This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
There's a shadow just behind me
Shrouding every step I take
Making every promise empty
Pointing every finger at me
Waiting like a stalking butler
Who upon the finger rests
Murder now the path of must we
Just because the son has come
Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
Something but the past and done?
Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
Something but the past and done?
Why can't we not be sober?
Just want to start this over
And why can't we drink forever?
I just want to start this over
I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well
I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down
Mother Mary, won't you whisper?
Something but what's past and done
Mother Mary, won't you whisper?
Something but the past and done
Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over
And why can't we sleep forever?
I just want to start this over
Why?
I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well
I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
Trust me
Trust me
Trust me
Trust me
Trust me
Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start things over
And why can't we sleep forever?
I just want to start this over
Why?
I want what I want
I want what I want
I want what I want
I want what I want
Shrouding every step I take
Making every promise empty
Pointing every finger at me
Waiting like a stalking butler
Who upon the finger rests
Murder now the path of must we
Just because the son has come
Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
Something but the past and done?
Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
Something but the past and done?
Why can't we not be sober?
Just want to start this over
And why can't we drink forever?
I just want to start this over
I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well
I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down
Mother Mary, won't you whisper?
Something but what's past and done
Mother Mary, won't you whisper?
Something but the past and done
Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over
And why can't we sleep forever?
I just want to start this over
Why?
I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well
I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
Trust me
Trust me
Trust me
Trust me
Trust me
Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start things over
And why can't we sleep forever?
I just want to start this over
Why?
I want what I want
I want what I want
I want what I want
I want what I want
Lyrics submitted by billthelandlord09, edited by LKTraz
Sober Lyrics as written by Maynard James Keenan Paul M. D'amour
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This version of Sober, along with the rest of 72826, can be downloaded here:
tooldemo.net
in case your confused about 72826 ,..well that is SATAN on a phone number pad thing.
kewl :)
Looks like these are the exact same lyrics as the regular version. Why is this here?
uh bill i tried going to the site to download but couldnt download anything upon listening though i noticed a distinct difference
well i found a site for a live version of tool 72826 heres the site: tinyurl.com/3aakvr
I think that the most of the song means that it sucks that history repeat's itself, but he wants another chance to do something. I bet he guesses that no matter what he would do, it has already has been done, so he just wants to sleep forever, and not die of boredom and retoricness.
I could be way off, but I’ve always thought of his lyrics to be asking why we can’t start humanity over it get second try (start over) from the beginning of time, starting with the Garden Eden. I feel like Jesus blow your whistle, is similar to a referee in sports. Jesus lived among us and saw how bad it was, the game we were playing, the struggles, so Maynard is saying blow your fucking whistle, aggressively begging for a “timeout”, asking Jesus to help stop this. Asking why can’t you ask God to start this over. Maynard seems to be pointing out all the miseries and pains humans endure, and the fact that we feel the need to have to be intoxicated or high to feel good, so Jesus step in, or why can’t Mary whisper this to her son, put a bug in his ear help this cause. He seems to also note the shadows behind him, the sin, the devil provoking us, so why can’t that devil be put to an end. When we’re on drugs or alcohol we feel good, so Maynard is asking why can’t this be the way we always feel. So he’s speaking to Jesus and Mary, put an end to this nonsense and try persuading God to give us that fresh start to avoid temptation, sin and pain. Again, this is just what I took from it.