Octopus Has No Friends

“Octopus Has No Friends”, musically, watching Brent [Hinds, guitarist/vocalist] play that song, it sounds like you’d need eight tentacles to play that guitar riff. After visiting the Georgia Aquarium months ago, Brann came back and said, “Man, I don’t think the octopus ever has any friends, ‘cause he’s always in the tank alone. There’s a starfish in there, but it’s far away. Does the octopus have friends, or does he enjoy his recluse environment?” These are just questions we have, and we’re not ashamed to put those into songs and let that be known."

• Troy

Reminds me of an epic journey that goes full circle. Don't listen to others and follow what you believe in. Find the truth yo.

It's not entirely out of the question that this could be Mastodon's retelling of Odysseus' events with Polyphemus, they cyclops. Mastodon is known to write about mythology and epic literature.

"To tempt the fool into the mine Let loose the snake with antidote."

Odysseus went into the cyclops' cave, seeing cheeses and wines all around, tempting him and his men. Once inside, they crash there, letting loose their troubles with the wines (AKA getting drunk.).

"Take the hand Guide the way Far away Find the truth Always Always"

Odysseus THOUGHT that the cyclops was a charitable being. Obviously not true to anyone who has read it. The men followed Odysseus, and now they are far from the rest of the crew, and they always find the truth of the dangerous situations by following Odysseus.

"I'm on my way back home I'm on my way back home."

Odysseus saying he's going to get back to Ithaca, reassuring himself that he will escape.

"I see your face inside the smoke It's hard to scream and nice to choke."

Polyphemus talking in the first line; it's safe to assume a cave of that size will be rather dark and gaseous. He sees the men's faces in here. The men are now saying that it's hard to scream when the Cyclops has them in his grasp, but it's better to choke to death than to be consumed by Polyphemus.

"Let's rest awhile inside the cave Don't cry you'll see that we'll be safe."

Odyseeus to his men: "Let us just wait here for a while until I can find a way to escape. Don't be sullen men; you will see that I can find us a way to escape from the creature's grasp."

To Tempt the fool into the mine, Let Loose the snake with antidote-

it says to me that in life there wil be temptations/distractions that upon first glance..the snake is lifes struggle..yet we are also provided the antidote..its within ourselves to heal/overcome.

The snake is temptation just like in the story of Adam and Eve.

Could be an allegory for the band being on the road and the loneliness of touring.

"To tempt the fool into the mine Let loose the snake with antidote"

Creating another album requires touring to support sales but takes you far from home but is necessary to continue to create.

"I'm on my way back home I'm on my way back home"

Every mile traveled on tour is to get back home.

"I see your face inside the smoke It's hard to scream and nice to choke"

Band mates self medicating to relieve the stress and loneliness of being on the road together. Especially after performances.

"Let's rest awhile inside the cave Don't cry you'll see that we'll be safe"

Pre-performance jitters in the green room, hiding from rabid fans after the show.

"Take the hand Guide the way Far away Find the truth Always Always"

Finally the chorus is plainly each band member keeping each other sane and with it touring. Each individual helping keep the others focused knowing it is necessary, useless without the other three and feeling like performing each and every show to the best effort so they can continue to create and tour etc.

While I did the explanations about being homesick, and the more philosophically over-the-top interpretations, I think that Brent was taking a lyrical piss here, albeit in a very humorous way. With the the imagery of guiding hands, coupled with the phallic nature of the snake and it’s, “antidote,” I’m going to have to say this song is most likely about either, well, let’s just say, “self-love,” or more explicitly about manual love in general (taking the most literal definition of that phrase). Definitely read between the lines. The snake’s antidote and going home, in this case, to me at least, represent orgasm. Brand’s comment about missing one’s own toilet kind of supports my thesis. There’s not very much alone time one has on the road. We all need a little alone time every now and then. Plus, what do you do when you have eight hands and you’re by yourself? I’m sure you can figure out the rest. Great song musically, but one not to be taken super seriously lyrically.