What was it like to see
The face of your own stability
Suddenly look away
Leaving you with the dead and hopeless?
Eleven and she was gone.
Eleven is when we waved good-bye.
Eleven is standing still,
Waiting for me to free him
By coming home.
Moving me with a sound.
Opening me within a gesture.
Drawing me down and in,
Showing me where it all began,
Eleven.
It took so long to realize that
You hold the light that's been leading me back home.
Under a dead Ohio sky,
Eleven has been and will be waiting,
Defending his light,
And wondering
Where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost, and numb.
So glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading home.
Hold your light,
Eleven.
Lead me through each gentle step by step
By inch by loaded memory.
I'll move to heal
As soon as pain allows so we can
Reunite and both move on together.
Hold your light,
Eleven. Lead me through each gentle step by step
By inch by loaded memory
'Til one and one are one, eleven,
So glow, child, glow.
I'm heading back home.



Lyrics submitted by implode, edited by Kyralik

Track duration: 05:19

"Jimmy" as written by Daniel Carey, Adam Jones, Maynard James Keenan, Justin Chancellor

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Jimmy song meanings
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  • 0
    Memory:my bro. Jimmy
    Flag koala5412on August 31, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It seems that Maynard is referring to his eleven year-old self in this song (calling him simply "Eleven"). Something was lost in Maynard when his mother experienced her aneurysm: a part of Maynard stopped growing with him and moving on. This is evidenced by the lyrics; "Eleven is standing still,"; and, "Eleven has been and will be waiting."

    For whatever reason, Maynard needed to go home to "reunite" with that lost part of him. Perhaps it is the part of him that looked to his mother as his "stability" or just as someone to share mutual care and love for. Eleven may be the part of him thats capable of loving his mother unconditionally: of idolizing and adoring her the way young children tend to; but that post age eleven, he moved on with the realization of his mother's mortality and may have been angered by it. It does seem that he's grown more compassionate and understanding towards her throughout his songs about her over the years. He might be seeking the balance between loving her as a young child does, but accepting her mortality and that what happened was beyond her control. Going home seems like a good place to do so if thats where his mother was.

    Just a guess though, as I'll never know exactly how he felt towards his mother before, during or after this song (or any of them for that matter).
    Flag s13157on July 30, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:BROTHERS! SISTERS! Boys and girls and dabblers of all ages!

    You are all right, and yet at the same time you are all wrong my friends.

    Maynard's lyrics, much like life itself, carry a duality.

    There's your opinion, and then there's his opinion.

    BUT that's not even the end of it. guess what else there is? The connections between those opinions intertwining.

    Over the years, Maynard has expressed coming back to his songs he written all those years ago, and seen them in new light.

    This is due to the reception the external to himself, has given him.

    Maynard has a fundamental understanding of the universe itself: EVERYTHING IS PERCEPTION.Everything is ever changing and nothing stays what it is.


    This song changes. His view on the song changes. your view on the song changes.

    So IF you want to take anything out of this TOOL you have been given ladies and gentlemen, take this:
    Whatever you perceive from this, at least understand it is whatever you perceive it to be, as long as you are true to your higher self.

    ..... and i'm not bloody well getting into that on a public forum

    .....I will however tell you how Maynard has gotten there to some extent.

    We are dealing with someone who has based his life dealing mainly in one fundamental form of energy for quite some time: Sound.
    If we are to take the notion of sound from a number of different ideologies tool have incorporated into their music over the years, we come to understand this chap has been focussing on a certain 'branch' of the tree of life, if you will, or to put it in Hindu terms (usually the easiest to digest) the sound chakra, or the 5th chakra:

    "Chakra five (throat chakra) is the doorway to consciousness and the energy center of sound, rhythm, vibration, and communication. The meaning of its Sanskrit name is “purification”.
    This is the chakra that is the energy center that is connected to communication through sound, vibration, creativity, and self expression.

    The fifth chakra is responsible for the
    translation of symbols and other forms into coherent information and it is also our centre of creativity. "

    His purification was to get the bullshit on pen and paper, yell it out, then be done with it.

    If i had to guess, he's easily past the 6th chakra and is most likely at 7th.

    But once again brothers and sisters, Tis merely a humble souls perception ;)

    Peace and blessed be.
    Flag RvnLunaticon July 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:sounds like using drugs man and coming to a spiritual awakening .no pain no cares than coming back clean an realizing it all
    Flag jperks88on July 04, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:When Maynard was eleven, his mom had an Aneurysm that confined her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. After this, he moved in with his father in Michigan.
    Flag Caughtuson April 27, 2012   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:I am appalled at most of the people in these comments. Over HALF of you guys posted your thoughts about what it's about the same year and YEARS AFTER 10,000 days was released. To you guys that claimed that Jimmy is about his mom dying at 11 is retarded. Wings for Marie is the song he wrote about his mom passing in 10kdays. 10,000 days is 27~ years - the idea behind that song is that she suffered for 27 years with paralysis. Which makes Maynard 38(27+11) at the time she died. He is 47 right now as I type this. So she died around 9 years ago. 10kd was released in April 2006... 3 years after she passed and 5 years after Lateralus.
    Flag Akrazon March 05, 2012   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:Wow some of you are stupid. Jame's mother did not die when he was 11, its not about numerology, human sacrifice??? THIS SONG IS NOT EVEN ON LATERALUS, IT IS ON AENEMA. It has nothing to do with sequences in drum beats or guitar notes. His mother became paralyzed when he was 11 years old. I'm also assuming he was called Jimmy by his mother perhaps. He then had to go live with his dad. When he was old enough he went home to see his mother. (This could be after Tool was formed, I don't know). He is reflecting on how this turmoil has changed him and made him into the person he is today. Thank you. It's Tool....enough said.
    Flag elite11on January 23, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"When Keenan was 11, his mother suffered a paralyzing cerebral aneurysm, which would later serve as the inspiration for many of his creative works." He was born in Ohio. jimmy is just kiddy James (his birth name.
    One and one are one? One present, One past, are one/together/11. He's simply making peace with a loss and the past that has shaped him and presented him with many of his personal troubles that were absent before he cognitively lost his mother.

    - The more thought and research you put into it, the more meaning and fulfillment you'll get out of it. Of course, if the song means more to you when interpreted in a different light then stick with it. Whatever works!
    Flag BigMoCottonon December 28, 2011   Link
  • +3
    My Interpretation:can't put any truth to it specifically but the feeling i get from the lyrics over tools whole discography is a general darkness and anger to begin with in undertow and opiate with a sense of tension between anger and happiness and an overwhelming feeling of being lost while having such strong direction. lateralus has more of a feel of realisation of contradictions, prime example grudge - whoever's right or wrong holding a grudge helps no one... aenima feels like the flushing out of the darkness within. realising lack of self control and desensitising just leads to wanting more(stinkfist) hating the martyr within (eulogy), stepping thru shadows(46 and 2)- this all makes me think of one realising he's missed seeing the world in a way he used to before he started being so hateful and cynical towards the world. so when i here the song to me it's about being in a state of confusion about the misdirection of ones life philosophies and wanting to reconnect with the view held as a child, that part of yourself was always there holding a light that you denied and he's wanting you to return, now i'm heading 'home' to my own self that i've ignored and repressed for so long, reconnecting, one and one is one, eleven... i don't know maynards life story but my interpretation of jimmy agrees with my own so that's what i think of when i listen to it, but i wasn't 11 so i think of 11 being two halves of a whole number, one and one can be one together in eleven...
    Flag Scottforwatton October 24, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Comment:The song is about spiritual growth, as achieved through overcoming painful events that have been put into Maynard's life path.

    "til one and one are one, eleven.." means 1 and 1 together make 11. In numerology and spirituality 11 is a 'master' number. this means that someone who's life is lead by the number 11 has the opportunity to achieve spiritual mastery and move on from this plane of existence upon death. Maynard is talking about gaining insight into the pain of his past, his childhood. "glow child glow" means that his childhood will lead him back home. Home being the place beyond, the great light.

    It's also worth knowing that individuals whose lives are governed by 11 are believed to be spiritual 'messengers'. In many cases they are artists and spiritual leaders.

    The general content of the album deals with spiritual growth, for example the song "third eye". Look into what third eye means if you are interested.
    Flag portcoquitlamon October 03, 2011   Link

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