All Tool Songs Lyrics Meaning

This is my interpretation for the Current Live Setlist which is basically the same as it was in 2007.

I will probably be a little wordy, so dismiss at your own leisure. Also, I'm not looking to argue but if you believe I am stupid or silly, let me know. I can take it. Also, I am new to these forums so if this has been said before then the same applies, dismiss, tell me I'm stupid or silly, and let me know this is old news.

I was admittedly a few years late in the "Interpreting 10000 days game". I wasn't fond of The Pot or Jambi or Vicarious when they FIRST came on the radio and I had been into other genres of music for awhile so I didn't even buy the album till like 6 months ago. But I rode along with Undertow, Aenima, and Lateralus as they happened.

I will get to the current tour, I promise. But I think There is a reason the setlist is just about the same. (a good Tool Fan isn't a good Tool fan unless he/she is trying to read into EVERYTHING)

We all know 10000 days is the story of Maynard James's mother Judith Marie, who passed away after some unimaginably major suffering for 27 years. We all know Maynard used to question her faith. And We can tell from the song 10000 days that he was finally inspired by her ceaseless faith in her final days.

I am thinking,further than that, that the Parabola/Lateralus/Reflection philosophy of Maynard's encountered a major fallacy when it came to Judith Marie. Being a “celebrate-this-chance-to-be-a-spiral-swinging-divine-DNA-part-of-the-collective-mind-happy-to-be-alive-human-being” isn't very helpful advice to someone in her condition.

(maybe you can already see where I'm going)
I think 10000 days in its entirety is a retraction and a refutal of Lateralus and Aenima.

Her Faith though, proved FAR more powerful. I'm not saying he adopted Christianity, I don't think he did but it's possible, but I do believe he abandoned the Lateralus Philosophy. On to the concert's playlist: I will try to be as scatterbrained as I can.

Jambi I have read many interpretations of, most involving son, and there may well be documentation of an interview where he said it was about his son. But is it really like Maynard to just tell us what a song is about? I'll try to stay brief, but I think it's MAINLY about the divide between Maynard (the rock star, the icon, the guy who thinks deep and writes lyrics that millions of people look to for inspiration) and Jimmy (the regular guy, the son, the father, the same as the rest of us people) I think by Lateralus, Maynard had become so deep (“up to the neck”) in finding a personal philosophy that he nearly drowned. His final days with his mother (and the previously mentioned shattering of Laterus Enlightenment) made him realize he was rrrrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin' close to losing his Jimmy. [side note, I think it's possible that the title, besides referring to the iambic meter, indeed refers to PeeWee's genie, and was chosen because it shares the first three letters with James and there's already a song called Jimmy]
Well now he wants to wish away Lateralus and Aenima [another side note, he grew back his Undertow Mohawk. And in the album photo, his Bald “Aenima/Lateralus” self is a reflection in the mirror, BEHIND Him]
Well He doesn't WANT to be deep anymore. He wants the Benevolent Sun to shine on the SURFACE of everything, and He would like Maynard and Jimmy to become one again. (they kinda need each other.)
Oh, and yeah The Legion is US. Us people who say, “You changed my life man!”, “You are like the new Jesus!”, “You got it all figured out!”, “Thank You!”, Those 'affirmations' are now poisonous to him.

Okay, I won't do the whole setlist, but the important parts. The opening, the middle and the end. (the rest probably were the other bandmember's choices anyway)

Rosetta Stoned is Nothing More than a Mockery of Lateralus. It will take way less explanation to say that He is comparing Tool to the Grateful Dead (they have a Legion following them around on tour), He saying that he figured out something Epic and Enlightening (Lateralus Philosophy) while he was on drugs, but the only real result (after Mom passed) was a bed full of shit. He now wonders why he's a hero. And the one true answer that he has found is, that in the quest for truth or enlightenment, there is only ONE answer: We Don't Know, and We Won't Know.

Flood follows Rosetta Stoned, the mockery of Lateralus, with its message, [...insert EVERY SINGLE LINE of the song Flood HERE...]

Now Lateralus is in the setlist probably because it is one of the favorites of The Legion, or Maynard got outvoted by the other guys to include it, but he'll be damned if they're going to end with that song. SO dress it up as a pop hit with some more lasers and a guest drummer, Put most of the focus on Adam, Justin, Doctor Octopus, er, Danny, and said Guest Drummer and get everyone cheering for their “enlightening song” (and its “oh how fantastic it is to be a human” message) But the set cannot end with that poison.

So Comes Vicarious. It gets a Great pop from the crowd, it was a hit, it was like one of the best guitar songs of all time or something, But MOST OF ALL It says CLEARLY that humanity sucks. We're still bloodthirsty savages, just admit it. I have a mohawk again. And end the show on that.

Same essential setlist as last time. But I don't think the Benevolent Sun is bringing Maynard and Jimmy back together. Maynard is stuck with Tool and the Legion. It's been two years, and maybe nothing is getting better. Jimmy needs to get off the poisonous stage before he withers. (I'd also like to add, And this probably is NOT relevant, that Adam, Justin, and Danny wore All White. Maynard was in black)

Besides, Puscifer is less deep and more fun. Same with the wine.

That's everything I have to say concerning the setlist and the current tour but on this, (again, I'm very possibly stupid and/or silly and that's cool but I like to be pretentious so I will add..)

On the way home from the show, with this on my mind, I listened to The Pot. I only first looked at the lyrics last week, I never liked the song enough to pay attention (I didn't think it was “deep” enough) but The Pot is a 3 way reference (I'm sure this has PROBABLY been said in the forums before, don't care.) (first two, Hypocrist expression and Ganja, Please) The Third reference is Yage/Ayahuasca. The DMT drink. It looks JUST like MUDDY WATER. You brew it in a POT. And you have to squeeze LEMONS into it while you brew it. I think this Song is sung BY 10000 days-Jimmy TO Lateralis-Maynard.