This was the first song by Tool I heard, so it's significant to me. It has a vibe I like which is consistent through a lot of their music. After listening to this song again after a long time of not listening to any Tool, its meaning has changed for me.
I think this song is about opposites, the aggressor and the victim. Listening to it now, it sounds like the voice of a victim who has reflected on their abuse and is trying to understand why it happened. Pain pushes them to desperation and they try everything to make it go away. This song, I think, is about a point in the victim's struggle where they take on the mindset of their abuser and reenact abusing themselves through their own eyes.
This song is about empowerment. At this time in the victim's struggle, they've lived enough to know that viewing themselves as a victim and reliving the feeling of powerlessness does not work anymore. The victim realizes this and decides that it is time to change. How do they go about this? By any means necessary. They consciously live in their abuser’s shoes to better understand what happened to them and why.
It's easy to see this as being just a mental exercise, but the way it is presented in the song, and the way it should be experienced, is through every ounce of that person's being. Their thoughts and their un-thoughts. It all goes through the experience. As the victim lives the actions of the one who brought them pain, they gain an understanding that brings the victim the power that was taken from them and the power the aggressor wielded over them.
This song is about opening up and about learning to see the world in an affirmative way. It is about having the courage to acknowledge beauty in ugliness and strength in your enemy. It is about opening yourself to all the possibilities and appreciating them for what they are, even if they hurt you in the past.
Well, it may be about anal sex on the surface, but your ideas make sense as well. Maynard has always been a stickler about not blatantly interpreting his own lyrics because he wants you to think for yourself and have your own emotional experience with the words and the music. With that in mind, your interpretation is just as correct as the interpretation about it being just plain old anal sex. I happen to believe that it goes a little deeper than that, as well.
This song to me is about someone speaking to a person who won't live up to his or her full potential.. "You won't do what you'd like to do, lay back and let me show you another way." I know that can be sexual too, but I think the most beautiful line is, "Kill what you want me to, take what's left and eat it." Not only does he want this person to live up to their full potential but he wants to take away all their pain too, just completely take care of this person and heal their life for them. And it means something to me too personally, because I feel I need a kick in the ass sometimes or someone to help me get up and do what I'm supposed to be doing.
To all you who think this song is about anal sex... your way off base sry to say. If maynard said the moon was made of cheese, does that mean it is? I mean cmon people, try and dig in your head a little, nothing Tool has ever done has been about the "obvious" and cant be taken for "surface value".
The "abuser" if thats the way you wanna take it is yourself, feeding yourself BS everyday of your life. You are pointing at (for a lack of a better phrase) everything but your heart. Listen to your heart (if you can), take it as it comes... sometimes thinking can be your abuser.
I know that can be sexual too, but I think the most beautiful line is, "Kill what you want me to, take what's left and eat it." Not only does he want this person to live up to their full potential but he wants to take away all their pain too, just completely take care of this person and heal their life for them.
I like that idea. I always thought he was being sarcastic because they couldn't do it on their own.
