Lyrics for Stinkfist as interpreted by implode

Stinkfist Lyrics
Something has to change
Undeniable dilemma
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear

Constant over stimulation numbs me
But I would not want you any other way

It's not enough
I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy
I don't want it
I just need it
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive

Finger deep within the borderline
Show me that you love me and that we belong together
Relax, turn around and take my hand

I can help you change
Tired moments into pleasure
Say the word and we'll be
Well upon our way

Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
'til you will not want me any other way

It's not enough
I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy
I don't want it
I just need it
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive

Knuckle deep inside the borderline
This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to
Relax, slip away

Something kinda sad about
the way that things have come to be
Desensitized to everything
What became of subtlety?

How can it mean anything to me
If I really don't feel anything at all?

I'll keep digging 'til
I feel something

Elbow deep inside the borderline
Show me that you love me and that we belong together
Shoulder deep within the borderline
Relax, turn around and take my hand

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AmishNinja
06-09-2002

Rated 0 
My interpretation of "Stinkfist" is how the media and news has pushed the limits over and over in the past hundred years, slowly desensitizing the public to even the horror of plane crashes and school shootings.

Think about it. Fifty years ago you couldn't say the word 'pregnant' on television but now you can say nearly anything on any television show you like. People have been shocked at this, but shock gives people a kind of entertainment. If they like it, they like it, if they don't, they're going to tend to do something about it, which is only further publicizing the television show or band's lyrics by picketing against them.

By now the average person has seen enough shooting in video games, the news, etc. that the true thing wouldn't really shock us all that much. By now, what person who turns on their television and reads about a grizzly murder breaks down crying? Nearly no one. Why? Because they don't feel empathetic, or even sympathetic, any longer. They've heard it all before and it's too late for them to feel anything but numbness about the situation.

The metaphor of fisting exists to show how someone gradually builds tolerance to something and needs more of that something to feel effect or shock. The same goes with drugs. Overall, great song.

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Harry Manback
06-05-2002

Rated 0 
But once again, I agree on the descentizisation thing. At first, if you just listen to the chorus, it could song like a love song but with the "What became of subtlety" line in becomes les of a love song and the "I'll keep digging 'til I feel something" bit could be about how he'll keep on having sex until he feels love or whatever and the "How can it mean anything to me, If I really don't feel anything at all?" bit is talking about how can sex be worthwhile when he's become numb to everything.


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1 Reply
Harry Manback
05-31-2002

Rated 0 
I can never decide which is my favourite Tool song; It's either this one, Pushit (Live or otherwise), Prison Sex or The Patient. I think if I could make a giant mixture of all of them, I'd be happy.

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hell_i_call_my_head
05-31-2002

Rated 0 
i think its about desensitzation. but its a damn good song :)

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KiKiPuNk5
05-24-2002

Rated 0 
from the first moment i heard this song, i thought this song was about a sex addict. He is desensatized to the concept of love , and is manipulative twards it. and he is going so far as to corrupt this person to satisfy his addiction. Its actually quite sad, he is so wrapped up in the pleasure of it, that there is no real emotion to the act of "making love"

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KiKiPuNk5
05-24-2002

Rated 0 
from the first moment i heard this song, i thought this song was about a sex addict. He is desensatized to the concept of love , and is manipulative twards it. and he is going so far as to corrupt this person to satisfy his addiction. Its actually quite sad, he is so wrapped up in the pleasure of it, that there is no real emotion to the act of "making love"

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juvenilecokefiend
05-24-2002

Rated 0 
tool fucking rule. Who else could write a song about fistfucking as a subtle metaphor for media saturation and drug abuse without sounding completely ridiculous? Maybe Tom Waits, but he doesn't generally work with such themes.

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Harry Manback
05-17-2002

Rated 0 
Love song!!! He does sound sad when he sings 'Something kinda sad about..." I think the line "What became of subtlety?" kindda talks about how people are less subtle with their feelings. There's no courtship or wooing, people just seem to jump into bed with each other as soon as they clap eyes on each other.

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Legomancer
05-11-2002

Rated 0 
Like pretty much all Tool songs there's layers of meanings that can be draw from the lyrics and all of them are probably as valid as the next but I think one possible interpretation that fits in well with Tool's overall ethos is that of the Third Eye. It's sounds kinda crazy I know, so I'll elaborate.
The basic idea behind that of the Third Eye is that there are subtle stimuli in nature to which human beings were once responsive but in the course of our evolution we became desensitized to them.
We are so deluged by media imagery and what-not that we have lost the ability to pick up on the subtle rhythms of the Earth. In losing touch with our spiritual selves (andI'm not refering to Christian idea of spirituality here) we are imprisoned by the banalities of a world devoid of spiritual depth where everything is governed by the intractable laws of physics and accepted scientific belief.
I think this is best conveyed in the lines:

Something kinda sad about
the way that things have come to be
Desensitized to everything
What became of subtlety?
How can it mean anything to me
If I really don't feel anything at all?

Of course this interpretation is probably only a small part of the overall meaning of the song.

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1 Reply
superrstarr
05-08-2002

Rated 0 
i'm not a very deep person... so to me this song is about this guy who's like bored with sex and so he finds *ahem* new things to do. ...get my drift? =)
the best part is:
"it's not enough, i need more
nothing seems to satisfy
i don't want it, i just need it
to breathe, to feel, to know i'm alive..."

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Mattwka
05-06-2002

Rated 0 
This is in my oppinion one one of the greatest set of lyrics in history, so far i have heard 5 beleifs on what this song means. I belive whole heartadly that this song was designed that the mind would percieve it in a number of number of ways. I really seee the drug addiction one and the love one. People will go to crazy extents for the love of another wether its right to do it or not. Some people are willing to push every phisical limit of a person to express their love. The fisting is just something to relate "phisical limits" to. Very cool song by the best band on the planet. Musicly, Lyricly, and emotionaly moving.

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Kookkie
05-06-2002

Rated 0 
I think this song is about drug use and the song has 2 perspectives the first is from the Drug, the second from the user

Drug:
Something has to change
Undeniable dilemma
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear

User:
Constant over stimulation numbs me
But I would not want you any other way

It's not enough
I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy
I don't want it
I just need it
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive

Drug:
Finger deep within the borderline
Show me that you love me and that we belong together
Relax, turn around and take my hand

I can help you change
Tired moments into pleasure
Say the word and we'll be
Well upon our way

Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
'til you will not want me any other way

User:
It's not enough
I need more
Nothing seems to satisfy
I don't want it
I just need it
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive

Drug:
Knuckle deep inside the borderline
This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to
Relax, slip away

User:
Something kinda sad about
the way that things have come to be
Desensitized to everything
What became of subtlety? ((the drug doesnt pleasure him/her anymore))

How can it mean anything to me
If I really don't feel anything at all?

I'll keep digging 'til
I feel something

Drug:
Elbow deep inside the borderline
Show me that you love me and that we belong together
Shoulder deep within the borderline
Relax, turn around and take my hand

Maybe you'll think this is a bit far fetched but think about it, al signs point to yes ;)

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1 Reply
therymz
05-01-2002

Rated 0 
If anybody has seen the movie Fight Club(which im sure people have) and understood what the movie was about, they would realize that the movie and this song have the same message. About how all the shit in the media, the advertising, the tv shows, the violence, the sex, is desensetizing us to reality and we should wake up and see that its making us mindless drones of society.

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H-bomb
04-26-2002

Rated 0 
Consider this: the song is about the relationship between artist and audience, and is open to interpretation from both view points, ie artist to audience/audience to artist. Wacky? Let me continue...
(part 1).
This relates to the struggle to maintain creativity. For the writer to entertain and for us to be entertained, for "boredom's not a burden anyone should bear."
(part 2)
Continues this idea in that this was Tool's third album and depicts the strain of expectation for the band "and i wouldn't have you any other way."
(part 3)
The need for "more" in that each new creation has to evoke and inspire greater than previous works.
(part 4)
Fisting is the metaphor of the song. The notion of delving deeper into the creative self. Conversely, from the audience standpoint, the deeper exploration into our own psyche. Each journey needing to touch further inside.
(part 5)
Hey surely your getting it by now?

Then again interpretation is personal, and i'm just a sacred cow.

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therymz
04-13-2002

Rated 0 
DUUUUUUUDES ....... Stinkfist is about all the stuff our minds are exposed to by the media in modern society. We see so much stuff on tv that its desensetized us to reality. To get our kicks now we need something more.

All the stuff we see around us should repulse us(the pain caused by the fisting). But it doesent because we're used to it.

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1 Reply
ibelieve
04-13-2002

Rated 0 
stinkfist is not about getting fisted up the ass, just like rape me (nirvana) is not about getting literally raped...awesome song though. Was "the" song of my highschool in 1996, lots of memories.

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NeverGreen
04-05-2002

Rated +1 
I think this is about anal fisting... most of the lyrics back this up!
i wont state the obvious ones ("finger/knuckle"), but there are others that many people dont notice,
Relax, turn around and take my hand,

Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
'til you will not want me any other way

This may hurt a little butt

I'll keep digging 'til
I feel something

pretty self explanitory ;)

xxxx*xxxxx
NeverGreen


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1 Reply
Trofa11
03-31-2002

Rated 0 
it is obviously referring to the 'coming of age' of a drug addiction and exactly how it begins and eventually does take over ones life. The satisfaction of drug use is mocked to a degree that suggests tool is opposed to the use of drugs and that it defers one away from reality.

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Trofa11
03-31-2002

Rated 0 
That last comment was not from trofa, it was from Damien.

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Trofa11
03-31-2002

Rated -2 
Most of you people are fucking faggots!!! Where the hell did you get this fisting idea??? It's about a bloody drug addiction you fucking gutterminded, tunnelvisioned wankers!!!

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2 Replies
Achilles_Libertine
03-19-2002

Rated 0 
hmmm a rather sensual interpretation Faith

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Achilles_Libertine
03-19-2002

Rated 0 
Well everyone has alot of diverse opinions here but really this song is in the style of being in the footstep of a person who embraced life to it's extremes (Finger, Shoulder, Elbow). Since the song's title is called stinkfist it's obvious he got his hands dirty from all sorts of things tangible and untangible. This person who Maynard is talking about embraces life to it's fullest but still is digging deeper to find something more meaningful.

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Faith
02-18-2002

Rated +1 
The illusions to fisting...extreme sexual activity in order to feel, the progression from a finger tip to knuckle to hand to shoulder...hoping to banish a numbness...requiring something shocking that you don't really want just to feel something...what does that say about a person? I think that's the point of the song.

What I think is interesting is that he seems to explore both POV here...the person being entered, the person who needs the pain to push past the numbness...and the person who needs to do the pushing, needs to force the envelope, in order to feel.

The dichotomy of sado masochism...but more, I think, in an emotional and psychological sense.



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xon0
02-17-2002

Rated 0 
i thought of the song as someone being addicted to something and trying to quit.

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Poptarts047
02-11-2002

Rated 0 
i think its about pooping

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