I know this is obnoxiously long...but I just copied my english project which was that I had to analyze a song. so here. There could be many different interpretations of this song. In my opinion, this song is about war, hatred and selfishness in general. I believe the over-all message of this song is that there is a lot of pointless fighting and hatred going on for no reason. Possessions such as land could much more easily be shared rather than taking lives over them. Whatever can’t be shared, there is enough of for everybody. The line: “Angels on the sidelines baffled and confused. Father blessed them all with reason, and this is what they choose?” is saying that, as humans, we have the ability to reason and use logic, and should be using those abilities for good. But instead of coming up with solutions, we choose unnecessary fighting and hatred. This is also why I believe Maynard refers to humans as monkeys; we don’t tend to think about what we’re doing or look for easier, more peaceful solutions to our problems. Also, as humans, we tend to take what we need, if not more, and whatever we want, usually without giving any regard to who we may be taking from. It is for this reason that I believe the line: “Don't these talking monkeys know that Eden has enough to go around? Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys, where there's one you're bound to divide it right in two” is used. Some of the words used in the rhyme scheme of this song are: confused, choose, ground and down. Maynard also uses personification in this song when he says: “Angels on the sideline again, benched along with patience and reason” Repetition is also often used in lines such as: “monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground” and “Fight till they die over sun, over sky, They fight till they die over sea, over air, they fight till they die over blood, over love, they fight till they die over words, polarizing” Sickimage from songmeanings.net states that the Angels are interpreting what they see in humans. We’re just humans, but we were given all these things (thumbs) that are supposed to make us "better" than other animals, yet, we still act like animals…we kill each other and there’s no need for it…we fight for land, yet, there’s enough for everyone to live in peacefully. Pwnage...I wonder how many people will actually read this...or comment it.
Just watched a video of this song on youtube to see a live version, didn't even finished it yet. Scrolling through the related videos section i see a Ying-Yang picture of a someone don't know whom's editings with Tool's song. Occurred to me that [after reading all your comments- and i mean all] - occurred that no one thought of metaphisics. Nietzsche's metaphisic dennies the existence of both evil and good [commonly said]. Maybe the blade forged by the silly monkeys is just a metaphore of the fact that since forever mankind did only divided the things in good things...
Just watched a video of this song on youtube to see a live version, didn't even finished it yet. Scrolling through the related videos section i see a Ying-Yang picture of a someone don't know whom's editings with Tool's song. Occurred to me that [after reading all your comments- and i mean all] - occurred that no one thought of metaphisics. Nietzsche's metaphisic dennies the existence of both evil and good [commonly said]. Maybe the blade forged by the silly monkeys is just a metaphore of the fact that since forever mankind did only divided the things in good things and bad things, war being an example where you are provided with good and evil sides, etc. Think of the Ying-Yang sign, two halfs that actually have a higher meaning when combined not when highlighted one by the other. Maybe the key to understanding is beyond good and beyond evil, in balance, in enlightment [without squandering the truth within the good/evil matrix]. Anyways, just wanted to share it, maybe someone will analyze it further or maybe someone will answer expanding the idea. Not a big deal actually, but the song is deffenetly NOT straight forward and deffenetly NOT about mere human condition - war wise. Its more than beats the eye, more like MJK said with the whole "third eye" waking. And yes, Cadventurer's thoughts are quite on the right track. Think about music that combines lyrics and sound to converge to the same idea. That's why I allways thought Pink Floyd is best represented nowadays by Tool.
Personally, I believe this is way more basic in delivery, then in meaning. If you’ve ever watched any Primates for a long period of time. They will literally fight over anything that there isn’t enough of; with the dominant Primate winning said scare object. However, Primates tend to live in groups, sharing what is overabundant.
Personally, I believe this is way more basic in delivery, then in meaning. If you’ve ever watched any Primates for a long period of time. They will literally fight over anything that there isn’t enough of; with the dominant Primate winning said scare object. However, Primates tend to live in groups, sharing what is overabundant.
I think Maynard is just calling all of us Primates in basic nature, but that we differ because we have “free will”, “reason”-ing skills, and thumbs. Which have lead to us being deviant in nature because “free will” makes us lose sight of...
I think Maynard is just calling all of us Primates in basic nature, but that we differ because we have “free will”, “reason”-ing skills, and thumbs. Which have lead to us being deviant in nature because “free will” makes us lose sight of what is necessary, “reason” makes us think that we NEED things that we don’t (and the ability to justify), and the thing that makes us different from Primates in physical nature (thumbs) leads to us building more efficient ways to hurt, harm and kill each other.
The combination will lead to us fighting over everything, until there is literally nothing left to fight over on this planet. Or the planet is divided by completely differing ideas of what “free will” and “reason” are given to us for.
With "Angels on the sideline again; Been so long with patience and reason; Angels on the sideline again; Wondering when this tug of war will end.” Basically saying that the righteous (Angels, being devout and in as high praise as he held his mother, see 10,000 days (Part 2)) will win, in the end. The “Primates” will destroy each other until they are all gone. Since, Angels are not allowed to interfere with free will and would interrupt our idea of reason.
I know this is obnoxiously long...but I just copied my english project which was that I had to analyze a song. so here. There could be many different interpretations of this song. In my opinion, this song is about war, hatred and selfishness in general. I believe the over-all message of this song is that there is a lot of pointless fighting and hatred going on for no reason. Possessions such as land could much more easily be shared rather than taking lives over them. Whatever can’t be shared, there is enough of for everybody. The line: “Angels on the sidelines baffled and confused. Father blessed them all with reason, and this is what they choose?” is saying that, as humans, we have the ability to reason and use logic, and should be using those abilities for good. But instead of coming up with solutions, we choose unnecessary fighting and hatred. This is also why I believe Maynard refers to humans as monkeys; we don’t tend to think about what we’re doing or look for easier, more peaceful solutions to our problems. Also, as humans, we tend to take what we need, if not more, and whatever we want, usually without giving any regard to who we may be taking from. It is for this reason that I believe the line: “Don't these talking monkeys know that Eden has enough to go around? Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys, where there's one you're bound to divide it right in two” is used. Some of the words used in the rhyme scheme of this song are: confused, choose, ground and down. Maynard also uses personification in this song when he says: “Angels on the sideline again, benched along with patience and reason” Repetition is also often used in lines such as: “monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground” and “Fight till they die over sun, over sky, They fight till they die over sea, over air, they fight till they die over blood, over love, they fight till they die over words, polarizing” Sickimage from songmeanings.net states that the Angels are interpreting what they see in humans. We’re just humans, but we were given all these things (thumbs) that are supposed to make us "better" than other animals, yet, we still act like animals…we kill each other and there’s no need for it…we fight for land, yet, there’s enough for everyone to live in peacefully. Pwnage...I wonder how many people will actually read this...or comment it.
Just watched a video of this song on youtube to see a live version, didn't even finished it yet. Scrolling through the related videos section i see a Ying-Yang picture of a someone don't know whom's editings with Tool's song. Occurred to me that [after reading all your comments- and i mean all] - occurred that no one thought of metaphisics. Nietzsche's metaphisic dennies the existence of both evil and good [commonly said]. Maybe the blade forged by the silly monkeys is just a metaphore of the fact that since forever mankind did only divided the things in good things...
Just watched a video of this song on youtube to see a live version, didn't even finished it yet. Scrolling through the related videos section i see a Ying-Yang picture of a someone don't know whom's editings with Tool's song. Occurred to me that [after reading all your comments- and i mean all] - occurred that no one thought of metaphisics. Nietzsche's metaphisic dennies the existence of both evil and good [commonly said]. Maybe the blade forged by the silly monkeys is just a metaphore of the fact that since forever mankind did only divided the things in good things and bad things, war being an example where you are provided with good and evil sides, etc. Think of the Ying-Yang sign, two halfs that actually have a higher meaning when combined not when highlighted one by the other. Maybe the key to understanding is beyond good and beyond evil, in balance, in enlightment [without squandering the truth within the good/evil matrix]. Anyways, just wanted to share it, maybe someone will analyze it further or maybe someone will answer expanding the idea. Not a big deal actually, but the song is deffenetly NOT straight forward and deffenetly NOT about mere human condition - war wise. Its more than beats the eye, more like MJK said with the whole "third eye" waking. And yes, Cadventurer's thoughts are quite on the right track. Think about music that combines lyrics and sound to converge to the same idea. That's why I allways thought Pink Floyd is best represented nowadays by Tool.
Just my 2 cents.
Personally, I believe this is way more basic in delivery, then in meaning. If you’ve ever watched any Primates for a long period of time. They will literally fight over anything that there isn’t enough of; with the dominant Primate winning said scare object. However, Primates tend to live in groups, sharing what is overabundant.
Personally, I believe this is way more basic in delivery, then in meaning. If you’ve ever watched any Primates for a long period of time. They will literally fight over anything that there isn’t enough of; with the dominant Primate winning said scare object. However, Primates tend to live in groups, sharing what is overabundant.
I think Maynard is just calling all of us Primates in basic nature, but that we differ because we have “free will”, “reason”-ing skills, and thumbs. Which have lead to us being deviant in nature because “free will” makes us lose sight of...
I think Maynard is just calling all of us Primates in basic nature, but that we differ because we have “free will”, “reason”-ing skills, and thumbs. Which have lead to us being deviant in nature because “free will” makes us lose sight of what is necessary, “reason” makes us think that we NEED things that we don’t (and the ability to justify), and the thing that makes us different from Primates in physical nature (thumbs) leads to us building more efficient ways to hurt, harm and kill each other.
The combination will lead to us fighting over everything, until there is literally nothing left to fight over on this planet. Or the planet is divided by completely differing ideas of what “free will” and “reason” are given to us for.
With "Angels on the sideline again; Been so long with patience and reason; Angels on the sideline again; Wondering when this tug of war will end.” Basically saying that the righteous (Angels, being devout and in as high praise as he held his mother, see 10,000 days (Part 2)) will win, in the end. The “Primates” will destroy each other until they are all gone. Since, Angels are not allowed to interfere with free will and would interrupt our idea of reason.