The Argus

This song is about the myth, yes--but also, I think--about Agnosticism/Atheism. Or moreso the myth that is and always has been religion. Because people used to believe the myth of The Argus, before they were called "myths"--and now people are so bold to label religions of that time period "mythology", while at the same time believing in their chosen religion, whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Islam... whatever, and some day their religion is going to be looked back on just like The Argus is looked back on now--as a myth.

Led by form we shed our soul Trusting like a child See the dark face that saved us Drink from his empty eyes

I think this is about blindly following the idea of a God like a trusting child, the dark face that saved us is dark because we don't know anything about this savior ourselves, just brainwashed to believe. Drink from his empty eyes is a take on drinking the blood of Christ, but instead of drinking his blood, you're drinking from his empty eyes, empty because there is nothing there, no substance, he is not real.

and the argus is practiced compassion with an eye on you, as one is on me

I think this is talking about how people think their God is always watching them.

will the god eye grant his forgiveness letting droplets of light erupt from the sea

About how people beg their God to forgive them.

Swirling with visions on man's confusion

The Argus IS a combination of man's confusion and desperation to make meaning out of life.

All of the work, done just to appease him

About how everything people do is essentially supposed to be done to appease their God.

The Argus he cries, though love has it's place in the sun It's only man's fear that carries him on...

This last line really sums up the whole Agnostic and Atheist undertone of the song. It is stating that even though love does exist in the world, that doesn't mean God has to be real--and that the only reason people keep believing and loving The Argus (God) is because man's fear carries him on, because people are so scared that there might be a God and they might be punished if they don't believe and worship him, that they blindly follow their religion and pass it on down to the next generation because of this fear. The fear of God, the fear of truth.

i agree this is probaly one of their best songs...and his very very underated.

I don't think it's about the Buddha. Why would he use the Argus as a symbol? Why not Jesus or some other actual reborn spiritual figure (unless the Argus myth does in fact include rebirth as a theme, which I don't know). Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. How would the mythology scholars interpret those first lines though? It does seem pretty clearly to be a reincarnation reference. Any aspect of re-birth to the Argus myth? Otherwise, I think the rest of the song is pretty straight-forwardly about the Argus itself, as explained by the previous comments. Awesome song to play on acoustic guitar, though it doesn't translate to a live audience so well- they don't seem to know what to make of it, but I keep playing it anyway because I know it's a great song regardless.

i cant believe nobody has posted on this song. aesome band and one of there best songs. sounds like zeppelin

This song smells a lot of a transcendental being, a Holy Guardian Angel, a Soul, The Self opposed to the self, the personality, the Ego. But The Self is called man and The Ego is called The Argus. (n.b. the term 'god eye' becomes a wonderful pun here, i.e. god-I).

So what does this song mean. It means that The Self's confusion, which is a natural by-product of It's growing processes, naturally gives rise to the Ego ("Tells me he has chosen you"). The Ego is the harmonizing [practiced (or applied) com-passion, i.e. feeling together] of all of The Self's experiences which heretofore was confusion.

The second-to-last line of the song, seems to be indicating that it is The Argus who is crying, and not man crying out, "The Argus". The Ego cries, like most peoples egos do, because it is man's fear that carries The Self on and which is the sole and only reason for existence of The Ego.

When the god-eye grants his forgiveness it is so man can see The Reason through the confusion. The "act" of the god-eye granting forgiveness is actually the sacrificing of The Argus.

I agree, this is one of the best songs that ween wrote, and is very underated.

This song is a very confusing, twisted, and metaphorical look at man's psychology.

Argus was a giant with hundred eyes (Magna eyes that track for miles ... with an eye on you, as one is on me) making him a good watchman (bells ring to warn us), because there were always eyes awake. He finally gets slain by being lulled to sleep (Lying in bed of garlic and orchid, he closes an eye , which closes another). His eyes are preserved by Hera in the peacock's tail (feather clouds dancing.) Most from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_Panoptes

And man, that solo is so to the point, the build-up to it so perfect... Then the second guitar comes in and I can't take it anymore. One of my favourite songs.

gnarly shit dudes

definitely about the mythological creature called "The Argus" and the story relating... hours of research will only lead to that conclusion

Definitely about the mythological Argus/Argos. He was a straightforward guard set by Hera to guard Io. He was doing his job, but he was sent to sleep and was killed by Hermes on order of Zeus to set Io free.

I think Gene and Dean are saying that we should remember the Argus and his sacrifice since he was just doing his job like a good watchman and was slain for it.

I take it to be about the Enlightenment. The myth of the Argus is here joined together with the later proverbs that negatively comment on his many-eyed nature, ascribing an all-watchful, invasive quality to the giant. The Argus is the antagonist here, representing all the predatory old-world empires whose iconography his image comes from, the narrator's society bearing the burden of appeasing his paranoia and obsessiveness, the disease he searches the land for, the mountains and oceans he swats at. All they get in return is the empty, practiced compassion of a monarch ostensibly shielding his peasants from harm with walls and warning bells, leading his trusting children down the ruinous path of war, colonization, and slavery, their participation shedding their souls without their even noticing, transfixed by the Argus' warnings as they are, drinking from the empty eyes of the dark face which says it saved them.

But the god-eye--the dice of fate, if you like--did not grant the Argus forgiveness. His death unfolds just as it does in his story, sleeping in a field, his many eyes finally closed, as if it was inevitable. The music shifts from ominous to joyful because the Argus is a relic of the old world, a parasite upon the people, and it is only without him that a future is possible. As the messenger of the gods takes his life, in his final moments the Argus admits to his nature, ironically enough, in attempting to diagnose man's. The Argus only ever thrived in fear, only lived to stir up fear and manipulate it, and with how watchful his eyes are described to be, in all likelihood he feared for himself always, feared being undone at the hands of the gods should he cease his vigilance even for a moment, which of course he is. It is this choice of fear over love which leads to the Argus' death, and even as he dies he cannot renounce it, just as history cannot be made to renounce itself. But the Argus is wrong. Mankind will carry on without him, for fortune smiled upon them, and the sacrifice of the Argus has helped them to see. Yesterday, we lost our lives. Tomorrow, we were born.