What does this song mean? Tool - Parabola

[rick James]

How do you interpret it?

[youtube]RiV_ue-PbL4[/youtube]

Particularly interested to hear FIGJAM's thoughts.

 

[FIGJAM]

I got the ******** abused out of me by someone no longer with the website (that I know of) last time I mentioned Lateralus' themes on spiritual alchemy!

It's on the Wiki page, so I'm not completely insane!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateralus

We barely remember who or what came before this precious moment,
We are choosing to be here right now. hold on, stay inside...
This holy reality, this holy experience. choosing to be here in...

This body. this body holding me. be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal all this pain is an illusion.

Alive

This holy reality, in this holy experience. choosing to be here in...

This body. this body holding me. be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal all this pain is an illusion...
Of what it means to be alive

Swirling round with this familiar parable.
Spinning, weaving round each new experience.
Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this
Chance to be alive and breathing
Chance to be alive and breathing.

This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.
Embrace this moment. remember. we are eternal.
All this pain is an illusion.

All based around esoteric spirituality. The choice and enjoyment of our being through the direction of our consciousness, for experience, and the forgetting from whence we came (also for experience purposes). It also covers the concept of illusion, which can be covered by the Hindu concept of Maya:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(illusion)

The band have a recommended reading list which detail a lot of occult issues.

Let the flaming begin...

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Final warning Figjam - for intellectual posts far above the maximum IQ permitted by Collingwood supporters.

 

[The_Eagles]

lateralus seems like a spiritual and therapeutic CD...this one is a kind of hopeful song I guess...despite all the pain you go through in life (loneliness, infatuations, addictions) and stuff...theres hope.. Isnt parable also teachings of jesus..seems a bit like heaven and all that.
but it could be about sex in a spiritual sense, could be birth, could be life in general, could be a mathematical reference, could be about death and resurrection.
It's a big mixture of everything as far as I know. Good workout song and in my top 3 Tool songs

 

[Jabso]

I think it means life is like a roller coaster. Except a crappy roller coaster that starts at the top and goes down steep and then goes up steep.

For more complicated lyrics study these:



"No Way" - Adolescents

No class, no job
I'm just a victim of society a slob
No ass, no head
I gotta go home and jack off instead

No mind, no kind
My brain is jelly and my memory is blind
No way, no way
I cannot live in a world this gay

and by the same band:

"I Hate Children"

Another child born to the house - I hate children
Raise him right so he won't be a mouse - I hate children
I hate it when they make lots of noise - I hate children
And i broke my neck tripping over their toys - I hate children

Shut your mouth you stupid little brat
what you need's a smack smack smack
If i had my way i'd give you all away

I hate the crying that they make - I hate children
Screaming and whining for a piece of cake - I hate Children
I hate getting up late at night - I hate children
To Check and see if the crying baby's alright - I hate children


Now you're had you little monstrous kid - i hate children
It's of you that i'll be rid - I hate children
Do you see this toy it's called a gun - I hate children
And if you wanna live you'd better run - I hate children


I hate children - I hate children
I hate Children - I hate children
Kill all children dead

 

[FIGJAM]

Those are some crap and irrelevant lyrics jabso!

One thing I forgot about the film clip was the cool bit at the end which have the eyes energy wrapping around the spine like snakes and rising to the pituitary gland where it forms the third eye.

This is to do with the transmutation of energy through Kundalini yoga. The section of consciousness in which the energy or vibration can be raised, is in the Astral Body, which is represented well by the film clip

 

[rick James]

Those are some crap and irrelevant lyrics jabso!

One thing I forgot about the film clip was the cool bit at the end which have the eyes energy wrapping around the spine like snakes and rising to the pituitary gland where it forms the third eye.

This is to do with the transmutation of energy through Kundalini yoga. The section of consciousness in which the energy or vibration can be raised, is in the Astral Body, which is represented well by the film clip

FIGJAM, what is all this crap about, it sounds interesting as (and fun) - where do I start, seriously? I don't even meditate or anything, but I studied a bit of Shinto and that's it.

 

[The Dice Man]

Saw that clip on Rage last week or the week before, and was seriously impressed.

In a way it reminded me of a condensed 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

[FIGJAM]

FIGJAM, what is all this crap about, it sounds interesting as (and fun) - where do I start, seriously? I don't even meditate or anything, but I studied a bit of Shinto and that's it.

I can PM you. It's too heavy for Bigfoot!

 

[rick James]

I can PM you. It's too heavy for Bigfoot!

Please do

 

[FIGJAM]

Will do, but I have some important stuff to do (ie. shower, watch Extras and then the NBA).

It can be interesting and fun, but is eventually for serious practice.

 

[Pantsless]

Maynard has come out in the past and said all their songs are about anal sex.

 

[FIGJAM]

Maynard has a peculiar sense of humour, as evidence by his recent quoting of a Dave Chapelle catchphrase in Stinkfist!

 

[mr_cellotape]

"Keenan became friends with legendary comedian Bill Hicks in the early 1990s. Keenan did stand-up comedy on improv nights in comedy clubs in Los Angeles during that time, delivering - according to a friend of Hicks - inspiring comedy. They got to know each other and eventually, Bill Hicks opened some
Tool concerts. Best known is a routine Hicks did on Tool's Lollapalooza tour in 1992, when he asked the audience to look for a contact lens he'd lost. Thousands of people complied. Keenan enjoyed this joke so much that he
repeated it on a number of occasions."

Much less a "peculiar sense of humour" than a propensity to take the piss out of his fans, for who he has no respect for.

Hence the band name. And the inane pseudo-intellectual lyrics.

 

[FIGJAM]

Much less a "peculiar sense of humour" than a propensity to take the piss out of his fans, for who he has no respect for.

Hence the band name. And the inane pseudo-intellectual lyrics.

You clearly have no idea about comedy, music or intelligence.

 

[mr_cellotape]

You clearly have no idea about comedy, music or intelligence.

Really? Just because I think Tool are more of an curious art project than deep-and-meaningful genius? Amazing.

 

[Z_K]

Really? Just because I think Tool are more of an curious art project than deep-and-meaningful genius?

Yep. Well put.

 

[FIGJAM]

Really? Just because I think Tool are more of an curious art project than deep-and-meaningful genius? Amazing.

They play rock and roll! Who ever said they were supposed to be "deep-and-meaningful genius"? And who said that they can still not express their views and beliefs from within a "curious art project"?

Their lyrics are generally fairly transparent (even when metaphorical), and in the event of Lateralus, the lyrics are very much based in spiritual alchemy. To weave that into song form doesn't require genius, it simply requires knowledge and a desire to sing about it.

From what I understand, and can provide sources, the band actually practices what it is they sing about on Lateralus and various other tracks. To infer that they are doing it for abstract art or humour purposes would require that you present proof to that effect.

 

[rick James]

Much less a "peculiar sense of humour" than a propensity to take the piss out of his fans, for who he has no respect for.

Hence the band name. And the inane pseudo-intellectual lyrics.

You're half right.

Tool have no time for sycophantic fans that act like groupies or believe they know the members of Tool personally.

But their lyrics aren't pseudo-intellectual or even intellectual - they are more often than not inspired by intellectuals or intellectual concepts.

 

[mr_cellotape]

They play rock and roll! Who ever said they were supposed to be "deep-and-meaningful genius"?

The overanalytical Tool fanboys that Rick James refers to in the above post.
All that garbage about Fibonacci sequences and rearranging the album tracks on Lateralus and whatnot. The band members must find the way some of their fans read into that stuff just absolutely hilarious. Seems you're not one of them.

Anyway, sorry for derailing your thread by being a smartarse. I don't mind their music, just can't stand a lot of their rabid fans.

 

[rick James]

Anyway, sorry for derailing your thread by being a smartarse. I don't mind their music, just can't stand a lot of their rabid fans.

I'm the same mate, but I also find a lot of their themes interesting because it relates to a lot of stuff I don't know much about- I just don't mistake them for genius.

 

[Jabso]

Music and indeed the lyrics of music is art. Take from it what you will. You can't make vague metaphorical lyrics and expect everyone to see what you see. It is art so it can be intepreted many ways. It kinda reminds me of a Bad Religion song that sounds alot like it is about the Charlie Manson murders because it talks about killing a mail man and also quotes lines from a Beatles song, from the same album that Manson wrote lyrics of in blood on the walls of the house. The song writer said it's not about Manson and others think it is about comparing a relationship to drug addiction.

 

[vast]

I once read an interview with maynard where he stated part of the meaning behind the song was based on some theory that we are made up of light particles and that even when we die, these particles continue to exist even though they are in a different form. Hence the lyrics "we are eternal".

Anyway I think its their best song.

 

[Z_K]

Anyway I think its their best song.

Really? Not even in the top 5 off the album IMO.

I gave up really trying to decipher everything Maynard wrote along time ago. Some of it instantly jumps out at me, some of it takes time. Some of it will probably be something only he could get his head around and you can be sure that 99% of the guff written on Tool fan websites is so far off the mark it's stupid. Not a bad thing BTW.

I don't think Tool have ever done anything, and I mean anything, that wasn't about them. Lyrics, song construction, record releases etc etc. It's an awesome way to go about it, and makes being a fan ********ing easy.

 

[The_Eagles]

not in the top 5 off the album???


listen to it from 3:28...