| Tool – Jambi Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I personally feel that Lateralus, was obviously the spiritual awakening that Maynard and the band went through which was hinted at throughout Aenima, and with 10 000 Days, whilst the focus isn't entirely on spirituality, there are still references throughout the album which encompass certain spiritual beliefs and/or understandings. So with this song in particular, I found it interesting that the second song on the album (Jambi) makes blatant reference to the concept of monism/non-duality, and the concept of "two becom[ing] one", whilst the second last song (Right in Two) is all about the polar opposite, duality, which has become a common framework of understanding in Western society (ever since Descartes came up with Cartesian Duality), and "where there's one they're bound to divide right in two". So yeah, it's that dichotomy which I found really interesting and gave me a slightly different opinion on the meaning of the song. The first stanza just describes the royal pleasures of materialism and economic "success", quickly followed by how he would "wish it away" if he lost the "you" he references, which I believe is his understanding of "oneness" and awareness, taking him away from a dualistic interpretation of the world and towards a sense of connection. It obviously has nothing to do with an anthropomorphized god because Maynard has made it clear that he feels... Less than fond of the traditional concept of god. I feel like the next stanza only uses the term "devil" as a metaphor for darkness, or loss of direction and purpose. He was a very angry and depressed individual in the beginning of their career, and he describes that stage as "the dark side", and it basically consumed him. Enter his state of enlightenment, where it "lifted [him] up, turned [him] round". Yogis, mystics, sages, and other enlightened beings have described the ego as darkness, and isn't a presence, but an absence. It is an absence of light, awareness, and once you've shed some light on the ego, its only option is to slowly disappear. The stanza about the martyr, hooker and devil just explains the concept of "reap what you sew", he projected his own negativity onto everything, and in turn negativity came back to find him. The monism concept starts showing more blatantly by "giving away my center", because the concept of "being in your center" means to be completely aware, focused, in tune with your "nothingness (nirvana)" beyond the ego, which most people caught on to with their mentioning of materialism. One way to keep in your center is to perform mantras, where you repeat a sound/sentence/tone/hum/whatever sick sonic manifestation you can create with your mouth, and go into meditation on that, which Maynard does with the repeating of "give it away", the idea of moving beyond the egoic state of mind. The following stanza makes sense once you get all that so far, and the lyrics on this site are wrong, he says "my peace of mind", not "piece", so again the confirmation of nothingness, relaxation, stillness. After that, at "damn my eyes if they should compromise the/our fulcrum", that's a blatant comment about non-duality, a "fulcrum" is something which basically connects and supports pivots. We are the pivots, the fulcrum is what is beyond that, what connects us (no, obviously not a personified god), which could possibly also be collective consciousness, as well as unconsciousness. Which Maynard most likely believes in, since almost all songs on Aenima had themes of Carl Jung's psychological concepts. The next part on this site is kind of wrong again, it's supposed to be "[if] wants and needs divide me then I might as well be gone", it's really such a fucking brilliant lyric, the man really is fucking genius. The use of "divide" to point to loss of oneness. And then the use of the concepts of "wants and needs", which again is mostly created by the ego, which is the catalyst for his division, loss of awareness. I don't think I even need to explain the next part at all, it's just a ridiculously beautiful visual metaphor for the sun being the light, the light of awareness, consciousness, which can connect us all, as well as the concept of duality. The last part, "breathe in union", the word "union" again solidifies the concept of oneness, and breathing is another focus in meditation and regaining center. Thus, existing harmoniously, we "survive another day and season". The very last lines, it isn't "leech, and", it's "legion", the whole ridiculous system we've created which spreads its poison, all the schizophrenia and insanity of humanity. If society were to be a collective person, that person would be diagnosed as a schizophrenic, megalomaniacal, prone to murder and self-harm, power-hungry, very "asleep" individual. I'm going to shut up now, I talk way too much =/ |
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| Dir En Grey – Red Soil (English) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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OK, I'll get straight to it. I think the general feeling of this song is about the moral and almost interpersonal poverty of society in general, but particularly with regards to both politics and organised religion. "Pressing the megaphone against the apostle's open ear Darkness and organists are in attendance" An apostle is translated as either "a messenger" or "one that is sent away", usually with the intention of spreading a holy doctrine, such as Jesus' 12 apostles/disciples. So this brings about an image of Kyo pressing a megaphone against this religious missionary's ear, forcing his opinion to be heard because no other method has gotten his message across successfully. Obviously, the reasons for his wanting to get his message across to an apostle in particular as opposed to any passer-by are numerous, what with the religious indoctrination of many organised religions such as Christianity and Islam, two of the world's largest religions. An "onanist" is someone who masturbates, or uses the "pull out" method to prevent pregnancy, so perhaps Kyo used this word simply as a derogatory term, but I think there's more to it. The word comes from Onan, the second son of Judah, who was supposed to impregnate his dead brother's wife, but used coitus interruptus, thus not doing what he was supposed to, and was thus killed, with God being furious with him. Perhaps it's a comment on how those who follow religion are so spiritually impoverished themselves that even their own god would be disappointed with them. "I press a gun against all the spectator's temple now And my face lets out a smile every time". Kyo has always referred to himself as more of an evil person in many interviews, and I think this is a depiction of him giving into his more primal urges to simply wipe out all the idiots are causing so many of the world's problems these days, allowing a smile to form on his face. He almost sees it as his duty to carry this out. "Saving" Kyo often uses single words in his songs to represent a number of meanings, and I think this is just showing that perhaps he sees his act as saving the innocent people of the world, or perhaps even the world itself, since he sees the world as being in mortal danger later in the song. "It's prostitution to the kids who listen from the right and out the left Twins and seven colors of rainbow" I personally love the concept behind these lines, but I have a feeling that they either are slightly mistranslated, or Kyo left the concept of listening from the right and out the left a little too ambiguous, making his message sound contradictory. Basically, he sees these children almost being "sold" into religion, helpless, without knowing any better, and it invokes feelings of prostitution, spiritual prostitution. I think as we all know, someone who listens through the right and out the left means someone who doesn't listen, but I think what he means is that the religious messages simply travel in one ear and out the other without them interacting and entertaining the thought itself, so it's similar to brainwashing. The following lines represent the false positivity that so many people are fed, which he also mentions in "Kodoku ni Shisu, Yue ni Kodoku", about how people just fool themselves into thinking that things will be better tomorrow, without taking any action to bring about the change themselves. Twins represent that even from contraception, you are never alone, because "God is always with you, so you never have to feel lonely", when the truth of the matter is that everyone feels lonely, and it's an important and healthy emotion to go through. Seven colours of the rainbow merely states that everything is so colourful and wonderful, but before a rainbow to appear, something melancholic usually has to happen, such as rainfall which is usually seen as something sad. So everyone is obsessed about happiness and joy, but they refuse to admit that one needs to accept sadness and loneliness (the rainfall) in order to fully appreciate the joy (rainbows) of life. "It can't be saved, the sorrow I question it all, why oh why?" This is Kyo simply stating that there's nothing he or anyone else can do to save the world if things continue the way they're going. He questions all the sadness, asking why it has to be this way. "The deception of sweetly intertwining It's the same everywhere" I think this represents the idea of intertwing with happiness, and how it's pretty much bullshit because we close our eyes to all the terrors that are being committed in the names of politics and religion, refusing to acknowledge that these things have a much greater capacity for evil since they're left up to the interpretations of man. It's the same everywhere, no matter where you go, everyone is idiotically optimistic. "The flowing of blood mixes I sleep deeply" I think this simply shows the reality of issues in the world, and how everything is actually bleeding, and things aren't all wonderful, and Kyo refuses to put up with the absurdity of this ignorant happiness, so he sleeps through it, he himself is bleeding either metaphorically to state that he feels terribly hurt and sad because of everything, or perhaps more literally because of his own habit with self-mutilation. Yes, I'm very aware that he stopped for a long time after the It Withers and Withers tours, but who knows what he does in his private life. Perhaps he's simply acknowledging that it used to be a part of who he was. "I carve into my heart the sins And I live on dying The sakura blossoms on my wrist" Kyo acknowledges that he isn't perfect himself, and he too is a sinner, but unlike those who seek redemption because of their overwhelming guilt because of religious indoctrination telling them they'll go to hell, he understands it makes us human, which he reflects on in "R to the Core" as well. "We're all the same once we sin". He suffers on in silence, learning from his mistakes, because that's what really makes someone grow, not apologising to a god and not actually trying to LEARN from the mistake. Once again, he reflects on his own physical pain, stating that it's like a sakura that blossoms on his wrist once it begins to bleed. "Your beloved self breeds on the corpse of the crow" My favourite line of the song, and I plan on getting a tattoo of this image on my ribs. I think the crow represents Kyo, as well as anyone else who refuses to give in to the bullshit we are told to simply accept in this world, and we're crows because we're meant to feed on the dead leftovers of these ideals that control and enslave the minds of the ignorant. However, we aren't strong enough because of the tiny minority we represent, and in the end we are killed by the majority, and they continue to multiply over our corpses. "For the people on the losing end Is it tears of emptiness?" I would suppose that we, the crows, are on the losing end because we aren't able to bring about a large enough change to help the world progress, so we cry tears that COULD represent an emptiness of purpose. But I actually have a feeling that Kyo is implying that those on the losing end are the people he is trying to eliminate at the beginning of the song, because whilst we may not be winning the battle, we are winning the moral and interpersonal war, and these people secretly cry tears of emptiness that represent their spiritual and moral emptiness. "Burn mercy with the National Anthem and understand death by dying Justice humps in the sheep yard" Religion and politics are full of hidden agendas and selfishness, as well as many apparent paradoxes. We fight wars to stop murder, but in the process commit mass murder, we spread messages of forgiveness and religious love, yet we exclude those that don't fit our idea of what's the right religion, etc. So that's what he's reflecting on in that we must truly understand death by killing others, such as soldiers or religious martyrs, we sing our national anthems as we concur other areas religiously and geographically and think of ourselves as merciful, but in the end these ideas are perverse and savage, and he compares it to some kind of beast hiding in a sheepyard and humping the animals. Truly disturbing but brilliant imagery. "What color of skin gathers behind comfort and eats?" This is really difficult to interpret, but I think what he's trying to say, I can only speculate of course, is that if someone is truly able to feel comfortable with everyone that's happening in this world, they can't be human, and so perhaps they have some kind of different skin altogether. I think the image of them eating just reflects a very content and relaxed disposition. I'm very shoddy on this bit, so I accept that I could be completely wrong. "The earth sucks the life out and turns itself into red soil" This is an image of the physical earth not being able to handle anymore of the sick acts committed in the name of righteousness and self-appointed correctness, and it's absorbing all the blood being spilled in these acts' names, becoming red soil. "A piece of paper and power circles around in the air The show wound to head of a cow It's wide open" This obviously represents money, and how it's a huge component for the corruption in religion and politics. It's almost like a show wound to the head of a cow, at least in my opinion, we stare at it without realising how messed up everything is because of this piece of paper. Cows often represent innocence, because they selflessly provide us with milk, meat and hide, and there are some religions that see it as a holy animal in itself. "The genitals of happiness The neutered almighty god" I'm going to go on quite an extreme interpretation of this. Neutering is the act of removing an animal's reproductive organs, but of course, another translation is castrated. I don't think the word was meant to strictly imply to animals. I think what Kyo is saying, is that in order to become truly holy and divine, one must put aside the fake concepts of everything being ok, and things just getting better tomorrow, all the bullshit we feed ourselves to stay positive. We need to remove the genitals of happiness which inseminate others with the same lies and positive falsehoods, and face reality and be willing to make a change ourselves, and fight with everything we can. The world won't change if we're just happy with everything we see. "Show me a thoroughly satisfied man, and I'll show you a failure"- Thomas Alva Edison. "Show me someone content with mediocrity and I'll show you someone destined for failure."- Johnetta Cole. There are countless quotes of great minds telling us to stop being content with everything and fight to make a difference. This is Kyo telling us we need to fight back. I finish this interpretation from the best quote from the film The Network, which brilliantly summarises the aim of this song. "I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" BOOOOOOOM! |
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