The bottom got on top of me? Nah, too [no]. Try this. Lines preceeding this are, "It's gotta' be deadhead chemistry." What are Greatful Dead concerts famous for? Acid trips. So, "The blotter got on top of me, got me seein E- motherfuckin'- T!" Also, the lead in track, Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann), gives further support for this. To many sixties and seventies college students, Dr. Albert Hofmann was known as the father of what he referred to as his "problem child," LSD, on April 19, 1943. Dr. Hofmann is also well known for his work with the psilocybin mushroom from which he synthesized what is essentially N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). I have read, in various places, that this particular compound may play a role in one of the band member's meditative preparations.

Be that as it may, I posit that what we have here is the tale of someone who has ventured out into the desert of an evening armed with certain supplies but the experience has gone awry, shall we say. He shows up at a hospital, buzzed out of his skull, not really sure what's real any more and this is the tale he tells.

Does this work for you?

yes

It works.

I think the majority have come to that conclusion about... over a month ago.

And yes, it does indeed work.

Works like a charm.

I don't get it...

It works other than perhaps "I don't want to be all alone when I tell this story" hints to me that its not the first time he's told this story.

Those of us of lesser ability beg your indulgance as we struggle to know the world as you do. Pity us, smile on us, bless us in your ever wonderous wisdom, and share with us your opinion on whether this poor buzzed individual has had an actual encounter in his tripped out state, or whether his blotter was simply of a much higher quality than expected in combination with the sugar rush from the Krispy Kremes? At this point, my own uninformed mind leans towards the first. He's out there, watching the pretty colors, "contemplating the whole 'chosen people thing,' [. . .] when a flaming stealth banana split the sky, like, wide open."

But he's too fuckin' high. Remembers parts of it, but not all, ends up at the hospital (after losing his keys), winds up strapped to a bed wondering if he's ever going to come down, really freKin' over not being able to remember what they said, and shittin the bed. And if I'm playing catch up here, sorry. please bear with me, oh wise and most noble being of light and understanding.

Those of us of lesser ability beg your indulgance as we struggle to know the world as you do. Pity us, smile on us, bless us in your ever wonderous wisdom, and share with us your opinion on whether this poor buzzed individual has had an actual encounter in his tripped out state, or whether his blotter was simply of a much higher quality than expected in combination with the sugar rush from the Krispy Kremes? At this point, my own uninformed mind leans towards the first. He's out there, watching the pretty colors, "contemplating the whole 'chosen people thing,' [. . .] when a flaming stealth banana split the sky, like, wide open."

But he's too fuckin' high. Remembers parts of it, but not all, ends up at the hospital (after losing his keys), winds up strapped to a bed wondering if he's ever going to come down, really freakin' over not being able to remember what they said, and shittin the bed. And if I'm playing catch up here, sorry. please bear with me, oh wise and most noble being of light and understanding.

squinch, I wouldn't bother trying to squelch the smart-asses on this board. Would love to find a way to systematically remove them like you would any kind of termite or roach, but if you convince one to back off, three more take his place. I would ask you though, does he really "lose his keys"? The nurse says he has no ID, so if his personal items are missing its more than just his keys. Perhaps also his Birkenstocks are gone ("feet cold and eyes red"). I thought Lost Keys was just a funny play on words that tied into the fact that he lost the Message of Hope For Those Who Choose to Hear It (the "key" or Rosetta Stone to the details of our ending).

on first listen i knew it was the blotter got on top of me.

i thought the lyrics were

"Fuck me.
Sodomy.
A dead head chemistry.
Bladder problems won't stifle me.
If I can't make it,
people who are watching, SEE..."

Squelch them? Why bother? Invite their participation, eventually they'll end up with "Foot in mouth and head up ass." Or maybe even prove to be a statistical anomally, and utter something profound. I had pictured, from some of my own (telling on myself) experiences with various reality altering substances, that it might be entirely possible to have gotten mic'd up on blotter out in the desert, when "Holy fucking shit," "E-motherfuckin'-T," is yelling at me and I'm pissing my pants. Then the rest of the story, the orange slices, etc, but it's surreal and his heart is pounding "'cause this shit never happens to him," but "finally, it's [his] lucky day." But he's fucked it all up by being too fucking high out there. He freaks, ends up at the hospital, whether he lost his physical tranportation keys or not, although I can see it happening easily. Strapped to a bed in a psych ward. Feet cold, hospitals are notoriously cold, it keeps the germs down. Eyes red, maybe tripping doesn't do that to folk anymore? The second meaning of being too stoned, tripping where it may not be appropriate, losing the meaning because you lost sight of what your goal was in the first place ("But I forgot my pen") is excellent, and typical Tool, right? I'm not that big into analyzing Maynards lyrics, but this seems to be in keeping with the leitmotif of this recording. Perhaps a little (?) critical of the constant get-high-in-search-of-enlightenment thing. As I see Vicarious being a little critical of the sit-and-watch-the-world-die-while-I-eat-my Whopper-and-nachos-and-listen-to-10,000 Days-for-the-4,000th-time mentality of the folk who are buying the recording. And the total irony is that they're all looking for some completely metaphysical message from Maynard guiding them to the next level of existence. Oops, sorry about the rant. Shit the bed again. . . .

Damn, so what's the unobvious, under the surface meaning? Why does it have to have an unobvious hidden meaning? How do you know it does? I'm not trying to be a wuss, really, I thought I was understanding it, a little, now you tell me no. So, is that it? Just no, and nothing else? Again I ask, how do you know that it means something else? I can show how I say it means what I think it means, but I don't see anything that supports another meaning.

i think it's somewhere between the two. maybe the acid allowed him to mentally be contacted by these aliens/interdimsional beings

Did any of you stop to consider that this narrative may be from the point of view of a Dominant and that in all seriousness his bottom has gotten on top of him?
Think about it, I know I didn't.








*disclaimer: this is meant to be amusing... if you don't find it so you probably just arent perverted enough.

well darn, somebody just say, "calm down, take a deep fucking breath, you've finally caught up to the rest of the world, glad to have you, now settle your ass down."

idk from this i get some sort of homsexual reference

"When a FLAMING STEALTH BANANA split the sky like, wide open.
I never expected to see it in a place like this.
I do believe I SPILLED A DIAMOND SUNDAE
Or something wet on my Birkenstocks"


those two things sound pretty gay to me

A bit homophobic are we? Been keeping something from your parents?

not homophobic at all just being observant and the fact that maynard is indeed gay does sort of reinforce that but hey i could be wrong