This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Don't fret precious, I'm here
Step away from the window, go back to sleep
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils
See, they don't give a fuck about you like I do
Count lies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep
Count lies like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums
Count bodies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow
Go back to sleep
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep
Go back to
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go back to sleep
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow
Go back to sleep
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons
I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason
I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices, son
They're one in the same
I must isolate you
Isolate and save you from yourself
Step away from the window, go back to sleep
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils
See, they don't give a fuck about you like I do
Count lies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep
Count lies like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps, like sheeps
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums
Count bodies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow
Go back to sleep
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep
Go back to
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep,
Go back to sleep
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow
Go back to sleep
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep, like sheep (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
Count bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums (Go back to sleep)
Go back to sleep
I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons
I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason
I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices, son
They're one in the same
I must isolate you
Isolate and save you from yourself
Lyrics submitted by prayingmantis84
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums Lyrics as written by Maynard Keenan Billy Howerdel
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums song meanings
Add Your Thoughts
184 Comments
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
The government are trying to control us with the media and we believe everything that the media says and so we start following it. We become sheep, we believe everything that is told to us and we follow it, but those that are smart enough to not follow anymore are killed because the government are very afraid of the people who are against them. They are exterminated, for lack of better word, and because we are sheep and following the government we don't know of the destruction we are heading to and that the government are trying to hurt us.
Before I start I'd like to add that during interviews Maynard states that his songs do have meaning. He says that it depends on the listener. If you as a listener believe it means something to you then that's probably what it means. Listening to the song, I initially thought this song was about dead bodies being counted in the same sense as counting sheep while trying to go to sleep. After listening to it a couple times I then began to think that it was talking about someone keeping count of how many people they fuck. He lies and deceives the people telling them he will protect them and keep them from harm. He continues to tell them that no one gives a fuck about them like he does; making them think that he's the only one that cares about them, when in reality he's just telling them what they want to hear to get what he wants.
This man, Maynard, may well be philosophical but he performs as an artist. That is his primary function in society. Art embodies feeling, emotion, information that is otherwise difficult to qualify but, nontheless, very real and generally significant to us. We tend to value art - possibly because art has this unparalleled ability...to convey meaning through various mediums and not just spoken or written language. In other words, an artist does not have to explain his, her, or itself, through modern day language. If the work satisfies the artist's motivation, then it is a finished piece. Expecting a rigorous and/or logical explanation of said work is unreasonable and, possibly even, quite bizarre - however normal. So, therefore, permit me to address this piece from my gut - a place very real and posessing meaning, but a place that possesses little currency in a world that weighs words for the express purpose of creating corrupted scales upon which to weigh those very words. In me, it invokes frustration with the way civilization is going. We are but the descendants of a violent, aggressive manifestation of informational organization. We are prone to war, ready to snatch each other's faces off for minor greivences. Our society has become parasitic in nature rather than synergistic. We survive in spite of each other rather than as willing, mutual beneficiaries. How disturbing! Nay, how natural! Just go to sleep. Listen to the propaganda and the advertisements. Do not be alarmed or you may realize that you're a sheep, marching off a precipace to the benefit of someone claiming to care for you. Watch or read 1984, A Handmaid's Tale, Fight Club, various footage of Jane Goodall's research, and you will now the meaning of this song better than the artist himself.
Nicely commented here this is exactly how our society is headed every day. We are taken over and I just wish we all cooperated but it seems to be getting worse the bad ones are winning.
No, Pet WAS about his son Yes, there are porn noises in the background Yes, this song was remixed to have more political weight. Yes, the title is too long
Thank you for your time
well put
i concur. well put, sir.
..........It's Maynard.... It had every single drop of political weight it was going to have when he put pen to paper.. He's about as annoing as David Draiman when it comes to uninformed political speech.
.....guy apollo...im going to corect u there...maynards not anoying...and THAT a fact to in my mind. \m/ tool AND perfect circle rox\m/
in the original context of THIRTEENTH STEP, which was basically a concept album dealing with drugs and addiction, the song PET was meant to be sung by a drug to the addicted person - it had nothing to do with keenan's son. if you read the lyrics with this in mind you will see that it makes perfect sense.
here the lyrics are given a political meaning. it is about how george bush would like to get the people of america to stay out of any politial business and to let him act like he pleases since he cannot defend or justify his actions anyway - because they are firstly simply not right and therefore unjustifiable and secondly because mr bush's ability to express himself is more than clumsy.
mr bush is the father singing to his son, the people of amrica. "step away from the window/go back to sleep" means don't look at what is going on outside. it is not your concern. mind your own business and go back to sleep. sleep is here seen as a state of unawareness.
the government declares this attitude to be right and necesarry to protect the people of their enemies, trheir demons and of the voice of reason, the voice that tells the truh about mr bush's highly questionable decisions.
not gonna try and make a comment on the meaning because of maynards intention of self exploration, but one quote that does spring to mind from this song is: "the death of a person is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic" - Stalin (I could be horribly wrong, but along those lines"
Read into it and you can figure it out.
This is how the government blinds people from what is really going on, hiding things behind a curtain of nationalism or patriotism.
Maynard talks a lot about "sheep" and that refers to basically people following blindly, without thinking for themselves and forming their own opinion.
Read into this stanza and you can see the ironic duality within: "I’ll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and all your demons I'll be the one to protect you from A will to survive and a voice of reason I'll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and your choices son One in the same, I must isolate you Isolate and save you from yourself"
That you'll be protected by the government in your country yet it is really your own choices and voice of reason they are blocking out. That for the price of being guarded by enemies and "demons," you lose the very own values within your self. You lose your humanity.
Many people in this country and perhaps even the world (I'm not sure) are asleep. They are turned off from their dreams, hopes, and wishes. They are numb because of prozac or a number of theraputic drugs. They have no energy because of diets such as the Atkins or other fads.
This allows more people to become faceless and under control.
I believe that is the gist of this song.
If you don't think Maynard has any meaning behind his lyrics, "Idea" or otherwise, you are clearly an incompetent fool. With that said;<br /> <br /> Sheep are stupid animals that can be herded together in groups, are generally indistinguishable from one another, and think nothing of it. Hence, the general public would be the sheep. The "I" in the song would refer to the government, more specifically bush, but applies in a less specific sense also. The government wants you to go back to sleep, aka a state of unawareness so that they can control you. The "I" presents choice and reason as the enemy from which it will protect you. Meanwhile, while you are asleep, the government slaughters an obscene amount in war (hence counting bodies like sheep). "Don't fret precious, I'm here" has a very patronizing tone to it, as if the government is "taking care of you", while presenting the general person as a lesser, helpless being. Lastly, the government wants to "isolate you and save you from yourself" or otherwise "save" you from your individuality and individual rational thought. The whole song once again presents a very patronizing and controlling tone while it tries to demean the "enemy". It is very sarcastic, and almost seems to poke fun at the lack of intelligence of the average person who will blindly follow a corrupt government.
Read into it and you can figure it out.
This is how the government blinds people from what is really going on, hiding things behind a curtain of nationalism or patriotism.
Maynard talks a lot about "sheep" and that refers to basically people following blindly, without thinking for themselves and forming their own opinion.
Read into this stanza and you can see the ironic duality within: "I’ll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and all your demons I'll be the one to protect you from A will to survive and a voice of reason I'll be the one to protect you from Your enemies and your choices son One in the same, I must isolate you Isolate and save you from yourself"
That you'll be protected by the government in your country yet it is really your own choices and voice of reason they are blocking out. That for the price of being guarded by enemies and "demons," you lose the very own values within your self. You lose your humanity.
Many people in this country and perhaps even the world (I'm not sure) are asleep. They are turned off from their dreams, hopes, and wishes. They are numb because of prozac or a number of theraputic drugs. They have no energy because of diets such as the Atkins or other fads.
This allows more people to become faceless and under control.
I believe that is the gist of this song.
To me this has many meanings (addiction, protection of a child, many veins of other protections)... Being a father of two kids (boy & girl-older & younger) I have mixed feelings about both that are very tough to deal with on a local level, much less trying to fatham what kind of life our leaders are going to press upon them. It's a crying shame that it has come to this. Does anyone remember when you had to work up the nereve to punch someone? God Bless America! God help us! Mattyc-OH
Before I start I'd like to add that during interviews Maynard states that his songs do have meaning. He says that it depends on the listener. If you as a listener believe it means something to you then that's probably what it means.<br /> Listening to the song, I initially thought this song was about dead bodies being counted in the same sense as counting sheep while trying to go to sleep. After listening to it a couple times I then began to think that it was talking about someone keeping count of how many people they fuck. He lies and deceives the people telling them he will protect them and keep them from harm. He continues to tell them that no one gives a fuck about them like he does; making them think that he's the only one that cares about them, when in reality he's just telling them what they want to hear to get what he wants.
Honestly, and don't go off on me for my own opinion but I personally think that this song can be interperated however we wish. To me, it reminds me of someone's need to protect someone from any possible harm - whether harm from themselves or another person. I say this because "I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices" and "Isolate and save you from yourself" sounds like something a mother or father might say to their children, seeing as how I have heard this several times in my lifetime. Then again it impacts me because it reminds me of the Soldiers at war and how they wish to "protect you from your enemies and your choices." Music video's do NOT give the meaning of the song, i mean come on people! Have you seen music video's these days? They tend to have NOTHING to do with the songs, just saying. Unlike everyone here, I have not heard these "porn sounds." Just because someone grunts, does not mean they are having sex. I grunt when being kicked in the stomach, so the sounds you may hear could because it's a representation of someone being hurt. "They don't give a fuck about you like I do." could also refer to an obsessive ex boyfriend or girlfriend. There are voices, girls and guys, but i don't hear any sex sounds honestly. I hear fighting, anguish and moaning (Pain, not from sex.) As humans, we will hear whatever we THINK is there. Confusing lyrics happens a LOT. Nonetheless about the song's possible true meaning - It rocks, i go into a sort of...trance when I listen to it and it makes my mind race. Unless lyrics are straightforward and make it OBVIOUS what the song is about, more than likely the artist wants the person listening to simply interperate it their own way. Music is a powerful thing so when we listen to a song and try to find a meaning that was never specifically there in the first place, it makes us listen to it more, buy more of their cds and have your own meanings to a song.
i think its more a satire on how the US government has taken away freedoms in the name of saving its citizens. "I'll be the one to protect you from ...<br /> Isolate and save you from yourself" if taken as said from the government (which the government has alread pretty much).<br /> <br /> of course, maynard's lyrics in both tool and apc are very vague and open to interpertation, and yours is right because you came up with it.<br /> <br />
you have a lot of knowledge. while i was reading this i was like "dam this dude (i camm everyone dudes no matter what gender) is smart". Like you, i am smart the way you are....exept I feel that you beat me on this one. I didnt think of the over obsessive boyfriend thing...but yes i definitelly agree with all you said; about how this can be intrepeted in many ways. there is no right or wrong answer, that's the beauty of it, because we get to feel good about what our responses about it are. Even if someone doesnt agree, that person shouldnt care because everyone has different opponions when it comes to something like this, therefore, everyone would be agreeing and dissagreeing with each other,...the important part is to keep thinking about what you believe in, and not change your mind about it because more are going against you. The only thing about which has right and wrong is when it comes to like in what decade did the Holocaust took place? the answer would be 1940's and there is no other answer, because that's the right one, but when it comes to intrepeting something, or giving an oppinion about something there is never a right or wrong answer, just the satisfaction that you were able to think deeper into the meaning of something. So i totally agree with you dude...keep doing what you are doing, that is telling others that there are many different things to say, and no wrong or right answer, and jus keep being yourself, because that's the great way to go through life :)
@Music2maniac she actually says fuck me when the music comes to a crescendo @ 2mins n 55 seconds In the song