one thing has always bothered me about this song, and that is that it is too literal. I love the music and the sentiment behind it, but it just doesn't fit with the rest of the album. thematically it sticks out like a sore thumb to me. anyone else feel this way?
no, not really, AEnima to me has always been about the beginning of evolution of man.
HWOP is the most angry song in the album. M calling people 'dumb fuck's and telling us to stick our fingers up our asses. Not very nice. But, it is human.
It doesnt exactly stick out when you compare it to the song more towards the end of the album (i.e. AEnima, Third Eye), all of those song have a rage in them to an extent. Where HWOP is directed towards some guy that accused him of being a sell out, AEnima is directed at all of L.A., and Third Eye... Well, I'm not sure on that one (there too many possible meanings for this song its hard to pin-point exactly)
I agree with Needles. Hooker doesn't have the power that the rest of the songs do. I think that Hooker should have been placed on Opiate. Hooker is my least favorite Tool song.
On every studio tool album more so on their last two there always seems to be one song people complain about always saying this song doesn't fit HWAP, ticks & leeches and to a lesser exstent prison sex but i love these song for two main reason 1)they all rock and 2) they seem to piss a lot of people off. this to me shows that tool aren't knelling to the masses they are themselves which is why i love them so much and if they ever stopped doing it that would be a sad, sad day.
I noticed that too, Needles. This song doesn't fit with the others. It's not as serious, and doesn't really have that complex of a meaning.
__________________ short wave dictator launches the blitzkrieg upon your frontal lobe the unexpected siege of the fortress thought impenetrable "world peace" just a few elusive frequencies away for there is no enslavement more absolute than unconscious enslavement.
maybe thats the goint guys, it doesnt have that philosophical feel and maybe thats just because it wasnt supposed to, when have you hever heard of getting philosophical with a kid who calls you a sellout, youre gonna be really pissed off and youre not gonna want to "talk it over with him" nad thats why the song is supposed to be a little colder and reachable than the others. it deals with anger and a slight bit of doubt. anyone put in the same situation would also say " fuck you buddy"
Yeah i agree with blueghost to an extent, i think the purpose of this song, especially being in the middle of the album, is to 'ground' the album, take all the far out ideas and stick one solid anchor in the (the same with ticks & leeches). It's just to remind people that to deal with personal, metaphysical, emotion ideas, sometimes you have to deal with the down to earth ones too.
I like this song a lot, actually. You can say it's too literal, and yeah it's very literal but I think there's a reason for that. I think that Maynard wrote this song so that this guy he's talkin about would hear it. It's just for him. And since this guy is probably an idiot, Maynard figured he'd dumb down the lyrics a bit so the guy could understand. Either that or he made this one of the most literal songs as an insult to the guy's intelligence.
