Man Overboard

Neptune (Poseidon). Associated with watery Pisces. Neptune is the Lord of the sea, representing the collective unconscious and its symbol-making capacity, compassion, cosmic values, empathy and unconditional love. He is a dancer, a healer, a mystic, a daydreamer, self-deprecating and an es capist. He has an addictive personality, no ego boundaries and a vivid imagination. He has great acting ability, and can be deceptive of himself or others. He possesses great sensitivity and can be a hermit, have a martyr-complex, be into self-denial and hallucinations; he may be a movie addict and an inspiration to others, but also into self-undoing. Colloquially he is a chameleon and a goody-goody, and, negatively, a classic sneak and two-timer.

Pascal, Eugene (2009-11-29). Jung to Live by (pp. 105-106). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition.

I'll leave the mysteries behind the use of the numbers 11 ("Gonna turn it up to 11") and 12 ("Brace yourself a 12") up to you to figure out. To me this song represents a man trying to warn everyone of an impending disaster and leading his crew to work hard and fast to weather the "storm" that is coming. I love the fact that he mentions to save the women and children first, as any worthy sea captain would. I believe (speculation here) that the line "toss the extras over" refers to taking out the trash, psychologically speaking ("Crucify the ego" as it were...). Personally I think this is quite timely considering the decay we see in governments and unsustainable ways of living worldwide and the resistance to change that is coming. The quote "And this too shall pass away" comes to mind. Change is what we are.... seek the truth around you... etc.... btw Maynard is a genius ;) Get back to basics, so we can all "cross the river together."

The references to eleven and twelve relate to the Beaufort Scale.

And I realize this isn't going to go over well with many of you, but come on. It's Puscifer. Think Vagina Mine. Think /sex/.

While many of Maynard's lyrics are open to deeper interpretation, this song could also pretty clearly be about trying to outlast a partner during sex. (Most likely) the guy doesn't want to cum and has unfortunately reached the point of no return.

Water (especially the sea) is often used as a symbol of deep emotions in the analysis of dreams and the like. The title ("Man Overboard") may reference the narrator himself. "Shoulda seen the warnin'" etc. - He should have seen this coming. In short I think the song can be interpreted as a bout of depression or other negative mental state. The "ship" and "sailors" are simply symbols. "Toss the extras over, About to take on water." The person is hit by a "storm" of emotion and is trying to cope and 'survive' the ordeal. Like with a lot of Maynard's songs, even objects described in detail are usually part of a symbolic theme, not a literal reality.

Wanted to add old Marshall amps went up to 11. So that's a way of saying to the maximum. On their video they even show an amp being turned to 11. Is it that simple? Yes! Don't over think puscifer.

Brace yourself for twelve means simply that it's going to be more intense than 11; a strength which has never been seen before.

That's it.

This song is fantastic! I love that it's 4:19 minutes long.

Poseidon (besides being the title of a disaster movie) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth. He was god of the Sea & other waters, earthquakes & of horses. 'Poseidon's on a mission, about to turn it up to eleven'. Later the lyrics says: 'Brave yourself for twelve!' saying the storm's already one notch past '10' so now get ready for another level entirely. I'm sure the "up to 11" part is a reference to Spinal Tap ("Up to eleven", also phrased as "these go to eleven" has become an idiom from popular culture coined in the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap, where guitarist Nigel Tufnel proudly demonstrates an amplifier whose volume knob is marked from zero to eleven, instead of the usual zero to ten).

Not sure if is just the boat theme coupled with the themes in Polar bear but I get the feeling of being on the Titanic. shrugs

hehe, funny stuff. Just took a quick look at em, thinking menstrual cycles inevitable fights in relationships (from a neutral look) - might be wrong though, because i cant seem to figure the 'Bout to turn it up to eleven' and 'brace yourself a twelve' at this point. I think its important not to overthink all of the puscifer lyrics rather than enjoy the song as a whole instead.

surely looking forward to some more songs though.

I cannot get enough of this song. I did think that maybe the new album wouldn't live up to the music before it but I was wrong to worry!

When I first heard Man Overboard, it REALLY reminded me of Aenima by Tool. I really hate to compare it to other MJK works but the chanting of phrases has the same feel of 'Learn to swim, learn to swim'. So my personal interpretation is that it's about mother nature coming to flush it all away. The lines 'Blood sky every morning, should have seen the warning' makes me feel like it has been coming our way for a while.

Obviously I could be way off but let's face it, it's Puscifer. There is no right answer!

Maybe it's just me, but I assumed "'bout to turn it up to eleven" was just referencing the 1-11 scale on guitar amps, or more simply put: "oh man this shit is gonna be intense". Then, the twelve would represent something even more intense than what was generally thought possible.

Obviously, this doesn't connect to the themes in the rest of the song very well, but I don't think this song--as with many other Puscifer songs (pre-Conditions, at least)-- is meant to be taken very seriously. Deeper meanings can be associated to it but I think, in this case, there was nothing specific intended, other than the clear theme of seafarin'.

I would love to see someone dub this song over the Spongebob Squarepants intro.