"Here from a kings mountain view,
Here from the wild dream come true"
He is introducing the song by speaking from the perspective of someone who "has it all" in a material sense.
"Feast like a sultan, I do
On treasures and flesh never few"
This person is only concerned about piling up materialistic idols and putting themselves over others.
"But I would wish it all, away
If I thought I'd lose you just one day"
Although he has everything worldly, he would throw it all away if it meant getting rid of "you." (He is about to define "you")
"The devil and his had me down
In love with the dark side I'd found"
He is relating this materialistic mentality of the world to the "dark side" or work of the devil.
"Dabblin' all the way down
Up to my neck, soon to drown."
He uses the word Dabblin' to describe someone that is digging into this materialistic lifestyle almost as if he is searching for something but the lifestyle is taking over him too much and he is about to 'drown'.
"But you changed that all for me
Lifted me up, turned me round
So I, I would wish this all away"
But "you" changed that all for me. Here is that reference to "you" again and it is positive. It is the reason he would wish away the fleshy outlook of the world.
"Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn
Begged like a hooker all night long"
Half of the time this person acts very christ-like or pious but the other half of the time this person begs for this "dark side".
"Tempted the devil with my song
And got what I wanted all along"
Although this person acts as if they are a noble and good person he is actually getting all of the materialistic and evil lifestyle he craved.
"But I
I would
If I could
I would
Wish it away
Wish it away
Wish it all away
Wanna wish it all away
No prize that could hold sway
Or justify my giving away my center"
This is a key lyric of the song, Maynard defines the "you" that "lifted me up, turned me round." It is his center. Tool is a very spiritual band and I can assure that the center referred to here is not a God, it is the center of himself. It his balance within Nature and this experience, his connection to "oneness" or the divine.
"So if I could I'd wish it all away
If I thought tomorrow would take you away."
He would wish anything away that swayed him away from his center. He holds his center to a higher respect than his entire external experience.
"You, my piece of mind, my all, my center,
just trying to hold on one more day."
Here he clearly defines "you." He's trying to hold onto his center and not be caught up in "treasures and flesh."
"Damn my eyes!
Damn my eyes!
If they should compromise the fulcrum"
If his eyes should take him away from his fulcrum (a reference to balance), then Damn them. Take away his ability to see in order to restore balance within himself.
"(If) wants and needs divide me
Then I might as well be gone..."
He defines what could take him off balance and that is his own "wants and needs." If this does take off his balance, he might as well be dead (gone).
"Shine on forever
Shine on benevolent sun"
This reference to "you" and "center" is related to the sun. Like a sun, shine on forever (beyond space and time). Let balance be larger than your current experience.
"Shine down upon the broken"
Some people have lost their way. In order to fix the broken from their dark side, let their center awaken in them and fix the problem. Remember, the sun is a reference to the center. He's not actually saying let the sun shine light on us and somehow be fixed. The sun is within.
"Shine until the two become one"
"Two become one" can mean many things, but the short version is to say that the sunlight is the answer and will fix the broken. "Two become one" is also a trinity (father, son, holy spirit). Son (you), holy spirit (the light within), father (god state - oneness).
"Two become one" can also be seen as duality and oneness. Everything in this world is either a 1 or a 0 just like in the Matrix movie, it's duality (day-night, up-down, good-bad,) without it we would not have this experience. In the Matrix Neo gives up fighting his enemy and instead, lets his body merge with his enemy's. He gives up trying to make duality fight its other part, and instead lets the "two become one."
"Shine on forever
Shine on benevolent sun"
Ironic that Maynard references your balance to the sun again because right after the scene I just described in the Matrix where Neo becomes his enemy, Neo appears as a sun in the final scene.
"Shine down upon the severed
Shine until the two become one
Divided, I'll wither away
Shine down upon the many.
Light our way, benevolent sun.
Breathe in union
So, as one, survive
Another day and season"
Breathe is a key word here. Breath is the whole focus of meditation and yoga which are two great techniques to finding your center and balance within duality. If everyone is following their center, we all act as one, and we survive to move forward.
"Silence, legion. Save your poison.
Silence, legion. Stay out of my way."
Legion is a reference to the group of people still dabbling in the materialistic dark side. The people who seem to be holding onto everything but still can't find what they are looking for. Their poison won't effect the speaker.
@MakeSense I love your description here, and agree with almost all of it...I think he's referring to his center and the light that shines on the broken here as Christ, however. The word Legion is what gives it away at the very end. Legion is a biblical description of demon possession when someone is possessed by many demons. Christ is the only one who sets people free from Legion, and Christ is referred to as the the Light of the World (physically represented as the sun). He's the Center of all things, everything revolves around Christ. In the biblical...
@MakeSense I love your description here, and agree with almost all of it...I think he's referring to his center and the light that shines on the broken here as Christ, however. The word Legion is what gives it away at the very end. Legion is a biblical description of demon possession when someone is possessed by many demons. Christ is the only one who sets people free from Legion, and Christ is referred to as the the Light of the World (physically represented as the sun). He's the Center of all things, everything revolves around Christ. In the biblical story of creation, God says, "Let there be light," and there was light.... That was the FIRST day. Then, on the FOURTH day, God created the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night. Symbolism here is that, to the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. In chronology, Christ is created on the first day, but He does not come to earth until the fourth day, 4000 years after the creation. He is the human tangible representative of God on earth. The spiritual light that we can actually comprehend. He came to set us free from the darkness, the evil, the legion. Christ is the center here, and Maynard really gets that across beautifully here.
@MakeSense Don't agree that the song implies anything about Christ specifically. It's obvious that Legion is a biblical reference, but it's possible to make biblical references without implying that you are a Christian. In the context of the song "Legion," the demon which is many, is intended to represent the opposite of oneness, the enemy: multiplicity of the mind, i.e. the lack of centeredness or one-pointedness of mind. Thereby, the verse:
@MakeSense Don't agree that the song implies anything about Christ specifically. It's obvious that Legion is a biblical reference, but it's possible to make biblical references without implying that you are a Christian. In the context of the song "Legion," the demon which is many, is intended to represent the opposite of oneness, the enemy: multiplicity of the mind, i.e. the lack of centeredness or one-pointedness of mind. Thereby, the verse:
"Silence, legion. Save your poison.
Silence, legion. Stay out of my way."
"Silence, legion. Save your poison.
Silence, legion. Stay out of my way."
may refer to other people, but it seems much more likely to refer to the speaker's own inherent tendencies that veer him away from the beautiful Sun, his centeredness.
@MakeSense I mostly agree, but it's very obvious that the 'you' he's talking about is not just a part of himself. It's something other than himself, because why else would he beg it to "shine down upon the broken, severed, and the many" and to "shine OUR way".
Look, he's clearly talking about the division between God and humanity, something he pointed out in a different song as well: Right in Two. In this song he even says "shine until the two become one". This separation between creation and creator bothers him a lot. He revisits this issue multiple times in...
@MakeSense I mostly agree, but it's very obvious that the 'you' he's talking about is not just a part of himself. It's something other than himself, because why else would he beg it to "shine down upon the broken, severed, and the many" and to "shine OUR way".
Look, he's clearly talking about the division between God and humanity, something he pointed out in a different song as well: Right in Two. In this song he even says "shine until the two become one". This separation between creation and creator bothers him a lot. He revisits this issue multiple times in multiple other songs as well.
And when he refers to Legion he not only means materialistic and egotistical distractions, he also literally means Legion as described in the Bible.
Next time, be careful not to taint your understanding of a song with your own beliefs and wishes.
@darkaquatu I'm not disagreeing with you that he is obviously talking about something else when he says shine on forever or when he says shine our way. He clearly says he is talking about a "benevolent sun" and I clearly indicated that. As far as other songs go, yes, he talks a lot about monkeys and angels and such in right in two, but he is clearly talking about a center within himself here and a benevolent sun. As indicated by the lines:
@darkaquatu I'm not disagreeing with you that he is obviously talking about something else when he says shine on forever or when he says shine our way. He clearly says he is talking about a "benevolent sun" and I clearly indicated that. As far as other songs go, yes, he talks a lot about monkeys and angels and such in right in two, but he is clearly talking about a center within himself here and a benevolent sun. As indicated by the lines:
"You, my piece of mind, my all, my center" and also:
"Shine on forever, shine on benevolent sun"
I am also aware that Legion is referred to in the Bible, and that's all well and good. Congratulations for the Bible reference. 1 point for Jesus. Which by the way, are not referred to at all in this song. So how can you discern whether he was referring to the legion in the Bible or the legion in the world of warcraft? Sounds like you may be "tainting the song with your own beliefs and wishes"
Also, I am unaware of how I am tainting this song with my "own interpretation" when how could I offer anything else other than my own interpretation? It's not like you know Maynard personally, or any of us for that matter, and could confirm with undeniable proof what exactly Maynard was thinking. I wrote this 8 years ago and in that time it has helped a small number of people who were curiuos enough to search for it here gain slightly more understanding. I am not the gospel truth and neither are you, this is our own interpretation whether you are aware of that fact or not.
Next time you speak to your inner Maynard be sure not to believe everything he tells you. Cause you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. :-)
@MakeSense I loved this interpretation. It was not personal, you made an amazing job keeping focused on the words themselves and not on the artist's personal context. Maybe it could be driven by the loss of his mother (who could be an important part of his "center" that he had to fight to keep after her absence from this world), but I really think that this is it about this song: our center is what drives us towards balance. It may include other people, or it may just be the whole experience as ourselves. THe beauty of this music is...
@MakeSense I loved this interpretation. It was not personal, you made an amazing job keeping focused on the words themselves and not on the artist's personal context. Maybe it could be driven by the loss of his mother (who could be an important part of his "center" that he had to fight to keep after her absence from this world), but I really think that this is it about this song: our center is what drives us towards balance. It may include other people, or it may just be the whole experience as ourselves. THe beauty of this music is that it perfectly ressonates with a modern-age mantra. Tool really are one of the most spiritual bands I have ever heard :)
Tool - Jambi
"Here from a kings mountain view, Here from the wild dream come true"
He is introducing the song by speaking from the perspective of someone who "has it all" in a material sense.
"Feast like a sultan, I do On treasures and flesh never few"
This person is only concerned about piling up materialistic idols and putting themselves over others.
"But I would wish it all, away If I thought I'd lose you just one day"
Although he has everything worldly, he would throw it all away if it meant getting rid of "you." (He is about to define "you")
"The devil and his had me down In love with the dark side I'd found"
He is relating this materialistic mentality of the world to the "dark side" or work of the devil.
"Dabblin' all the way down Up to my neck, soon to drown."
He uses the word Dabblin' to describe someone that is digging into this materialistic lifestyle almost as if he is searching for something but the lifestyle is taking over him too much and he is about to 'drown'.
"But you changed that all for me Lifted me up, turned me round So I, I would wish this all away"
But "you" changed that all for me. Here is that reference to "you" again and it is positive. It is the reason he would wish away the fleshy outlook of the world.
"Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn Begged like a hooker all night long"
Half of the time this person acts very christ-like or pious but the other half of the time this person begs for this "dark side".
"Tempted the devil with my song And got what I wanted all along"
Although this person acts as if they are a noble and good person he is actually getting all of the materialistic and evil lifestyle he craved.
"But I I would If I could I would Wish it away Wish it away Wish it all away Wanna wish it all away
No prize that could hold sway Or justify my giving away my center"
This is a key lyric of the song, Maynard defines the "you" that "lifted me up, turned me round." It is his center. Tool is a very spiritual band and I can assure that the center referred to here is not a God, it is the center of himself. It his balance within Nature and this experience, his connection to "oneness" or the divine.
"So if I could I'd wish it all away If I thought tomorrow would take you away."
He would wish anything away that swayed him away from his center. He holds his center to a higher respect than his entire external experience.
"You, my piece of mind, my all, my center, just trying to hold on one more day."
Here he clearly defines "you." He's trying to hold onto his center and not be caught up in "treasures and flesh."
"Damn my eyes! Damn my eyes! If they should compromise the fulcrum"
If his eyes should take him away from his fulcrum (a reference to balance), then Damn them. Take away his ability to see in order to restore balance within himself.
"(If) wants and needs divide me Then I might as well be gone..."
He defines what could take him off balance and that is his own "wants and needs." If this does take off his balance, he might as well be dead (gone).
"Shine on forever Shine on benevolent sun"
This reference to "you" and "center" is related to the sun. Like a sun, shine on forever (beyond space and time). Let balance be larger than your current experience.
"Shine down upon the broken"
Some people have lost their way. In order to fix the broken from their dark side, let their center awaken in them and fix the problem. Remember, the sun is a reference to the center. He's not actually saying let the sun shine light on us and somehow be fixed. The sun is within.
"Shine until the two become one"
"Two become one" can mean many things, but the short version is to say that the sunlight is the answer and will fix the broken. "Two become one" is also a trinity (father, son, holy spirit). Son (you), holy spirit (the light within), father (god state - oneness). "Two become one" can also be seen as duality and oneness. Everything in this world is either a 1 or a 0 just like in the Matrix movie, it's duality (day-night, up-down, good-bad,) without it we would not have this experience. In the Matrix Neo gives up fighting his enemy and instead, lets his body merge with his enemy's. He gives up trying to make duality fight its other part, and instead lets the "two become one."
"Shine on forever Shine on benevolent sun"
Ironic that Maynard references your balance to the sun again because right after the scene I just described in the Matrix where Neo becomes his enemy, Neo appears as a sun in the final scene.
"Shine down upon the severed Shine until the two become one Divided, I'll wither away Shine down upon the many. Light our way, benevolent sun.
Breathe in union So, as one, survive Another day and season"
Breathe is a key word here. Breath is the whole focus of meditation and yoga which are two great techniques to finding your center and balance within duality. If everyone is following their center, we all act as one, and we survive to move forward.
"Silence, legion. Save your poison. Silence, legion. Stay out of my way."
Legion is a reference to the group of people still dabbling in the materialistic dark side. The people who seem to be holding onto everything but still can't find what they are looking for. Their poison won't effect the speaker.
One of my favourite interpretations ever.
One of my favourite interpretations ever.
@MakeSense I love your description here, and agree with almost all of it...I think he's referring to his center and the light that shines on the broken here as Christ, however. The word Legion is what gives it away at the very end. Legion is a biblical description of demon possession when someone is possessed by many demons. Christ is the only one who sets people free from Legion, and Christ is referred to as the the Light of the World (physically represented as the sun). He's the Center of all things, everything revolves around Christ. In the biblical...
@MakeSense I love your description here, and agree with almost all of it...I think he's referring to his center and the light that shines on the broken here as Christ, however. The word Legion is what gives it away at the very end. Legion is a biblical description of demon possession when someone is possessed by many demons. Christ is the only one who sets people free from Legion, and Christ is referred to as the the Light of the World (physically represented as the sun). He's the Center of all things, everything revolves around Christ. In the biblical story of creation, God says, "Let there be light," and there was light.... That was the FIRST day. Then, on the FOURTH day, God created the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night. Symbolism here is that, to the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. In chronology, Christ is created on the first day, but He does not come to earth until the fourth day, 4000 years after the creation. He is the human tangible representative of God on earth. The spiritual light that we can actually comprehend. He came to set us free from the darkness, the evil, the legion. Christ is the center here, and Maynard really gets that across beautifully here.
@MakeSense Don't agree that the song implies anything about Christ specifically. It's obvious that Legion is a biblical reference, but it's possible to make biblical references without implying that you are a Christian. In the context of the song "Legion," the demon which is many, is intended to represent the opposite of oneness, the enemy: multiplicity of the mind, i.e. the lack of centeredness or one-pointedness of mind. Thereby, the verse:
@MakeSense Don't agree that the song implies anything about Christ specifically. It's obvious that Legion is a biblical reference, but it's possible to make biblical references without implying that you are a Christian. In the context of the song "Legion," the demon which is many, is intended to represent the opposite of oneness, the enemy: multiplicity of the mind, i.e. the lack of centeredness or one-pointedness of mind. Thereby, the verse:
"Silence, legion. Save your poison. Silence, legion. Stay out of my way."
"Silence, legion. Save your poison. Silence, legion. Stay out of my way."
may refer to other people, but it seems much more likely to refer to the speaker's own inherent tendencies that veer him away from the beautiful Sun, his centeredness.
@MakeSense I mostly agree, but it's very obvious that the 'you' he's talking about is not just a part of himself. It's something other than himself, because why else would he beg it to "shine down upon the broken, severed, and the many" and to "shine OUR way". Look, he's clearly talking about the division between God and humanity, something he pointed out in a different song as well: Right in Two. In this song he even says "shine until the two become one". This separation between creation and creator bothers him a lot. He revisits this issue multiple times in...
@MakeSense I mostly agree, but it's very obvious that the 'you' he's talking about is not just a part of himself. It's something other than himself, because why else would he beg it to "shine down upon the broken, severed, and the many" and to "shine OUR way". Look, he's clearly talking about the division between God and humanity, something he pointed out in a different song as well: Right in Two. In this song he even says "shine until the two become one". This separation between creation and creator bothers him a lot. He revisits this issue multiple times in multiple other songs as well. And when he refers to Legion he not only means materialistic and egotistical distractions, he also literally means Legion as described in the Bible.
Next time, be careful not to taint your understanding of a song with your own beliefs and wishes.
@darkaquatu I'm not disagreeing with you that he is obviously talking about something else when he says shine on forever or when he says shine our way. He clearly says he is talking about a "benevolent sun" and I clearly indicated that. As far as other songs go, yes, he talks a lot about monkeys and angels and such in right in two, but he is clearly talking about a center within himself here and a benevolent sun. As indicated by the lines:
@darkaquatu I'm not disagreeing with you that he is obviously talking about something else when he says shine on forever or when he says shine our way. He clearly says he is talking about a "benevolent sun" and I clearly indicated that. As far as other songs go, yes, he talks a lot about monkeys and angels and such in right in two, but he is clearly talking about a center within himself here and a benevolent sun. As indicated by the lines:
"You, my piece of mind, my all, my center" and also: "Shine on forever, shine on benevolent sun"
I am also aware that Legion is referred to in the Bible, and that's all well and good. Congratulations for the Bible reference. 1 point for Jesus. Which by the way, are not referred to at all in this song. So how can you discern whether he was referring to the legion in the Bible or the legion in the world of warcraft? Sounds like you may be "tainting the song with your own beliefs and wishes"
Also, I am unaware of how I am tainting this song with my "own interpretation" when how could I offer anything else other than my own interpretation? It's not like you know Maynard personally, or any of us for that matter, and could confirm with undeniable proof what exactly Maynard was thinking. I wrote this 8 years ago and in that time it has helped a small number of people who were curiuos enough to search for it here gain slightly more understanding. I am not the gospel truth and neither are you, this is our own interpretation whether you are aware of that fact or not.
Next time you speak to your inner Maynard be sure not to believe everything he tells you. Cause you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. :-)
@MakeSense I loved this interpretation. It was not personal, you made an amazing job keeping focused on the words themselves and not on the artist's personal context. Maybe it could be driven by the loss of his mother (who could be an important part of his "center" that he had to fight to keep after her absence from this world), but I really think that this is it about this song: our center is what drives us towards balance. It may include other people, or it may just be the whole experience as ourselves. THe beauty of this music is...
@MakeSense I loved this interpretation. It was not personal, you made an amazing job keeping focused on the words themselves and not on the artist's personal context. Maybe it could be driven by the loss of his mother (who could be an important part of his "center" that he had to fight to keep after her absence from this world), but I really think that this is it about this song: our center is what drives us towards balance. It may include other people, or it may just be the whole experience as ourselves. THe beauty of this music is that it perfectly ressonates with a modern-age mantra. Tool really are one of the most spiritual bands I have ever heard :)
@MakeSense made an account just to dislike your interpretation.
@MakeSense made an account just to dislike your interpretation.