let me start with a little bit of context...i was listening to the pot today and was wondering why it came right after 10000 days. and then for some reason i got the idea that maybe it was maynard's mom speaking in the song. if you look at the lyrics that makes a ton of sense, she even calls him "boy" once. now, read systolic's thread about a possible alternate track order <a href="http://toolnavy.com/showthread.php?t=46438">here</a>.

now with that in mind, you can think of the album like this. maynard eulogizes his mother with wings and 10000 days first, and twice mentioned that she saved his life. well how the hell did she do that? flash back to when maynard was a teenager (before he graduated from fucking high school) and here's maynard's mom bitching him out for something. my hypothesis about what she's mad at him for is confronting her about her religion. maynard is the pot, his mom is the kettle. now, why is he a hypocrite? enter lost keys and rosetta stoned. this is probably the biggest jump you'll have to make to accept this theory, but my idea is that the story is true, or at least based on a true story. maynard went out, tripped on acid looking for god and had a horrible trip. the alien layer may or not have been there in reality. anyway, maynard is such a hypocrite for thinking that some chemical some guy made will give him enlightenment but christianity won't. one is no more ridiculous than the other. and, about lipan conjuring, if what danny supposedly said about it being a chant to ward off evil, it could be a metaphor for how maynard's mom stepped in and warded off evil from him through the process in the rest of the cd.

intension is maynard starting over spiritually in the wake of his mother showing him the error in his ways. the lyrics are really vague. but think about this line from schism with this song..."pure intention (or maybe intension?), juxtaposed will set two lovers' souls in motion"

jambi is easily my weakest interpretation, but i believe it is maynard responding back to his mom in the pot after he changes. the song starts with maynard reflecting on how he used to act using the same metaphors as in the pot (eyeballs deep in muddy water) as well as other past songs. then he realizes that society in general needs the transformation he had in intension. what, maynard, is the reason society needs this?
enter vicarious and right in two...they are straightforward.

I really like your premise. You know, the more of these analyses I read, the more I'm realizing what a great album this is. It's all about reflection, in so many different ways. Reflection on humanity, reflection on Tool, and like you explain, reflection on Maynard's relationship with his mother. Another thing I just realized after reading your commentary is that Vicarious and Right in Two are, in a way, opposites of one another, or at least similar but different in the respect that Vicarious is shameless about human nature, while Right in Two is /ashamed/ of that same nature.

one more connection i made...maybe the name of the album is 10000 days because the story takes place over the time period it means in the song.

Ive been thinking about this also.... the voice he uses at the start of The Pot is pitched alot higher... like it would sound if his mother is talking...

makes a bit of sense.

i like the idea about the pot being his mother..makes complete sense to me. Very cool way to counteract wings/10k days too.

thats a very good theory, but isn't some of the song or should i break it down and say verses, about Bush?

nice Ideas...... all of you.... seriously though I think it will take a lot longer then a week to figure out what this albums hidden meanings are.... I'm curiouse to see how the live preformance changes your ideas about all this. I personally don't think we'll be hearing Wings/10 000 days live very offten. I find that a emotional song to listen to, I coul only imagine singing it about your own mother every night...... somehow I don't think so.

Joel

I wish Tool would have named the album differently. Now that it's called 10000 days you guys believe that EVERY song on the album is about maynards mom, because it has to be a concept album, its TOOL!!!!

regardless of whether the whole idea is right or not, i think the part about the pot being maynard's mom speaking to him is definitely right, it fits perfectly

No story!

i read somewhere, either rollingstone.com or some other similar site, and they labled 10000 Days a concept album.

Well put.

I don't know if the theories are correct, but almost every song has another that compliments it. Wings/Days, really 1 song.. Keys/Stoned, really 1 song.. Ri2 seems to be an extension of Intension, go figure, Viginti goes along with Keys/Stoned, Vicariously goes pretty well with telling Intension/Ri2 from a different perspective.. kinda like being able to see both sides objectively.. The more I listen, the better it gets. NIN's With Teeth was like that for me too, some poignant songs on that album as well.

That does make sense about the opening of the Pot. I've thought there was a reason for the high pitched singing, this could very well be it.

lipan conjuring goes with LK/RS this is why....we heard a while ago from "blair" about maynard not really singing on the album but using sounds ( his voice as an instrument ) enter the "setup" Lipan Conjuring is a "vintage style indian chant" if you wait until just after the middle of RS you will here maynard do his version of an indian chant "new school style" he is not singing but using his voice as an instrument...my take on the LC/LK/RS connection...Flame away i find it humourous..

I think the HIGH vocals has to do with being HIGH. The song is about the government. I really dont think it has anything to do with his mother.

Let the album inspire you. Stop picking at it hoping a surprise will pop out at you.

Yes, i like the idea
as far as i can conclude in lipan (an apache tribe) is that the use of cacti is very important
hence phosphoresent desert buttons singing one eternal song to me it sounds like EEEAAA "Warrior" - vacarious / vampires drink the blood of the body (a dark side of christianity, for rejecting christ sends the beast to find salvation in indiviadual sacrifices, feedings of the flesh)
this crasy rant is sponcered in part by Monster energy drink (its like speed motherfuckers)
read Murder Magic and Medicine by J. Mann (my brain is running so fucking fast right now)

now for the order
there are many threads about the proper order of La Te Ral Us some want to reorganize it like a tree of life triad or follow the fibbinacci sprial
well what about 10000 days?

23( viginti tres )i is a good start right after Faaip de Oaid making track 11 now 1 or 14 if you blend the two albums together
ah fuck this im going nuts ill edit later
one last thing first 10000 is about returning to the creater/ the death experience is known to be a flood of DiMethalTrytamine antagonizing (i think) 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor sites.



syncronosity sppeaking I:.--->
my first yage experiece happened may 2 at 11:11 i painted my girlfried blue layers

Like I said before:

The impact of Wings for Marie would be totally nullified if this were true. After the emotional rollercoaster ride of finally giving his mother her wings and ending that whole chapter, she would come back from the heavens, enter the stage again and mock him in such a way?

That's like playing with the corpse after a funeral.

Well Rosetta Stoned and Lost Keys as explained in recent Alex Grey listening party was abt a friend of adam joen who went to Area 54 and did Acids sleeping on a sleeping bag ... When he was outta of it he was talking abt aliens and he being chosen one and had shit all over his bed ..

what i said was that the rest of the cd is the story of how his mom saved his life, beginning with the pot which actually takes place when he is a boy, not after she died.

i enjoy listening to commentary from everyone... it's very interesting. there definitely is a dynamic that works on the album from vicarious to jambi in particular. as someone mentioned before, vicarious is about someone being shameless of humanity. and jambi seems like it's about someone who is trying to get an understanding of humanity by trying to thwart off his demons and attempting to "witness the beauty" (from lateralus) of the world (in this case, i think the jambi in the song is referring to the jambi in indonesia. i think the king's mountain view is from the jambi and narrator is imagining himself in a wonderful place like this someday, but not now at least).