I think Rosetta Stoned might be about someone who is not prepared to take in (or digest) what he is asking for. Where as in Third Eye, the receiver was obviously much more sophisticated (and educated). So, in essense, Rosetta Stoned is a squandered opportunity of enlightenment. Many who indulge in hallucinogens are this way. They seek an altered state of consciousness, but when they get there, they don't quite have the resources to properly interpret it.

Or maybe this song is about God choosing some dumb ass fuck who didnt even graduate from high school to be the chosen one. This is why things are so fucked up right now. Good going God.

i don't think god would send aliens to deliver teh gospel, friend.

but yeah I could see the polarities here between the two songs.

in third eye the person is wanting that supernatural experience, coercing it to happen.

where this rossetta stoned person is forced into a situation that's beyond their control. not being able to remember what was said and is now forced into explaing it to people without being locked up, strapped down. questioning his own belief in what was or wasn't done.


let's get that fuckin third eye guy back here and yoyo with these aliens. i bet he'd remember the message.

That shit is hard to remember though, seriously. Like waking from a dream, where you were totally in another world and the new one just destroys the old memories.

I dont think the mind likes to be living in several planes at the same time, its stressful.

Reminds me of having incredible OOBEs and not writing them down right after -_-'

i can see what you're trying to say, but the use of a high school drop out is a rather poor example. surely spirituality transcends both social class as well as qualifications acquired in our modern "this-is-what-you-need-to-know" education system.

One would hope that "God" would not make judgements based on the above.

to me, trips seem more real than reality, i've learned so many things about life, the world, and myself from them. and i can remember them perfectly.

and they certainly weren't stressfull

Seems to me the interpretations I'm reading here overlook the most important aspect of the lyrics - the title. Referring to the Rosetta Stone points us to a junction place between languages/states of being (to incorporate the drug reference). Being Rosetta Stoned more than likely refers to a situation in which one has reached a point of crisis in which some 'code key' is required to break down the barriers between worlds/ languages but is unavailable. Hence the aliens, the drugs, the religion/ philosophy - all the oustide sources of thinking revolve around the speaker of this piece, yet ultimately remain inaccessible - perhaps partially because the key being used, perhaps drugs, is ultimately failing to provide the ultimate goal. Then again, I don't know the lyrics backword and forwards like some of yall.

thinking about what you said the intro track is called lost keys...

but it also just might be a reference to having too much information. Where you lose all cohesiveness or ability to differentiate the ideas that you now have because they're too numerous. You can't write it down you can't comprehend it.

The other idea I've had about it though is that feelings and thoughts like those experienced during a trip sometimes cannot be communicated. And when you try and describe it it just all gets poured out at once with no flow or relevant subject. It is what it is, let it and him be.

Wax- I agree with the reference to having too much information, yet again we can't ignore the title - just like the Rosetta Stone existed for Egyptologists, the inclusion of this item in the title at least suggests that the key is out there somewhere although it might not be either in a form we can obtain or want to obtain. Here I think a bit about the movie "pi" by Darren Aronofski - the notion of a pattern or "key" to God or the stock market - or both. In the case of 'pi' the pursuit was so destructive to the mind and body that its final obtainment drives the main character to lobotomize himself. Of course, we see an interesting parallel in this song - the cold feet, etc, and of course the end line "Goddamn I shit the bed" - perhaps the speaker of this song found the ultimate path to finding the answer he thought he wanted turned out to be more destructive than he bargained for.

This paradox analogy is very interesting indeed, "having too much information." I wouldn't put past Maynard the ability to write a "lethal text". I have a little food for thought to add, has anyone mentioned "faith". The constant bickering over which religion has it all right. The Bible claiming origin, the Kron, all religions sanctions claiming thier right to universal knowledge, yet creation is never fully described in either. It's only hinted at. For example, in writing this post I am participating in the paradox by suggesting the power of the lyrics, when I am not the author of the message to begin with, nor can I claim to have been there at the moment of conception. In essence I am the fool Rosseta stoned. ----Please note that interpritation is not without personal value, and with creation, manipulation, and perception evolution can move forward.


You gotta believe me!! god told me so, and thats just the way it is. Walk around in that circle for awhile.

Setting aside evaluative judgements of religious traditions and religion in general, the suggestion of an "uneducated prophet" in this song does make me think of the Islamic tradition. The Prophet Mohammed was entirely uneducated when he received the Qur'an. In fact, he was unable to read or write. This is seen as essential to his Prophethood in the Islamic tradition for it is a necessary condition for the (intellectually as well as morally) pristine character that is requisite for delivering God's message.

Further, the beginnings of Mohammed's prophethood were quite terrifying in ways that are similar to the terrors described in this song. I highly doubt that any direct relation was intended by Maynard, of course, but I think it ties into the more general metaphysical status of prophecy.