They weren't kidding when they said it was like a mix of Opiate and Lateralus... BRILLIANT!! I feel this album will be far from a disappointment, It'll be there best thus far. Maynard's lyrics and the sounds emitted from the band have once again energized my spinal column. The lyrics really do bring forth a lot of war and television thoughts. "
While a mother holds her child/And watches him die/Hands to the sky crying/''Why oh why?''" puts the image of whats happening in the middle east, stuff you see on the news, a lot of government doings, war in general. There was alos some critics that said the war in Iraq could "turn into another Vietnam." You also see stories of all kinds of death and murder stories. Local news and national news are both filled with pictures of our dark side and our "lost side". And also, the word "Days" can also be defined as(a noun):
the time during which someone's life continues. So "10,000 Days" could also mean "10,000
Lives". Google it and one the first hits on the listis a report about hurrican Katrina (along with a book by Ko Un and a heart drug that could save "10,000 lives) which they say "Katrina may have claimed 10,000 lives"... "...
killed by the ocean...". So with the war in Iraq, aka George Bush's wet dream, and the USA's arrogant totalitarian actions in almost every war they've been a part of, now we bring into view the governments poor reaction to that natural occurance, due to greed, racism, and stupid a** "National Security Safety Measures". But this is not to just "blindly wave a fist" or "point the finger" at the US Government. I usually find multiple "meanings" in Maynard's poetry and in this song the "why don't we just admit it?" part seems to the idea that we all really do feed off the tragedy on TV and just tragedy in general, either in good or bad ways. We see something horrible happening, we feel thankful that we are not going through what we see..."...
much better you than I...". It keeps us in fear and it feeds that will and that twisted idea to go to that "job" and "pay the bill and pay the taxes" so that we can continue to live vicariously. We see this death and pain and we feel that what we are seeing is wrong, or in some cases of war people see it as "right", or just plain "tragic" but we can't turn our heads from the television sets and we feel like we can not help... we can only "
stare like a zombie... into the TV." With the Katrina reference I also see an Aenima like message to "listen to nature"... otherwise she'll destroy all the you fret for and drown your a**. Turn off the TV's and shut the ******** up and listen. Listen to the Earth, not just with your ears but mind and heart as well. Live with it not against it. Stop killing people... live with them!
I love it when he says "
why cant we just admit it?" along with Danny's drums and the that crazy measure plays out. But we do need that "dark side" thats in us. You can't have Yin without Yang and visa versa. So why can't we just admit it?(Or why can't we just admit that we are kind of lost and ******** up right now? lets get over it and move on.) In order learn one of the things that must go on is to experience "wrong", to "fail", and to "travel through the dark tunnel to reach the bright white light at the end". All that is going on must happen in order to reach that next step of our evolution. A vampire needs to feed so that he may live and lure a Vamp hunter to come and drive a stake through his heart and free him of the "evil" curse. We need this, we watch it on the news, we read it in the papers, and we play it in the video games. It a part of our "warrior" human and surviving animal nature.
When he says "
Credulous at best your desire to believe in, angels in the hearts of men/Pull your head on out; Your head believes, (so please give a (?)) listen/Shouldn't have to say it all again/The universe is hostile, so impersonal/Devour to survive so it is/So it's always been" thats when I got a big chill up my spine, that internal metaphysical caduceus or
Kundalini energy. I think it means in that first line is that we are gulible to believe and believe too readily that there is good in everyone, especially when we are kids. We just don't really know about people and what the ******** is going on... yet. Listen to your "head", Maynard "
shouldn't have to say it all again"... in other words "******** listen and use your ******** brain!" The universe is indeed hostile, super novas, black holes, implosions, volcanos, earthquakes, hurricaines, and the basic fact that "life feeds on life." It doesn't really care who you "are", you may die, you may live. It is impersonal and therefore has no real personality of its own. And when he said "Devour to survive so it is/So it's always been.", a picture of a Mayan carving I saw on the internet... A snake/dragon eating its own tail. A symbol of
eternity(< scroll to the very bottm to read an interesting Terence McKenna quote),
Ouroboros, and the Aztec and Mayan legends of Quetzalcoatl.
Like I've said before Tool has that power to get me thinking. "
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing/Neither the brave nor bold/Writers their stories sold/We won't give pause until the blood is flowing" this reminds me of the Book of Revelations in the Bible. Where it says that the streets will be covered in blood, resembling a river of blood (once again war and the s**t we are seeing on Satan's Dream Box). Another "end of the times" reference, indeed we are in the
last days.
Vicarious is a great song and I know this album will not disappoint.
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