This song to me after listening to it many times seems to be an attempt to sum up the essence of the band. As we all know aliens, psychadelic drugs, hidden esoteric knowledge and arse jokes are all cornerstones of Tools repetoire. This song seems to be trying to present an affectionate sending up of all these themes and Tools fans also. The songs climax i think really puts across how the fanbase percieves Tool like we want to think of them as the bringers of knowledge and hidden secrets and such, its a romantic notion, but we know they are nothing of the sort really, just a bunch of normal guys who happen to injest a fair amount psychoactive substances from time to time and play music.

This song seems to be written for the fans that have followed the band for the last few albums or from the beggining and have a real personal connection with the music. When the song has been properly digested by the fan base it I think it will become a real classic, an oppurtunity to laugh at the band and themselves, it also happens to a be really great song too.

nice perception...

thank you! great post!

i still think rosetta stoned would be a great film, whatever the motivation of the song is. imagine a normal dude trippin face and aliens actually abduct him and blah blah blah.. if done right it could be riveting

you've hit it right on man. and this song definitely is meant to be very humorous.
tool's humor is overlooked all the time..

I think also the sound of the sound progresses as it moves forward, going through the different stages of their albums musically. I can see tidbits of influence from every one of their albums in the song. It isn't rehash material, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that this song is a wonderful Tool song that completely shows off all facets of their song writing and sounds.

also, given this context, the lyrics:

"you believe me, don't you?
please believe what i just said"

are totally ironic.

lol...makes sence to me now. i was going to come in here and post about my theory of this song being a humorous stab at religion in the form of the story of some kind of modern day jesus. but uuuhh scratch that. i just wish i could make out more of the lyrics...i think i hear something in the beginning about area 51 and crispy creams lol

when i first heard this song i was laying in my bead with no socks on and the windows open because i had just smoked some nugget. and i heard what sounded like justin? saying "strapped down in my bed, feet cold, eyes red, im out of my head, god damn, i shit the bed." i felt like it was describing my situation at the time( i actually burst into tears of laughter) which is odd considdering that i had not shat my bed...

yeah after reading this i have to agree with your opinion buddy.

haha if that happened to me and i was stoned enough i would've expected to shit the bed that night..not that i shit the bed or anything..frequently at least

Your theory does make sense, especially given the title of the song.. Everyone has been trying really hard to decipher the lyrics- it is the hardest song on the album to understand. When I was reading through part of the "lyrics?" thread I thought that it was pretty ironic that the song we're all having so much trouble understanding is called "Rosetta Stoned"- everyone is going through and posting what lyrics are almost certain and working together to figure out the less understandable parts much like scholars did while translating the Rosetta Stone. Good thought, ArizonaBay!

I think Tool has just thrown us a bone to chew on, in the form of a song. I dont think this track has any logical meaning to it as much as it is intended to take us on a wild ride. The wild rides that we love.

I believe this is the theme of the whole album. It's all out in the open for the most part - no fancy shmancy, just rock the way Tool does it.

EXACTLY! This song has so many musical cues from so many other Tool songs that your theory has got to be the truth. In fact, it's so blatantly obvious that they're alluding to other Tool songs from other albums that this song's got to be an attempt to kick down the intensity that people surround them with.

At least that's what I'd rather believe. Because otherwise it IS rehash material.

This ought to be made sticky, and pinned to the end of almost every thread in this here forum.