The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
We'll miss him
We'll miss him
He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
We'll miss him
We'll miss him
We are going to miss him
We are going to miss him
So long
We wish you well
You told us how you weren't afraid to die
Well, so long
Don't cry
Or feel too down
Not all martyrs see divinity
But at least you tried
Standing above the crowd
He had a voice that was strong and loud
We'll miss him, we'll miss him
Ranting and pointing his finger
At everything but his heart
We'll miss him, we'll miss him
We are going to miss him
We are going to miss him
Yeah, no way, yeah to recall
What it was that you had said to me
Like I care at all
But it was so loud
You sure could yell
You took a stand on every little thing
And it was so loud
You could be the one
Who saves me from
My own existence
Warn while some child
Might chill, nine one two
(I'm too smart when you're invisible)
(By the bone symbol on you)
(So he bashed his skull through the window)
(While looking out to the sea)
(Like torment of my ego)
(And we're amused by this)
Yeah, standing above the crowd
He had a voice that was strong and loud and I
Swallowed his facade 'cause I'm so eager to identify with
Someone above the ground
Someone who seemed to feel the same
Someone prepared to lead the way, and
Someone who would die for me
Will you? Will you now?
Would you die for me?
Don't you fuckin' lie
Don't you step out of line
Don't you step out of line
Don't you step out of line
Don't you fuckin' lie
You've claimed all this time that you would die for me
Why then are you so surprised when hear your own eulogy?
He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
Come down
Get off your fuckin' cross
We need the fuckin' space
To nail the next fool martyr
To ascend you must die
You must be crucified
For our sins and our lies
Goodbye
He had a lot of nothing to say
We'll miss him
We'll miss him
He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
We'll miss him
We'll miss him
We are going to miss him
We are going to miss him
So long
We wish you well
You told us how you weren't afraid to die
Well, so long
Don't cry
Or feel too down
Not all martyrs see divinity
But at least you tried
Standing above the crowd
He had a voice that was strong and loud
We'll miss him, we'll miss him
Ranting and pointing his finger
At everything but his heart
We'll miss him, we'll miss him
We are going to miss him
We are going to miss him
Yeah, no way, yeah to recall
What it was that you had said to me
Like I care at all
But it was so loud
You sure could yell
You took a stand on every little thing
And it was so loud
You could be the one
Who saves me from
My own existence
Warn while some child
Might chill, nine one two
(I'm too smart when you're invisible)
(By the bone symbol on you)
(So he bashed his skull through the window)
(While looking out to the sea)
(Like torment of my ego)
(And we're amused by this)
Yeah, standing above the crowd
He had a voice that was strong and loud and I
Swallowed his facade 'cause I'm so eager to identify with
Someone above the ground
Someone who seemed to feel the same
Someone prepared to lead the way, and
Someone who would die for me
Will you? Will you now?
Would you die for me?
Don't you fuckin' lie
Don't you step out of line
Don't you step out of line
Don't you step out of line
Don't you fuckin' lie
You've claimed all this time that you would die for me
Why then are you so surprised when hear your own eulogy?
He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
Come down
Get off your fuckin' cross
We need the fuckin' space
To nail the next fool martyr
To ascend you must die
You must be crucified
For our sins and our lies
Goodbye
Lyrics submitted by implode, edited by jhoff, TwistyDorito
Eulogy Lyrics as written by Daniel Carey Adam Jones
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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If you have an anti-Christian bias, then this song will be about Jesus to you. However, "get off your fuckin cross" refers to anyone who is playing the part of the martyr for the attention, of which there have been hundreds since Christ. Also, Christ was not surprised to hear his own eulogy, he prophesied it and talked about it frequently, and even stated it was his purpose to die. So, I don't think it's about Jesus. One thing I love about Tool is their songs make people think.. well some of them anyways... if all you can do is bash Christians that doesn't take a lot of brainpower, just repeat what you hear in the media. However, for those of us who have a truly open mind rather than an empty mind filled with nonsense... just hit play.
I've heard somewhere that it's about L. Ron Hubbard. Interesting and valid point you brought up about Jesus. If the song was about Jesus, it wouldn't make any sense.
I created a songmemanings account stricly so that I could reply to this post. I could not agree more with your statements. Thank you for communicating this concept so well. <br />
@Christianscanbemetalheads2 <br /> <br /> I think it's definitely about Jesus. He is dead? Christians claim he is the living god, and that he rose from the dead and is currently in heaven. I think the fact that he is telling him to die, is due to the fact that Christ himself said he would die. And that he said he would die for all of us. So if he doesn't die for us, that means he lied, and that he hasn't done what he said he would for us. Hence, "would you die for me? Don't you fucking lie." <br /> And I'm sorry, this is off subject, but we live in the fattest nation in the world, yet one of the only things that outnumbers our McDonalds is tax exempt churches... Come on, you're not oppressed. Last I saw, roughly 3/4 of Americans are Christians, too.
@Christianscanbemetalheads2 I agree. I don't think it's about Christ. That would be too simplistic. Tool is much to complex for that. Plus, the resurrection of Christ in no way implicates that he didn't die. It only means he didn't stay dead.
@Christianscanbemetalheads2 It's not about Jesus, God, or anything to do with religion. Maynard is singing about the death of one's EGO. When you have a spiritual awakening you slowly kill your ego it's a very fucked up process and you actually do feel like you have died. "To ascend you must die" Ascend meaning Awakening or having Christ Consciousness. Still nothing to do with Jesus Christ Christ consciousness is a metaphor for awakening. But it's music so it really doesn't matter what the song means as long as it raises your vibration in a positive matter and makes yo have a positive outlook on life. Hail Satan.
@Christianscanbemetalheads2 I agree he's using the way Jesus Christ claimed He would die for everyone's sins, and then died as an example only. Any other martyrs who stand on soapboxes pointing fingers in the world after the Crucifixion of Christ claiming to be better or know better than everyone else especially if they fail to speak from the heart with humility as Jesus did, had better be prepared to put their money where their mouth is and make a similar sacrifice to the public they want to believe them. He's mocking them using Jesus as an ideal or example to hold them up against, not mocking Jesus himself. <br /> <br /> @Cani687 if really doesn't make sense to be about Jesus himself. Jesus knew He would die for our sins, prophesied it even. He was meant to do it and when the time came welcomed it knowingly. These specific lyrics I think show he's talking about someone who wants to be a martyr but falls short of Jesus's example:<br /> <br /> "Not all martyrs see divinity but at least you tried" (Jesus saw divinity)<br /> <br /> "Ranting and pointing his finger at everything but his heart" (Jesus did speak from the heart)<br /> <br /> "Get off your fucking cross. We need the fucking space to nail the next fool martyr" (Jesus sadly didn't get off his cross, but people who martyr themselves pontify to the public putting themselves up on a cross. He's mocking them for not seeing their own public demise coming.)<br /> <br /> So he's not mocking Jesus, rather using His example as an ideal to hold televangelists, politicians, public figures, to mockingly. Many of Tool's songs and themes are about calling out blatant and insidious hypocrisy.
@Christianscanbemetalheads2 My Christian Friends hears this and flips and says "I don't listen to santan music. I laughed and attempted to explain this to him.
@Christianscanbemetalheads2 you see and tell very well!
@Christianscanbemetalheads2 <br /> <br /> "Christ was not surprised to hear his own eulogy"<br /> <br /> Hmmmm.... Think he might have been. :)<br /> <br /> Matt. 27 Verse 46<br /> [46] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
The idea of the martyr is metaphorical. The tone is sarcastic, and at the same time grudgingly true. If you read carefully, no one dies. The miss him is that the recipient of the "Eulogy" has stepped down from his cross or pulpit.
<He had a lot to say He had a lot of nothing to say We'll miss him We'll miss him We're gonna miss him We're gonna miss him>
The set up. A person who talks a lot, but what he talks about has now import or merit ("a lot of nothing to say"). Followed up with the refrain "We'll miss him"... he isn't here anymore, and the sarcasm is immediate, since the line "We'll miss him" immediately follows "He had a lot of nothing to say".
<So long We wish you well You told us how you weren't afraid to die Well then, so long Don't cry. Or feel too down Not all martyrs see divinity But at least you tried>
The speaker speaks for some group that the eulogized was a part of. They are sending him off with a "eulogy", but he is not dead. "Don't cry." Don't cry refers to the eulogized and not the group. The group "We" is wishing a the eulogized "you" well. The martyrdom the speaker refers to seems to be how the eulogized must have spoken of and attempted to represent some ideal, the "divinity", but couldn't actually realize or perhaps even follow this ideal (the martyr that fails to see divinity).
<Standing above the crowd, He had a voice that was strong and loud We'll miss him We'll miss him Ranting and pointing his finger At everything but his heart We'll miss him We'll miss him We're gonna miss him We're gonna miss him>
Here is the real beef the speaker has with the eulogized. The person seemed persuasive and showed conviction, but in the end, the eulogized only pointed fingers, in essence, blaming and finding fault, but not with himself. Again the refrain of "we'll miss him", maybe they will miss his theatrics, but the sarcasm is fully there. The speaker points out the negative of the eulogized, and follows with "we'll miss him".
<No way to recall What it was that you had said to me, Like I care at all>
Another mention of how the song's target had nothing of merit to say.
<But it was so loud You sure could yell You took a stand on every little thing And so loud>
This sort of paints the eulogized as being so self-delusional as to be a lunatic, ranting about everything, but not in any meaningful way.
<Standing above the crowd, He had a voice so strong and loud and I Swallowed his fa�ade 'cause I'm so Eager to identify with Someone above the ground, Someone who seemed to feel the same, Someone prepared to lead the way, with Someone who would die for me>
And now for heart of it. This points to the speaker's ultimate disillusionment of the eulogized. The speaker believed what the target had to say, because he was under sway of the eulogized person's charisma. He was a voice above the crowd, he stood out. The speaker was eager to identify, as he had similar feelings. It could even be assumed that the eulogized person tapped into the speaker's and others' feelings and sentiments, focused their dissatisfaction, and intimated that he "would die for me". In other words, this eulogized person, by speaking to and for the crowd, persuaded them that he felt as they did, that he was a part of them, and that he would make sacrifices for them. This, of course, was a lie. A facade is a false face.
<Will you? Will you now? Would you die for me? Don't you fucking lie
Don't you step out of line Don't you step out of line Don't you step out of line Don't you fucking lie>
The sarcasm is replaced with anger. By saying "don't step out of line" and "don't lie", this has already been done. The eulogized DID step out of line with what he said. He did lie.
<You've claimed all this time that you would die for me Why then are you so surprised when you hear your own eulogy?>
You said you would make whatever sacrifice, the sacrifice is your death, and yet you are surprised. The speaker is telling the eulogized that he is dead to the group now, the sacrifice is his role in the group. But the eulogized man is surprised by this. This was not intended, even though he kept claiming that he was a part of them, and that he would "die" for them, make whatever sacrifice. He never intended to make any sacrifice.
<You had a lot to say You had a lot of nothing to say
Come down Get off your fucking cross We need the fucking space to nail the next fool martyr>
Get off the cross. A metaphor that people are tired of hearing the martyr attitude, the woe-is-me. Perhaps here, the nailing of the martyr to the cross was forcing the eulogized person to publicly suffer for the group, some sort of calling out or shaming, and now get the hell out of here. You're dead to us.
<To ascend you must die You must be crucified For our sins and our lies Goodbye... >
The speaker is telling the eulogized that he had promised to sacrifice, that in order to be the true martyr he made himself out to be, he NEEDED to make a sacrifice, so the group made him, perhaps not in the way that he intended, and his use is over to the group.
One could make the case that the speaker is subtly angry at himself and the group as well. He makes mention how he wanted to believe, how the group will miss the eulogized (perhaps missing a martyr, as they need that), and does make mention "for our sins and our lies". Still, he may be saying that last line as a way of throwing it back into the eulogized man's face.
So to recap. The eulogy is for a living man, a man who could hear his own eulogy. A eulogy is supposed to be about the deceased person's merits, but this is about a non-deceased person's ultimate failings. The "goodbye" is the group forcibly sending someone off and away from them.
boy i wish i could edit that... oh well, please forgive some of the typos, i wrote it quick and in one chunk (i'll step off my cross now)
Screw the edits..you got your interpretation out. And after reading thru 17 pages of them, this is without a doubt the best! Well done. :)
Good good, but read between the lines. each of tools songs is meant for the listener to internalize into the mind. aim this goodby at the self you know yourself to be in this moment and transform into a person you thought you could never be. that is EGO DEATH
@JohnnyApocalypse Finally something of substance. Thanks for the in-depth analysis. This asshole certainly doesn't sound like a Bernie ;D. I view Trump finally being ostracized by his own people when I listen to this song. Can't wait to see how 2016 ends!
@JohnnyApocalypse very nice "translated" but when i hear that song, it makes me think about my dad that died almost 3 years ago... i have growed older and been more mature now and when i think back we had a good relationship even tho we dident speak alot togehter... i smoked weed everyday and when i came home at night he was always up watching tv... i dident look him in the eye, i only said hello and looked down at our dog for a min just so he couldent look me in the eye when i stepped inside the back door... and then after that i walked straight into my room.. "He had alot to say.. he had alot of nothing to say" he wanted to say alot of things to me but he dident say anything of those things he really wanted to say.. like a real farther- son talk.. telling me not to smoke everyday,.. and telling me that im not aloud to smoke weed inside my room(my room was just next to the living room)... so im pretty sure that he could smell the weed cus i had only a very little window..his mom and dad died very early. when he was about 21 both his parrents was dead so he dident learn much from them about taking care of a kid i guess..but now when i think back he learned me alot of things, but just on his own wierd way, i see him as a "hero" just by guessing what he ment by not saying those "dad" things to me..... he learned me what not to do when i get a kid and some how he learned me what to do and most of all to be fair to all ppl... thank you dad for being the best dad you could be
This song isn't about religion. It uses religion as a metaphor to get the information across. This song refers to someone who thinks they are better than everyone else. It emphasizes the trust that people take in others or the lack of it. Tool is not a religous band. By this I mean they don't promote their beliefs to try and persuade others to think the same. They want everyone to be their own person and not conform to the "usual" because that's the way it was done in the past.
I have a question for you. I like the response about what everyone has said about tool, and this song. my question is if he isn't ant religious about Christ and GOD. why did he come out with a band called crucifer? I love tool I love a lot of his songs even the one from a perfect circle Judith. I don't mean to bask anyone on what they say about the song I just have that one question is all.
You make a valid point. I feel a bit shallow for getting it wrong all this time. I always felt like something wasn't fitting right but I guess it was me growing to understand the "message". CstrifeH to help you with why Maynard named his other band Crucify I will need to quot him. "So crucify the ego, before it's far too late<br /> To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical..." by M. Keenan. I read an interview with him about his different bands and if I can recall it correctly he said something in the line of the different bands being his ego and soul(his true being) meeting, or just one or the other.
CstrifeH the band's name is Puscifer...
@bjm2m5 MIMO'S. Yes you are correct. This song is not about Jesus or GOD it has nothing to do with religion. Maynard is talking about killing your ego. when you have spiritual awakening you ascend, "To ascend you must die" when you open your 3rd eye and awaken your consciousness you must kill off your ego in the process it's a very fucked up and depressing task and when you do kill your ego it does feel like you have died it's really not fun.
Danny from the band eluded to the fact that Maynard wrote this as an attack upon L. Ron Rubbard. Although there are paralels to Jesus in this song and we know that Jesus isn't Maynard's hero, (Opiate), this song can very simply be anyone we want it to be... "think for yourself, question authority, strive to be different, strive to be unique, Never repeat things other people say"-Maynard's Non-Conformist's Pledge
@DatheR I agree. I think Opiate is more about televangelists than Christ himself though. I think in both he's juxtaposing Christ with wannabe martyrs that fall short of His glory.
I love how people try to over think and over analyze Tool songs. This song is about L. Ron. Hubbard. Check out the interviews with Danny Carey. They are available all over the web.
@Slowboat looool awesome.
If you actually read the lyrics and think about them it's obviously NOT about Jesus, that's obviously a metaphor. If it's literally about Jesus it makes no sense. It's about people who "proclaim themselves as the 'next messiah'".
I believe it is about an Ego Death. The entire album Aenima seems to encorporate alot of Jungian Psychology. The term Aenima is a combination of the words 'Anima' an aspect of the unconscious in Jungian Psychology, and 'Enema' a medical procedure where fluid is administered into the rectum. It supposedly means 'a cleansing of the soul'. 46 & 2 is about mergind with the shadow, Third Eye is obviously about the goal of this whole process, being whole, discovering one's 'self', opening one's third eye. I feel as though most of the other songs are about realizations about one's self or the world around them, helping them move onward on their psychological journey. The ego is the outer layer, consisting of all of our life experiences. It tells us how to act and react, what is right and wrong (the ego is always right in its own mind), it basically controls us. To move forward and further discover one's true 'self' an Ego Death is a manditory first step.
Well said.
Not a single one of you out there has a "third eye". Neither does Maynard. Tool are schizophrenics.
I'm not sure that this song is about what you're talking about, although is a nice way to see it.<br /> <br /> I stay better with the idea of a martyrdom critic. It may sound like Jesus in a superficial way to see it but after listening and reading about Tool for a while, their message would never dare to say something like that. Maybe is related to the martyrdom in which we can fall or some other pseudo-leaders.<br /> <br /> BTW Terrible thing to say, OCDemon.<br />
I'm not sure that this song is about what you're talking about, although is a nice way to see it.<br /> <br /> I stay better with the idea of a martyrdom critic. It may sound like Jesus in a superficial way to see it but after listening and reading about Tool for a while, their message would never dare to say something like that. Maybe is related to the martyrdom in which we can fall or some other pseudo-leaders.<br /> <br /> BTW Terrible thing to say, OCDemon.<br />
Finally someone else who understands! And for anyone who doesn't, trip some goddamn acid and listen to it. Experience your own ego death and self discovery. Then come back to us you mislead imbeciles.
L. Ron Hubbard and his followers
This song, if you examine the lyrics on the surface, is about evangelistic preachers. He is complaining about the way the want all your money yet are not willing to suffer for you or commiserate. Maynard is basically saying if you're not willing to die for me get the fuck out of in front of the microphone.
Pretty sure it's more about politicians than it is about preachers.
It's not about Jesus, Bill Hicks, Layne Staley, Kurt Cobain, or anyone in particular. It's about the people who walk around acting like they are Jesus come again, always ranting about what they consider right and wrong to any idiot who will listen and bludgeoning you with self-righteousness.