My warning meant nothing.
You're dancing in quicksand.
Why don't you watch where you're wandering?
Why don't you watch where you're stumbling?
You're wading knee deep and going in.
And you may never come back again.
This bog is thick and easy to get lost in
When you're a stupid, dumb ass, belligerent fucker.
I hope it sucks you down.
Wander in and wandering.
No one even invited you in.
But still you stumble in stumbling.
So suffocate
Or get out while you can.
No one told you to come.
I hope it sucks you down.



Lyrics submitted by dank

"Swamp Song" as written by Daniel Carey, Adam Jones, Maynard James Keenan, Paul D'amour

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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Swamp Song song meanings
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79 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:my impression is that when your a jerk. You begin to hate yourself and dancing in quick sand... I love that lyrical drop. Alcohol and addiction is mostly the theme. Back to quick sand... You think it's all great and fun til you want everything to END. Swamp song... A swamp.. humid, sweaty.... Kind of sickness perhaps? from messing up. This song is lifting to me... I hope it sucks you down.. ya know come back to reality and face your demons.
    Flag Ahourstoryon October 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i believe its about defense mechanisms of a truly troubled person. what i mean is how a deeply troubled person acts a certain way to push people away. in essence he is the bog and if you try to get close you'll get what what you deserve because you didn't heed the warning (or defense mechanisms). kinda like how a deeply angry person pushes people away and any reaction he has as nasty as it may be is warrented because "no one invited you in" and "you didn't heed my warnings" so now its your stupid fault i hurt you.
    Flag minty33on October 05, 2012   Link
  • +4
    General Comment:Every time I listen to this song I always feel like it's warning people to stay out of my head, so to speak, and that if you don't listen well I warned you, so don't get mad at me when you sink to deep and get stuck. As to say you weren't ready to dive inside my head and truly see what I'm thinking and how I perceive life.
    Flag TheAwesomeMykon June 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I feel as though this song could be related to life. The "bog" being life, is easy to get lost in. "no one even invited you in; you still stumble in." This shows how the ignorant people in life are still born though uninvited. The thickness of the bog would probably be everything that is complicated in life, also showing how it would be easy to get lost in and of course there being no return. Dancing in quicksand just signifies how you may be enjoying yourself in life but you don't realize you're digging yourself into a problem, even after being warned. I think that for not taking a warning seriously, Maynard feels no sympathy for the people who are getting sucked in. Most people would disagree with me when I say that I would keep everything that is bad about life in life. My reason for this is that without those bad things and people, there would be no reason to write suck beautiful music like this, and if you think about it with no bad there would be no good. They're two sides of the same coin which cannot exist without the other.
    Flag Jedawgon April 11, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this song is just a plain old example of I TOLD YOU SO DUMBASS! It's a pretty simple song imo. It's also one of my favorite tool songs.
    Flag GrimmCrystalson December 04, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think this song is kinda like Jerk-Off... an epic "fuck you" song :P
    Flag Tig45on April 07, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Do you think this guy could be about war?
    Might be referring to Vietnam (bogs and stuff)
    It would also make sense with the "Get out while you can"
    Songs like these can have hundreds of interpretations
    Flag GhostofPerdition13on March 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Come on people! Wake up and smell the buttsteak! Its pretty obvious what this song is about: SODOMY jus like prison sex and 4 degrees

    "My warning meant nothing, you're dancing in quicksand"

    A man warned his buttbuddy his asshole is pretty easy to get sucked down in like quicksand but his buttbuddy ignores the warning.

    "Why don't you watch where you're wandering? Why don't you watch where you're stumbling? You're wading knee deep and going in. And you may never come back again."

    The reciever is wondering why his buttbuddy is ignoring his warning, he keeps telling him his anus is very unforgiving and may never let his weiner go.

    "This bog is thick and easy to get lost in when you're a stupid,dumb ass, beligerant fucker. I hope it sucks you down."

    An anus is a lot like a swamp, dirty and moist, and a bog is a swamp, so the guy is obviously saying that he has a beligerant lover "fucker." So literally the fucker in this song is who's giving anal intercourse to the narrator and he's a dumbass at it, enough that the reciever hopes his asshole sucks him down.

    Angry homosexual sex is the theme in this song. Maynard puts it all undercover so that a more casual meaning like some dickhead who crashed his party comes to mind, but I'm sure he had sodomy in mind when he wrote this oh and

    "No one told you to CUM"
    (like ejaculate, yeah you get the pic)

    Many many tool songs have homosexual meanings.
    Flag edinon January 28, 2011   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:Im pretty sure maynard doesnt say "its easy to get lost in",i think hes saying "its easy to get LOCKED in"nobody ever gets it right
    Flag YouBeligerantFuckeron June 13, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think it is about drugs, more importantly, Gateway Drugs. It can only take you down lower and lower till there is no escape. The song, to me, is just a pessimistic song about drug abuse. With the swamp being the ugliness of the whole thing.
    Flag DanStranger51on June 09, 2010   Link

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