The argument eventually comes to a head and he loses control. She has finally pushed him to where he didn't want to be. He can no longer hold back. "Take care not to make me enter, cause if I do we both may disappear." He entered and now they and their love and trust between one another will disappear. All because she wouldn't shut the fuck up. She just kept pushing and he tore her fucking throat away.
This may be a little different than your thoughts but you seem to have a similar understanding of the anger and how he got that angry.
after reading what twenty3 said about Maynard stating
Quote:
"this song is about a friend of mine...she was in a strange spot when I wrote the lyrics...she has changed so much since then, this song doesn't even apply to her anymore"
I am starting to think that maybe Pushit is about Tori Amos because Tori and Maynard are like brother and sister and I think 1996/1997 was when Boys For Pele was released and I've read a recent interview where Tori said that she doesn't listen to Boys For Pele very much because she was in a different state of mind at the time she made it......also remeber that the duet that Maynard and Tori did was on a show that Tori did to support Boys For Pele, coincidence?
I alway thought Pushit was about the fear and reality of having a child.I think the begining the singer is realizing that this is a new responsibility,and throughout the song the singer analyzes this and it starts to become a little more "real".Then the end the singer realizes "theres no love in fear" and thinks he cannot handle this new life.
Thanks guys, all of this does really help. Manifestcontent's interpretation is one which seems to fit very neatly but which I've never considered before. I do think prehaps the language of the song is quite sexually suggestive in places, however, and I suppose that's what made me think otherwise. In one of the Tool articles here, I noticed that one writer saw the lyrics as 'homoerotic', and altered some of them to say things like: 'Your pushing it, and shoving me...'. This is obviously mishearing at first, though there are connotations of that sort of stuff elsewhere too. That opens up a new avenue of thought too I guess...
Just for thought, these boards being here, and me being able to read some of the great ideas that you all have put together is awsome. I believe that the interpertations we all put together, how deep, and out there some may be is what Maynards goal was. If you think about it a lot of you have opened up your eyes, your hearts and your minds I can tell this from what i read here.
To me the way you all think is a patteren of thinking and realizing "consciousness" if you may that I feel the rest of the world is headed into, a higher level that can look beyond a lot of things, and try to see the true in the matter. I think all your opinions are great, and hope to read more them, keep on writing it's food for my soul.
__________________ Be not what you are, but what you are to be.
How can you say we are all wrong are you are right? no one is wrong and no one is right. these postings are for us to share what the songs mean to US. not what they originally ment to the band. all of tool's songs can be open for interpretation, so to say that we are all wrong defeats the purpose of having these message boards. think before you speak.
sorry. i was just saying you are all wrong as a way of emphasizing my interpretation. didnt know so many peoples egos would be damaged. again sorry for not being serious all the time. of course these are all opinions. pull the stick out of the ass.
Originally posted by dmt sorry. i was just saying you are all wrong as a way of emphasizing my interpretation. didnt know so many peoples egos would be damaged. again sorry for not being serious all the time. of course these are all opinions. pull the stick out of the ass.
You have to realize that once you start pointing out what's "right" or "wrong" that you're the one with the stick up your ass. It doesn't really matter how you intended it, because fingers were still pointed. That's just what I think.
__________________ I must persuade you another way
"Point that fuckin' finger up your ass."
Please don't get into the I'm right your wrong arguments, because nobody is right and nobody is wrong. That's why its called the OPINIONS section not the FACT section. Thank You
MW
Trust your brain. Destroy your beliefs. Trust
you divinity
__________________ One thing I an't is a Saint without a sin.
«Pain Fetish inside you.»
«Made by Sex.»
I'm sorry, the last I heard DMT did not stand for "Destroy Man's Thoughts". As it is said, this is an opinion forum and no one is neither right nor wrong but to themselves. This is an attempt to gain a better perspective with one's on individuallity. If your individuallity tells YOU that WE are all wrong, then tell YOURSELF that. As for our EGOs, Let go my EGO cus I know where it stands. Thanks, hope you can find it in your individuallity to be a little more open in your post to come.
That is so brilliant im gonna print that out and read it over and over again (quote included) because i just realised that it is 99.9999% of my relationship with an (ex) friend, and now i know why i just had to terminte it for good. thanks dude that helped so much with my own 'guilty conscience' and now i know that what i did was maybe for the best.
It also gives me a better viewpoint of the song and also adds more meaning behind the quote: "Ever have someone love you so much that they tried to kill you? Or perhaps suck you down into a hole? And you had to kill them to get away? Me either." - Maynard James Keenan, before Pushit live sometime in '96
I know it is kinda saying that "this person" (in my case, she) loves you, well it may just happen to be that she thinks she does, and by trying to make you see her way will make it all better, but what she doesnt see is that she is just not even listening to herself, and is just making the whole situation more and more unbearable. well, this is how it is for me, i dont know about any of you ppl out there ;)
«---- '][' ø r p î d ]? r ê ÿ ----»
__________________ *** ']['orpid ]Prey ***
"Live and Learn, provided you Live"
- Me, February 2004
Last edited by Torpid_Prey; 12-27-2002 at 07:17 PM..
This song is very deep and hard to understand. First off, I'd like to say Hello, I'm new. Also I think it is more important to try and understand the song as what it means to you and not to worry about the exact meaning it had for Maynard J. Keenan when he wrote it. These songs are inspirations to us because they touch upon subjects we can relate to. The vagueness of the lyrics is the beauty of it all.
Pushit is my favorite song of all time. What it means to me is breaking free from restraints. Restraint being ignorance in thyself and others. Take the beginning of the song "I will choke until I swallow" the literal meaning being emminate death unless you swallow the object choking you, applied metaphorically meaning taking into you and accepting (swallowing) something you had been resisting. The way to release requires that you know, really know, what you are breaking away from, thus acceptance....know your foe, even if it's you. At the end of the song is the reminder to live one day at a time. "Remember I'll always love you as I tear your..." We are always hurting the ones we love, and vice-versa. It's a never ending circle.
Use the song for whatever value it holds for you. If you don't like it or can't understand it, don't worry about it. The music behind the lyrics is what drew me to it, it's so beautiful. I find a lot of the time ignoring the words helps define the song. Please don't just listen to the words! The music is so good, think of Maynard's voice as just an instrument, and lose yourself.
