| Incubus – Are You In? Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I really think the pot metaphor's run its course for this one. Someone brought up that the song's a lot like a mad lib - fill in the direct object. I'm no Freud, but I'm going to throw out the idea that maybe some of you should consider that even Snoop Dogg has given up being a complete pot head. The earlier albums were the drug albums - Morning View doesn't hold the satire and sarcasm of A Crow Left of the Murder, or the drug-induced punk stupor of their prior albums... this one's about their experience making the album - Relaxing and living life on the beach. Waking up to the sea, or maybe staying up all night to record (they turned the living room into a recording studio). It's obvious where most of the inspiration for the record came from, and I agree with whoever said that "sea foam green" likely refers, literally, to the sea outside the window. That off my chest - If nothing else, couldn't this song be about MUSIC? It's obviously a jam session. If you've seen the DVDs and behind the scenes shows following the band around, their morning view jam sessions are a complete blast (and no you won't see them smoking joints - just jamming). This song sounds exactly like the best of these - And more than anything else, it's the Dirk Show. After going to an Incubus show on their morning view tour, this song completely exploded for me. If any of you wonder what "Are You In" is about, I think you need to stand on the floor of a huge Incubus show, with a thousand people on all sides completely getting into the music singing along. Behind them is a mock-up set of the bay window inside their beach home. On a screen behind the window is a coral reef swimming with colorful fish. To Incubus's soundtrack, all around you, people are clapping and shouting "it's so much better when everyone is in". If it doesn't click for you then, I'd say put down the joint and try again at the next show. |
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| Tool – Disposition Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I'm not going to say "This is what the song means." I'm not going to state what each line means, and I'm not going to assume that the song is telling ME to do ANYTHING with my life. That said, for a song with so few words, I really do think that it has a lot to say. The title seems a perfect summary of what's in the song. For any who don't know, your disposition is more or less who you ARE. You can be pissed one day, you can be moody and depressed another, you can wear a shit-eating, beaming, freaky-ass grin the entire following day. You probably have bipolar disorder, but regardless, there is a CERTAIN mood that defines you. One way that you just ARE. So take that part of you that always just IS. And then do something. Mention something. Anything. See what happens. As fragile as temperament can be, we each have a disposition underneath. Like a storm, we will shift and change endlessly throughout our lives, one way and the other, in endless repetition. And still you can't take away that default that keeps us stable inside. I went to a Tool concert when they were promoting Lateralus. Disposition was high on my list of songs I wanted to hear - True to Tool fashion, the show was more of a "show" than most concerts. They had onstage acrobatics and giant screens and laser lights - on the screens were extremely visual short films and digital images that moved and were edited specifically to each song. You can imagine how tight a set they play to be able to do this - often their songs are nearly indistinguishable from their album cuts. Amazing to some, disappointing to others. I think it's worth noting that during the Disposition set, the screens were very dark, and in the center, faintly blue. You're staring into an abyss, and from it swims a woman in a white gown. She slowly floats through the water in front of you, always slow and softly, to the music, and for a while you forget that you're at a concert. It was a stark contrast to the visuals of Stinkfist earlier in the set, a disturbing hodgepodge of ghostly humanoids pulling the skin off their arms, squirming bloody larvae, and god only knows what other jagged things being thrown at us all at once. It was intense, but for me, Disposition was the show's peak. I also think it's worth noting that Maynard incorporates two things rarely used in music, and Disposition, I think, showcases how incredibly powerful and subtle they can be. One is the whisper. The other is the sigh. Listen carefully for them - their placement tells the story of this song in ways that more specific lyrics would never be able to. They lend the song its mood, one I've never before heard captured quite like it is in Disposition. |
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