This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Take out the stories
They've put into your mind
And brace for the glory
As you stare into the sky
The sky beneath
I know you can't be tired
Lay there, stare at the ceiling
And switch back to your time
Just go ahead now try and taste it
I know it should be ripe
Thrust ahead
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis
The ancient arrival cut to the end
I'd like to be taken apart from the inside
Then spit through the cycle right to the end
I wonder, just how you shaped it
To get back to your prize
Thrust ahead
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis
The ancient arrival cut to the end
I'd like to be taken apart from the inside
Then spit through the cycle right to the end
Wake for the glory
I know you can't be
Tired
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis
The ancient arrival cut to the end
I'd like you to take me apart from the inside
Then spit through the cycle right to the end
Inside, inside, inside
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis (inside, inside, inside)
I want you to take me apart from the inside
Right to the end
They've put into your mind
And brace for the glory
As you stare into the sky
The sky beneath
I know you can't be tired
Lay there, stare at the ceiling
And switch back to your time
Just go ahead now try and taste it
I know it should be ripe
Thrust ahead
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis
The ancient arrival cut to the end
I'd like to be taken apart from the inside
Then spit through the cycle right to the end
I wonder, just how you shaped it
To get back to your prize
Thrust ahead
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis
The ancient arrival cut to the end
I'd like to be taken apart from the inside
Then spit through the cycle right to the end
Wake for the glory
I know you can't be
Tired
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis
The ancient arrival cut to the end
I'd like you to take me apart from the inside
Then spit through the cycle right to the end
Inside, inside, inside
Turning in circles, been caught in a stasis (inside, inside, inside)
I want you to take me apart from the inside
Right to the end
Lyrics submitted by thrwmyhrtawy.
Tempest Lyrics as written by Chino Camilo Moreno Abe Cunningham
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Here's a symbolic take:
/ Take / Out the stories / They’ve put into your mind and brace / For the glory / As you stare into the sky..
/ The sky beneath
/ know you can’t be tired..
/ Lay there / Stare at the ceiling / And switch back to your time just go ahead now try and taste it I know it / should be ripe…thrust…ahead.
/ Turning in circles / Been caught in a stasis
/ The Ancient's arrival / Cut to the end
/ I’d like to be taken / Apart from the inside / Then spit through the cycle right to the end / I wonder just how you shaped it To get back to your prize…thrust..ahead
@Experiman This is pretty close to how I decrypted it, and it's also a beautiful, empowering perspective
@Experiman thank you
There is a comment from Chino about how the theme of the album was going to be about the "end of the world" craze, all the doomsday wingnuts talk about happening in December.
A 'Tempest' is a violent disturbance - so - if you think about it, I think what Chino is writing about is 'go ahead and take me, we've been caught in a standstill (stasis) for so long, take me apart'. Wait for the glory (it actually happening) as you stare into the sky beneath, suggesting you're either blown into outerspace or in heaven, looking down.
wikipedia of the 2012 phenomenon en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon has some references that kinda tie it all together...or at least you can draw conclusions from it.
The 'ancient arrival' could be the Maya. 'Cut to the end' is saying 'let's see it, enough already, cut to the chase'.
The beginning of Tempest reminds me of Pink Floyd's Run Like Hell
@dchester I know this is an old comment but maybe it wasn't so much THE end in dec 2012 but perhaps of the beginning of the end in the last few years the world has really taken a turn for the worse and this year we are really seeing the makings for end of days shit wihen you consider we are already heading towards a WW3 and that's before Hillary or Trump being elected.
Knowing that I've got a 99.9% chance of being wrong, the vibe I got from this song was of the circle of life and death. But it doesn't fit all the lyrics, so it's more of just a personal vibe.
I don't think your wrong, in fact "dead" on, but I think you have to dig deeper.<br /> <br /> I never noticed Deaftones before this, but this song really speaks to me. In my opinion this is about life and death, except look at the bigger picture. Think life and death in the cycle of re-incarnation and multiple lives, ie "circles". The "end" is actually enlightenment and being in "stasis" is the repeating cycle of re-incarnation. Being "taken apart from the inside" and "getting rid of stories in your mind" I interpret as the process of enlightenment. For example ridding oneself of attachments and removing the karma (negative energy) that keeps us bound to this existence and dimension. I would suggest he is referring to Buddhist principals here or something similar. "The Glory" is enlightenment and returning to your original form of existence, which is not here. The lyrics "cut to the end" suggest to be a longing for this process to be complete.
Makes me think of ancient astronaut theory
Take out the stories they've put into your mind (take out the religious stories they've put into your mind about gods based on ancient civilzations interpretations of alien contact)
brace for the glory as you stare into the sky (the glory of meeting the cosmic alien race as they revisits earth)
Turning in circles ( the earth revolving around the galaxey for millenium)
Been caught in a stasis (being trapped as a species and civilization locked in perpetual wars and not truly advancing to join the galactic civilizations among the stars)
The ancient arrival (the time from when the aliens visited earth and helped advance ancient civilizations)
Cut to the end (wanting to be at the point when aliens reveal themselves to earth and allow us to join their galactic community)
I'd like to be taken apart from the inside Then spit through the cycle right to the end (alluding to an experience of alien abduction or maybe wanting to be experimented on or enhanced by alien technology)
I'm not exactly an advocate of ancient astronaut theory or neccissarily believe it but these lyrics make me think that's what the song is about.
It really does now that you mention it. Not in so many specifics but good point.
I too like to think it's about the Ancient Astronaut theory. I don't subscribe to it, but it is absolutely fun to think about. I'd love to think there's more to us than what's here on Earth. That said, I don't enjoy the God idea as much as originating from creatures who are virtually as clueless or as orphaned as us. I intend no offense to anyone, of course.
I interpret the narrator as being tired of not knowing, and expecting that our "alma species" or divergent kind is coming back for us either to answer all of our questions, or to destroy us. Either way, he/she just wants the anticipation to end.
The beginning of the song suggests whomever they are singing about is someone who is trapped by incorrect thinking caused by what people have done to them in the past. Technically, we all are, but lets pretend it was really shitty stuff... The rest looks like the battle we go through dealing with what we think is the truth, what really is and what an arduous, hellishly emotional process that is. Tempest represents the state of agitation the mind can reach yet at the same time trapped in a physical stasis.
Or it is about a blow job :-)
I think it's about being caught in a very stressful situation, a time of distress or someone you know and/or love being caught up in a storm of bad fortune. Perhaps even a song for Chi.
Yeah my interpretation is that the song is about the "2012 End of the World." Tempest is a synonym for Storm and like dchester alluded to the lyrics "ancient arrival" kind of tip it off to it being the Mayans.
But hey the great part of any Deftones song is that the meaning can always be up for discussion and fans can have many different opinions...just shows how masterful Chino & company are.
Very hard to interpret a Chino song, unless it's painfully obvious. For example , "entombed" If I had to guess is about chi, but still could be interpreted in a different way.,.It's an example of great songwriters.
With that said, this song imo, will be somewhat of a pre-cursor to what we should look for in PALMs. Chino is riding a serious wave right now. Untouchable imo...
What the lyrics are about literally is kind of irrelevant. It's all about what the listener gets out of them with Deftones (and most other bands in my experience). Interpret it how you want and rock on.