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There's a shadow just behind me,
Shrouding every step I take,
Making every promise empty,
Pointing every finger at me.
Waiting like a stalking butler
Who upon the finger rests.
Murder now the path called "must we"
Just before the son has come.
Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
Something but the past and done?
Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over.
I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave,
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down.
Trust me.
Mother Mary won't you whisper
Something but what's past and done.
Trust me.
I want what I want.
Shrouding every step I take,
Making every promise empty,
Pointing every finger at me.
Waiting like a stalking butler
Who upon the finger rests.
Murder now the path called "must we"
Just before the son has come.
Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
Something but the past and done?
Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over.
I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave,
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down.
Trust me.
Mother Mary won't you whisper
Something but what's past and done.
Trust me.
I want what I want.
Lyrics submitted by dank, edited by minty33, lindalai5j
Track duration: 04:31
"Sober" as written by Daniel Carey, Paul D'amour, Adam Jones, Maynard James Keenan
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The regular crowd went to the bar when we started playing this, the musicians came toward the stage.
Still an awesome song to play, just because of the emotions we could put into it.
This song to me paints a picture of the loop this man gets caught in, where he hates himself, and absolutely wallows in it. Instead of looking for change, he persists in this stubborn cycle of nostalgia and depression. He just wants to start it over, but he's too fucked up by now to do it.
This is one of the only Tool songs that i don't see the "light at the end of the tunnel"
Being someone who struggled with different addictions i can definitely relate to every line in this song.
"There's a shadow just behind me,
Shrouding every step I take,
Making every promise empty,
Pointing every finger at me."
Drug/Alcohol addiction promises alot but there is always a price. People get high to feel good. However, You will feel empty when you aren't high, but you will be judged when you are. Hence the reason it makes "every promise empty and pointing every finger at me"
"Waiting like a stalking butler
Who upon the finger rests.
Murder now the path called "must we"
Just before the son has come."
Addiction stands like a butler that follows you and like a butler it promises to help you through your day and the analogy of the butler on the finger as a way to use. Alot of drugs will lay on your finger especially if your snorting.
"The path called 'must we'" references to me the "Rules of the world". Kind of a Damned if you do Damned if you don't kind of thing. Addictions will tell the user that they need to not be concerned with what "needs to be done". Just sit back and use/drink/smoke/whatever.
"Jesus wont you Fucking Whistle
Something but the past and done
Jesus won't you Fucking whistle
Something but the past and done"
Reaching out for answers but feeling like your past is the reason you won't ever find forgiveness or peace.(I mean come on how many of us have felt the negative effects of a night drinking/partying/smoking/whatever and gotten sick and cried out to God even if you don't believe he exists. "God if you get me out of this i'll never drink again".) Asking "Jesus if you are real all i want is a whistle" or "God if you are real now would be the time to show it".
"Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over."
This is the argument every person has at one time or another during their time of addiction. (if you haven't then congrats you are the first i've ever heard of.)
"I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave,
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down."
The reality of what our addictions bring in the end. And i'm not talking about the recreational or social users, i'm talking about the ADDICTS who need it. Those who cant function in their day without whatever their addiction is. (i'm not condemning, i was there at one point too and i know how that battle goes.)
So there's my take. it's all based on personal experience so i could be way off. I'm not personal friends with the band so obviously i can't say this is what they meant, but when i listen to this song, this is what it tells me.
This song is about someone who doesnt like the way his 'self' works naturally (or sober). He thinks his self can only function properly while under the influence of alcohol or sleeping, or something like that, but he can't be permanently under such effects for his body has its limitations. He gets upset over his imperfections, and, in a rage, he blames his deities for making him that way.
It is a great performance by the singer, you can feel the displeasure in his voice.
(It's interesting to note that I think you could include the ego as something that gets in the way of our intuition. It feeds us lies about ourselves).
The 'shadow' and 'stalking butler' describe religion (or the old dogma). It's like a shadow because it is always with you, dictating your decisions. Any religion can be a 'stalking butler' that takes care of your every need, but rapes you of your own ability to think. Further, he's saying that religion murders the 'path of 'must we''. I think this means that before the 'son' (Christ or any other old diety) came, we thought in a world of 'must we' or possibility...must we do this? must we do that?"
He goes on to ask Jesus and Mary if they can tell us something other that what is 'past and done.' Is there anything new that they can give us? Again, I think he's talking about religion as an EXAMPLE of anything that gets in the way of your intuition.
I think 'Why can't we not be sober?" simply asks the question, "Why can't we just drink in the new life of possibility everyday?" Why can't we just start over, and think for ourselves? Why do we have to be 'sober' (or follow the rules) like everyone else tells us we should? Why can't we live by the beat of our own drum? Why can't we be 'drunk' in the present moment?
'I am just a worthless liar' to 'Trust me' is from religion's voice. It's basically telling us the qualities of religion (worthless liar, imbecile, a complication, etc.). Trust in it, and you'll fall down. Religion will find a place inside your heart (instead of your own intuitive voice), and it will 'chew you up and leave.' It gets inside, chews you up, and leaves you empty. It pushes your divine self aside.
At the end, he concludes, 'I want what I want.' Meaning, I want to do whatever I want to do. I don't want anything to tell me otherwise. My intuition is correct, and it will guide me. My inner soul (and not the external world) will guide me.
To me, this song is very much like Lateralus. It encourages us to feed our will to live in the moment. Applying old laws and regulations from other people withers away our own ability to decide what we want to do with our lives. I definitely don't think it's bashing religion. It's bashing anything that gets in the way of us believing we are divine creatures that can do anything our inner voice tells us.
That's my two cents anyway :)
The reason I came to the same conclusion as you was simply from listening to the lyrics to judith by A Perfect Cirlcle, which Maynard fronts. The lyrics to Judith were written about his mother who, despite being a person who devoted her life to god, Had a stroke and became paralyzed and wheelchair bound.
The first verse of Judith start off with "You're such an inspiration for the ways
That I'll never ever choose to be
Oh so many ways for me to show you
How the savior has abandoned you
Fuck your God
Your Lord, your Christ
He did this
Took all you had and
Left you this way
Still you pray, you never stray
Never taste of the fruit
You never thought to question why?"
Obviously he has come to the realization that there is no god as far as he is concerned. This god that his mother prayed to and worshipped for so many years has done nothing to stop her stroke, nor has she stopped praying to him.
Chorus is:
It's not like you killed someone
It's not like you drove a hateful spear into his side
Praise the one who left you
Broken down and paralyzed
He did it all for you
He did it all for you
Maynard is trying to make his mother understand why. Why would a god that loved her, do this to her? She was a good person and didn't kill anyone or stray from his side. Kind of makes you think huh?
So listening to the lyrics of Judith I came to the conclusion that Maynard is angry at god. Angry at religion in general for all the bad things that happen to good people. He is deffinately justified to think these things after how his pain is portrayed in these two songs.
Like I said, to anyone who is not a great fan of his work, the lyrics to sober do seem like a drug addiction. This is a little hard to believe considering Maynard said himself in an interview that he has dabbled in drugs but never crossed the line into addiction. His numerous interviews on the topic lead me to believe he is somewhat Anti-drugs.
Taking all this into consideration I have come to the read truth.
Maynard just fucking hates religion.
I still think this song is about drugs. He might of said that in interviews, but I always thought Stinkfist was about his addiction to acid.
P.S. I would give the link to the interview Maynard said all that, but it was taken off youtube for copyright reasons.
I don't want to delve too far into my situation so here's what I get from this song:
"There's a shadow just behind me,shrouding every breath I take,making every promise empty,pointing every finger at me."- the day he started abusing his medication was the day he was hooked, the "shadow", which has been following him since. His addiction has influenced his choices so much to the point where he is no longer trusted by anyone
"Waiting like a stalking butler
who upon the finger rests."- the "shadow" is compared to "a stalking butler", which could be interpreted as someone/thing that is meant to cater to you but is "stalking" or pressuring you & "waiting" which would describe the craves/desires of the addict
"Jesus, won't you fucking whistle something but the past and done?"- at least in my situation, the addict turns to god because he does not trust his own free will & control so he puts in the hands of someone else, God, to get rid of the past & move him on from his addiction
"Why can't we not be sober? I just want to start this over. Why can't we drink forever.I just want to start things over."- the double negative reflects how the addict complicates things, he manipulates his words to make his point seem like what it is not. He wants to "start this over" but his addictive side keeps coming around tricking him into wanting to "drink forever", constantly quenching his thirst for the drug. I know there were plenty of times in our relationship when my ex would manipulate his words & situations, etc, in ways to make me believe the wrong thing or do something for his benefit. It's what he was best at & he would manipulate even without realizing it until after & he manipulate himself.
"I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile."- obviously, self-loathing because of the person he has become b/c of the addiction
"I will only complicate you. Trust in me and fall as well. I will find a center in you. I will chew it up and leave, I will work to elevate you just enough to bring you down. Trust me. Mother Mary won't you whisper something but what's past and done. Trust me. I want what I want."- He knows what he is capable of,whether he chooses to do harm or not he will only cause trouble. He told me straightforward coming into the relationship that he would only give me trouble & that I do not understand addiction. I thought I would be able to help him, I wanted to be with him but I also wanted to be the person who brought him out the hole he dug himself in but I was wrong. He got to know me & I opened myself up to him & let him in & he saw how vulnerable & naive I was but also that I was a good person with compassion & care & giving so he took advantage of my kindness at a time when he didn't have a support system. He told me things & made me feel like I was at the top of the world but after rehab he fell out of love (thought he believed it was drug-induced the entire time) & even though he found he had feelings for me, we broke up & he decided it would be best to cut me off completely. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he turned the tables on me once again & described me as a burden to him & he needed to let go of me since we used together (though we only both used pot) to let go of the memories, even though memories dont just go like that, they stay. If anything he was weight I was always carrying, I was always trying to give to him & be there for him. Everything I did was for him, that is what he wanted & he got it because I trusted him. It is a constant struggle for him, between himself & his addicted self. He's always juggling between what he wants & what his addicted side wants. He may not have wanted to cause me such harm but I trusted in him & he knew it would be inevitable. I has caused many people close to him harm but most of the time it was unintentional. That's just how it came to be. But now he is recovering & coming out of that past life & finally picking himself up again.
I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with this interpretation but just thought I'd share my story & how it fits.
Don't know why no one else picked that up.