This song is pretty straight forward. Here are my thoughts:

"We listen to the tales and romanticize,
how we follow the path of the hero."
Boast about the day when the rivers overrun,
How we'll rise to the height of our halo.
Listen to the tales as we all rationalize,
our way into the arms of the savior.
Feigning all the trials and the tribulations."

This refers to Joseph Campbell's theory on the course of the mythic hero, the so called "path of the hero". For Campbell, this is the prototypical course that all the enlightened ones, including Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Dionysus, etc., must walk. Maynard is also making an expression of his own humility here, by essentially saying: our course is difficult, but not as difficult as that experienced by the "chosen one".

"None of us have actually been there,
Not like you..."

Here, Maynard is specifically talking to the "chosen one" who is on earth, and who, as a matter of natural course, is forced to walk an extremely difficult course of suffering before his ultimate enlightenment and rise to prominence. Why does he have to walk this course of humility and suffering? This is how Christ, who is born as a man, ultimately obtains compassion, and how he gathers the souls of the lost suffering. Suffice it to say, that even for Christ, you can not sing the blues unless you pay your dues.

"Ignorant siblings in the congregation.
Gather around spewing sympathy,
Spare me... None of them can even hold a candle up to you.
Blinded by choice, these hypocrites won't see."

The "chosen one" is a man who lives among a "chosen people", which is probably some small spiritual group, e.g. the Moonies, ISKON, whatever. Unfortunately, the chosen people are confused, tend to worship false images, and otherwise do not recognize or appreciate the chosen one. Thus adding to the chosen one's suffering. In the end, before the chosen one rises, the chosen people are dramatically judged, ala, for example, the Book of Isaiah in the Bible.

"But enough about the collective Judas.
Who could deny you were the one who illuminated?
Your little piece of the divine."

Again, Maynard is talking directly to the chosen one, and acknowledging his unique spiritual role, which ultimately effects everyone. Think of the "chosen one" as Christ. His very presence on earth effects everyone, but especially the suffering faithful. How does Christ understand the heart of the suffering masses? He suffers too, perhaps even more so. Christ's compassion, born out of his own suffering, is conveyed spiritually to the suffering faithful.

"And this little light of mine, a gift you passed on to me
I'm gonna let it shine to guide you safely on your way."

The essential quality of the chosen one is spiritual and that quality effects those who seek it. Maynard is acknowledging the spiritual effect that Christ has had on him, and is now returning the inspiration, which Christ, living as a suffering man (and, of course, an avid listener of Tool:-), also benefits from.

"Oh, what are they gonna do when the lights go down?
Without you to guide them all to Zion?
What are they gonna do when the rivers overrun?
Other than tremble incessantly."

Here, Maynard is speaking to the chosen people. They need Christ to be resurrected, but they do not know it.

"High is the way,
but our eyes are upon the ground.
You are the light and the way.
They'll only read about.
I only pray heaven knows,
when to lift you out."

Speaking again to the chosen one, and acknowledging his difficult course, his trip through hell. Ultimately, the hero resurrects from that plane, at the end, when Heaven lifts him out.

"10,000 days in the fire is long enough.
You're going home..."

The hero has been walking this course for 28 or so years.

"You're the only one who can hold your head up high.
Shake your fist at the gates saying,
"I have come home now...!"
Fetch me the spirit, the son and the father.
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended."

Maynard is anxious for Christ to arise and is here acknowledging again Christ's special stature, having walked an ultimate course of suffering, "the path of the hero". This is intended to be a "call" to Christ, who is a man, and thus subject to trepidation, fear, insecurity, etc. like all of us.

"It's time now!
My time now!
Give me my
Give me my wings...!"

This is Christ "responding" to Maynard.

"You are the light, the way,
that they will only read about.
Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance.
Burden of proof tossed upon the believers.
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence,
Judith Marie, unconditional one."

I think this is Christ speaking again. Who is Judith Marie? Mary, the "spiritual" mother of Christ.

"Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescence.
Difficult to see you in this light.
Please forgive this bold suggestion.
Should you see your maker's face tonight,
Look him in the eye.
Look him in the eye and tell him,
I never lived a lie, never took a life,
But surely saved one.

"Hallelujah
It's time for you to bring me home."

Christ, encouraged, responding to Maynard's call.

you did all this research and couldn't find out Judith Marie was the name of Maynard mother?

This song is about his mother. Reread the lyrics and sustitute his mother where you refer to christ. Toolshed has a great FAQ if you wanto to know more about it. I get choked up everytime I hear part one and two.

as do i.

Oh wow, LOL

Sure, you could be right that it is a reference to Maynard's mom. Or just a reference to a "mother" figure, not necessarily his physical mother.

In the Apocrypha, Judith is a Jewish heroine who incited the Hebrew army to victory over the Assyrians. Mary is of course the mother of Jesus. Is Maynard testifying to his own mother, as opposed to it referring to the mother of Christ? Could be.

No, he IS right.
You're very stubborn.

Read this. It's an article about "Nagual del JUDITH"; a wine by Maynard named after his deceased mother. You'll see the connection with "Wings 1 &2".

According to the article, Judith Mary's ashes were spread over the vineyard. So those wines are made out of her ashees?

EEEWWWWWW

So then, the consensus here seems to be that this song is about Maynard's mother? I'm new here, is that what Maynard said? That does not make sense to me. I am happy to accept the reference to "Judith Marie" as a reference to his physical mother (though he could also be equating her to our collective mother - who is often called "Mother Mary" or "Isis", and who often spiritually manifests in our lives through our own mother). But that does not explain the earlier portion of the lyric about the "path of the hero", etc., unless you believe that the whole song is about his mother.

You may be new here, but you're certainly not new to the internet. Good trolling, ephrathau. Well done. 7/10

Lost me on that one Jag. :-)

Yea, so I went back and read some of the other threads on this lyric posted here over the past couple years and it seems like it has been determined that the song is about Maynard's mother, etc. Gosh, and all this time I thought Maynard was heavily influenced by Alchemist notions. Silly me. Its just a song about his mommie. :-)

He definitely is influenced my alchemical notions. Listen to "the Grudge" and the overall progress of Tool's music since it was concepted. "10,000 Days" is more than 'just a song about his mommie', it uses Christian imagery to portray the life of an outstanding human being, Judith Marie, Maynard's mother. A woman who suffered for nearly 10,000 days, but still had compassion and essentially saved Maynard's life through raising him and giving unconditional love and support. She is an example for us all.

Nice, I like that. But certainly, then, this lyric is a far cry from Perfect Circle's "Judith", another song that seems to be about his mother, and her reliance on faith (which in that song he ruthlessly trashes). But I have to say, the more I read the 10,000 days lyric the more I can see how it appears to be a kind of love letter to his mom. Is it more than that? Who knows. But I'll let it go for now. Thanks for the comments everybody. Next time...

who knew tool was christian rock?

"Judith" is more Maynard being frustrated about the fact that his mother hangs onto her believes even when "her God" has left her in this state of paralysis. 10K is more of a postmortal acceptance of her faith and a farewellsong.
What would you prefer to fertilize a vineyard? Cow dung?

For the record; Ashes are good for the soil and depending on what kind of ash it is, it can provide numerous benefits. Although an urn full is obviously not going to do anything on the scale of a vineyard.

Judith was also written prior to his mother's passing. Maynard was always against organized religion and in ways, despised it. So after her passing he was paying homage to her faith as she held on strong to it through everything in her life.

On one hand, Judith was his anger to her faith saying how can your god put you through so much pain and yet you still follow. What did you do to deserve all this?

While on the other hand, after her passing, he is praising her strength in her own conviction.

Ever had a mother or father that maybe you never got along with then they passed and you wished you could've mended things and told them how much you loved them befroe they passed? Kind of like that, he hated her faith yet had a change of heart after going through that and now he's just saying she better get her damn wings after everything she went through and followed your rules and was a kind person to all just like you asked.

Well said

Well, to pick this up again, and certainly not intending to be a troll, here is a question: what is the true meaning of a song, the one that involves the conscious thought processes that the creator goes through at the time he writes the song, or is there another intended spiritual meaning that is substantially beyond the consciousness of even the creator? Or, asked another way, does the creator of the song necessarily know what his own song means? And that is not as silly a question as it sounds. Paul McCartney, for example, once said that he is in no better position than anybody else in understanding what his own songs mean. By that he mean't to say that there is a spiritual meaning to his songs that is beyond what was in his own consciousness at the time he wrote it.

So Maynard's 10,000 Days song seems to be about his mother. But is that the true intended meaning of his song? I am not suggesting that my original interpretation of the song's meaning is accurate. That was just out of the air, a guess, an exercise. But is the song about Maynard's mother? My concept is that ultimately Maynard is creatively moved from another realm, a higher spiritual realm, and like McCartney, does not necessarily know the true meaning of the song just based on what he was thinking externally at the time he wrote it.

Is "Stairway to Heaven", as Robert Plant said, really a "wedding" song, or is there something more that even Plant must meditate on to understand? That is a good question not just for Stairway or 10,000 Days, but any song.

So you're saying that the length of time between her paralysis and her death (27 years, or approximately 10,000 days) is merely coincidence?

As for the songtitle, i can't find any other higher spiritual meaning to it.

You can go and ask for just 250$ :)

www.puscifer.com

I'm glad this synopsis wasn't broken into hours.

lol, no kidding....gee, not to mention that he states his mother's name in the song....merely another coincidence of course. Or perhaps that Maynard himself has clearly stated in interviews that this song was written about his mother.

I'm dumbfounded how you people actually think this song could have possibly been written about his mother, it just doesn't add up.

Or should i cut 10,000 days right in two and add viginti tres. Maybe that will get me somewhere.

lol

funny thread

So Dylan writes a song about some old girl friend he had, something that rhymes, and that is the meaning of the song, to you? Its somehow particular to Dyan and his private life?

From where the artist conjures up the creative image does not speak to what it means. It does not mean the physical event of his mother's life. That is used as an allegory, a prop for the larger idea. The song means something else in a metalphysical sense. He loves his mother, yea, we all love his mother, but as Maynard has done in the past, he uses his mother as an allegory. for something else. If you think the song is about his mother, it will not occur to you to look for a higher intended meaning.

the album is called "10000 days" cuz "27 years" just isnt that catchy.

and YES. YES, THIS SONG IS ABOUT MAYNARD'S MOM, FFS.

Well, we can't all be as intelligent as you are.

Indeed

Now don't get excited. If you think of other meanings for 10,000 days, if you just enter that world of fancy, where you might go if you didn't already think it means something else, you might stumble across the notion that, relating to the Christian symbolism, Jesus did not begin his ministry until he was 30. Let's see. that is how many days, 10 thousand something, right? And that reference to the path of a hero, a Joseph Campbell expression, is usually connected to the course of the chosen one, the Christ figure (though to be sure, he also teaches that we all walk that allegorical path to one degree or another.) Christ suffers for 29 plus years before he can begin his ministry - and ultimately claim his prize before God and men.

OK, now is any of what I said in any way true? Who knows. It is just a hypothetical.

can almost see maynard's light hearted tease'n as he pulls out a feather telling her its from her wings...let'n her know what he thought..cant hold a candle up to her "his angel on earth in his heaven a saint" divine...since we all have different views of what heaven is..my image of heaven is the most happy and peaceful time picked out of my life...as i spiral the cosmic time line forever..looking at death for so long sakes a persons faith saps the energy but some are truely pillars of streight/faith..forgive this bold suggestion from a two time cancer survivor

this is so fucking stupid...go away and read/watch some interviews ...you might just stumble into reality

this song was about his mom. no one else ,

definitely not jesus

i remember when tool used to write songs that had multiple meanings.


nice post ephrathau!

isn't that the fun of words--the different multiple meanings?

multiple meanings yes ...

maynard finding jesus ...no

wut if the person who you are calling jesus, is the same person in rosetta stoned, who forgot their pen?

Now i understand this

now i do too.