| Depeche Mode – New Life Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| Some time ago I read an article about "Operation: New Life" which was a military operation in 1975 dedicated to transition large groups of Vietnam war refugees to western countries. I wouldn't expect this kind of reference from Vince's early lyrics, but suddenly the story of a stranger transitioned to another place where the features fuse and his shadow's red seems kinda fitting. | |
| Depeche Mode – Told You So Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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@[spring5989:32255] I noticed this too, so I'm adding the original poem text: And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon Englands[b] mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen! And did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills? Bring me my Bow of burning gold: Bring me my Arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold: Bring me my Chariot of fire! I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In Englands green & pleasant Land. Although I think the song is more about how the world did change and people have lost their values, turning their interests to scandals, money and watching TV instead of fighting for higher goals. |
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| Tool – Litanie Contre la Peur Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Adam Jones said in an interview about this album: "There’s a little bit of Frank Herbert‘s ‘Dune‘ in that, so I’m into it." This may be it exactly as there is a Litany Against Fear in Dune. And it goes like this: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." |
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| Tool – Chocolate Chip Trip Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| The only instrumental song among 7 on the CD version of the album. If they actually connect to the seven stages of life, this would be the one stage in which one is silently tripping, loosing connection. “Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” This is the elder, slowly fading away. | |
| Tool – 7empest Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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The main layer of this song is a conflict between your inner emotions and what you show outside. It’s the typical situation when you do your best to remain calm, but the tempest inside you starts raging to the point when you can’t contain it anymore, so you just explode. And even if that was one extreme situation, people around you suddenly say it’s typical and they knew all the time that you’re a violent type and whatever happened was just waiting to happen. Not sure what it was, but they were sure it will happen. Then you try to calm down again and handle this, but you know it’s a vicious circle and at some point they will make you explode again. But there’s another level. The title itself brings Shakespeare to mind and again connects to the seven stages of life described in one of his works. More so, the way it’s spelled kind of suggests something like an online nick, maybe used by a kid in a game somewhere. This may point to the stage in life described as schoolboy. However, Maynard was contradicting Shakespeare’s classical view in previous songs and here it looks the same. This schoolboy is not whining or creeping emotionless – he’s the tempest. He hates being pushed around and hearing how everybody knows him better, know his nature. They are poisoning him like the deceivers mentioned in Fear Inoculum and he’s raging inside to fight it. But he doesn’t know how yet, so for now he can only be like the tempest and respond with anger. |
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| Tool – Culling Voices Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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To understand this song, we need to understand two terms it’s using. First of all “culling” – by definition it’s a process of excluding something, usually animals, from population. It’s mostly associated with simply killing off part of the population when it grows too large, for example to control the population of wolves. But culling is also important part of breeding techniques, where someone decides which individuals are allowed to breed and which are to be excluded from the gene pool. “Psychopathy” on the other hand is often misinterpreted as simply murderous tendencies while it’s actually a complex personality disorder often manifesting itself by lack of empathy and disconnecting from society. Another one of its characteristics though is being ruthlessly efficient in achieving one’s goals. Now from one point it looks like the song is about someone who is accused, probably in public (or more likely on the internet these days, hence “disembodied voices”), of being a psychopath in the misunderstood meaning of the word. There could be a connection to false rape accusations against Maynard that surfaced shortly before the album was finished. It seems the most obvious explanation, but may not be the only layer here. You can also reverse the whole thing and then the song looks like it’s about someone who doesn’t care about what the world thinks or does, and is voicing his right to be judgmental in his own private ways. This way, our subject becomes another one in the seven stages of live – the Justice. In this stage a person is old enough to stop caring what other think and baldly throwing around his own judgment on any and everyone. The lack of empathy in this may make him look like a psychopath, but don’t you dare call him this. |
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| Tool – Invincible Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| This looks like the most straightforward song on the album. The subject here is an aging warrior who is still trying to keep up and remain relevant despite his age. But metaphorically anyone could be this warrior. Every person coming to a certain age begin to feel like that. I bet Maynard himself has this feeling every time he come out on stage, belly in to bellow out. Despite his age though, he is still fighting. Not gave up yet, to wallow in former glory, but still getting out there to fight. Considering the seven stages of life, he is still a soldier – “jealous of honor”, „quick to quarrel” and “seeking the bubble reputation”. | |
| Tool – Descending Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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The song is clearly speaking about coming to an end of a fall. But the fall here can have two meanings. One looks like the end of civilization and a call to the general public to do whatever it takes to prevent it. He also points out that we’re responsible for this madness and ruin. In this context, we can interpret the freefall in our sleep as years of ignorance and reaching midnight as a reference to the Doomsday Clock which would mean we’ll finally cause a nuclear holocaust. Compare this with “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish” by A Perfect Circle and you’ll get the same message. The other layer though, descending is simply the end of one’s life. It would seem though, that this life was out of control and is considered ruined by the man himself. He suddenly realizes that he’s old and bitter and sees himself as a prisoner of his old, broken body, but still clings to life any way he can. He still thinks he can stop the end by doing something, or maybe by praying – any desperate measures. Or maybe that he can just wake up from it? Free fall dream is after all a reflection of one’s insecurities and anxieties. But in the Seven stages of life, he’s the pantaloon – a delusional old fool. |
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| Tool – Pneuma Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Pneuma is a Greek word for Breath. It’s been used by many philosophies and religions as a synonym for spirit or soul, the divine element or the light in every one of us. The song seems to be referring to a spiritual theory in which humans are bound to evolve beyond physical form and become beings of pure light – the living Pneuma. It’s telling us that we, as humanity, come from one light and are bound to become one again at some point. Like sparks becoming the sun, we will also unite in something bigger and more powerful. But the song is clearly referring to a child, one of the seven stages of life. Again though, it’s not viewing this stage as vulnerable and useless, “Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms” as Shakespeare put it. Here, Child is a representation of our innocence and potential – the new spark that will one day become one with light. |
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| Tool – Fear Inoculum Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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First a comment to the album in general: I have a theory that with number 7 being the focal point of the technical part of this album and growing older as its topical base, at least one of the layers is referring to the so called Seven Stages of Man. The concept itself is ancient but these days is often associated with how Shakespeare described it in ‘As You Like It’. These stages are: an infant, a schoolboy, a lover, a soldier, the justice, a pantaloon (old fool) and an elder. So, seven stages and seven songs in the basic version of the album. Following this idea, I tried to connect each song with one of the phases and I have to admit, not all connections were clear at first sight and I won’t even dare to say I found them all. But that’s your typical tool. More so, it would seem that when it comes to stages already past him, Maynard is rather contradicting the classical view with his own experiences while the future stages seem to be preparing to what may come, as originally described. So, my guess when it comes to Fear Inoculum is that it refers to inoculation theory in psychology but probably in more personal than social manner. To quote Wikipedia: “Inoculation theory states that to prevent persuasion it is necessary to strengthen preexisting attitudes, beliefs, or opinions.” The song is also mentioning deceivers and liars, trying to poison us. But against what? Looks like it’s against other people, connections with them and maybe some sort of unity and light. Now, as farfetched as it may seem, there may be a connection to the Hebrew mysticism here. I’ve found an article about how celebration of Rosh Hashanah – which falls in the seventh month – is about learning how to conquer your yir’ah (fear or awe of light) with ahavah (love or the light). In this context, Light means the Divine. The song also mentions reconnecting to the Breath, which is also defined as divine in the following song Pneuma. If that’s correct, then it would seem that the titular Fear Inoculum – the vaccine against fear - is love. As simple as that. Now, if this means that in the 7 stages of life this song refers to the Lover, a pretty early stage, it would seem that Maynard is suggesting that you should inoculate yourself against influences early in your life or you may fall victim to deceivers. It also seems that his view of the Lover is not a romantic one but more like of someone passionate for life and finding unity with other people. |
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| A Perfect Circle – Get the Lead Out Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| I think there are two ways of looking at this song. The idiomatic is using American street slang to say “stop talking, get rid of the problem, it’s time to do something” while the literal refers to the problem of guns control by mentioning the “Get the lead out of schools” bill and opposing the “gun up buttercup” slogan. When you put them together, there’s a clear message calling to resolve the guns problem now. | |
| A Perfect Circle – Feathers Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| Feathers is basically a call for peace and unity as well as calm and sanity. In a way similar to Eat the Elephant it’s telling us that we will be able to fly, we will have wings and feathers, if only we can get a grip and pull ourselves together. In both personal and interpersonal ways. Because personally we can see ourselves as damaged, broken or useless (anchor, lead or stone), it’s not true when we talk to each other (show and tell), we can see that it’s not so, unite and grow our wings. | |
| A Perfect Circle – Hourglass Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| It’s another song on the album telling us the end is near, but in this case it’s not talking about nuclear war but environmental apocalypse. The sentinels mentioned are a number of species highly vulnerable to environmental changes. Tokyo kitty for example refers to the so called dancing cats fever in Japan, which was the first symptom of mercury poisoned fishes. Swallows, roses and canaries are also sentinel species. Calling out various groups of people in the refrain is clearly a message that when the disaster strikes, it will affect everyone and even the so called higher classes will break too. | |
| A Perfect Circle – By and Down the River Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| This one’s a little harder for me to read. It kind of looks like it’s about the people in higher places or rich and famous avoiding consequences of their doings. As if he knows that somebody - who is adored - did something bad, but he shows no signs of humility or regret and is still pictured as crystal clear. Instead of paying the Piper, he kills the Piper and floats him down the river to keep his position. | |
| A Perfect Circle – TalkTalk Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| This is a very straightforward song about how politicians are doing nothing while the problems and bodies accumulate. The song calls this out, demanding from them to stop debating endlessly and finally do as they say. And if they want to talk like a new Jesus (see The Doomed), they’re obliged to back it up with dids. | |
| A Perfect Circle – So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| While referencing Douglas Adams’s “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, Maynard is talking about things and people disappearing from this world. In the book, the dolphins left Earth because they knew it will be destroyed, and so in here it’s shown as a symbolic sign of the end closing in. In the meantime, people are ignoring the signs, because they’re distracted with producing, consuming and vanity to the point that they don’t even understand what’s going on and will see a nuclear apocalypse as a fireworks display. Also, using the phrase “moved on” suggests that maybe we can avoid the end by moving on to another planet, like the dolphins did. | |
| A Perfect Circle – The Doomed Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| There’s an obvious reference to the Sermon on the Mount in here but also a commentary to the modern world and history. Every now and then a person emerges, who is promoted as the new Christ – the one who will resolve all problems and deliver the people (weather viewed as nation, race or any other group). But as the history shows, these kind of leaders are usually subjected to the corrupting nature of power and become the opposite of saviors. Just look at the history of rise and fall of Caesar, Napoleon or Hitler as the brightest examples, but you could refer that to pretty much every leader and politician. And in each of those cycles while the worst kind of people thrives, the good people are the doomed. | |
| A Perfect Circle – The Contrarian Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| It kinda looks like it’s a reference to people who are taking opposite side to anything just to watch the world burn. Or in other words – trolls. They advocate nothing, just smile and do it for the show. Maynard also says that we all have this temptation inside us to beware of but our internal scale (or conscience) keeps most of us in check. | |
| A Perfect Circle – Disillusioned Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| The song is basically addressing the problem of dopamine addiction related to the overuse of social media and internet in general. The silicone obsession here is something that affects our perception of reality, because getting any positive reaction for our internet activities (weather it’s true or false) stimulates the brain to release dopamine – the stimulating hormone – and creates a feeling that whatever we do is right. Maynard’s advice here is to disconnect from it and reconnect to the real world to fix our perception. | |
| A Perfect Circle – Eat the Elephant Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| The song refers to a quote by Desmond Tutu: “there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” It basically means that any endeavor, no matter how impossible it seems, can be achieved one step at a time. With the album addressing some major problems of today’s world, it serves as a perfect opening, saying “we can handle this, but we have to do something”. | |
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