A Stranger

This is the actual song meaning explained by MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN.

"A STRANGER, UM BREIF EXPLANATION. I'M SURE MANY OF YOU HAD THAT SITUATION WHERE YOU'VE COME IN CONTACT WITH SOMEONE YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD A SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH BUT THEIR BEHAVIOR WAS SO ERRATIC AND OVER THE TOP YOU'RE NOT SURE WHAT HIT YA. KIND OF LIKE A TORNADO RELATIONSHIP. UM, AND THATS KIND OF WHAT A STRANGER IS ABOUT." Aso there you have it.

mind you, all other interpretations have validity, and this is mine. I think that if you continue with the drug motif of the entire album, it seems that at this point, the addict is begining to realize what the drugs are doing to him. He speaks of the "sweet insanity" that the high brings while the addict forms denials of the way the drug is tearing apart his life (in the song, the addict is personally addressing the drug as if it were a person, by the way) The addict refers to the drug as being a stranger, partly because of the inhuman affect it has on him. It is astranged to his emotions, indifferent to the way he feels. Lastly, the addict comes to the decision that he no longer wants the drug to be a part of his life. He has grown tired of the wall he has put between himself and the world and the silence it has brought down on him. The drug has felt him feeling like a "terrified child" and now the child is going to run away. When put in this perspective, it becomes obvious that the tornado is a reference to the whirlwind effect that has personified the drug. Finally, the addict has resoved to break his addiction, weary of the drug breaking down his willpower again and again.

I think the lyrics are wrong, this is what I hear:

Not the first time I hear all the lies Shy away Shy away Phantom Run away Terrified child Won't you Move away You fuckin' tornado I'm better off with you Tearing my will* down

Some one/thing is having a negative effect on him, and he is living in denial. Finally he snaps out of it.

The tornado is some strong negative force in this persons life, and he's standing up to it by calling it name and telling it to get the fuck away from him. He's tired of it, well, "tearing his will down".

Goddamn psycho sloth, I have to say that was beautiful. You should make music videos. I could totally visualize the little scene you just wrote.

Now in response to worldof robots, I understand how you could apply that theory. But think if we took away the minute details of who what where and when. We are left with why, anyone can fill in the why with their own experiece. I thought about what I posted and said to myself what if he's just laying out the main idea. The overall point and we're suppose to fill it in with our own experience. If i sang a song about jumping you could create the rest by yourself. Jumping on a trampoline, Jumping bail, Jumping somebody, Jumping a girl or guys bones. The point is the only relevant thing. The personal experience he had is irrelavant to our lives we're meant to fill in the blanks.

It's fine to have varying interpretations, and if you want to believe that this song is about a relationship, or that he says tomato, or that this is from the perspective of a drug dealer, thats your prerogative.

My interpretation, however, is as follows:

Thirteenth Step is about addiction. It's not necessarily addiction to drugs, it could be an addiction to ANYTHING. That said, this song is being sung from the perspective of someone who has decided to conquer their addiction.

The stranger is themself. This is very difficult for someone who has never been addicted to something to understand. The stranger is the addiction, and the addiction is themselves. It's one in the same.

What I mean is that the person singing this song has decided to end their addiction, and can now see the person who they were, and it is a complete stranger to them. It's a controlled puppet version of themself.

This is a person who is aware that their addiction is ruining their life, and is in the beginning stages of STOPPING the addiction altogether. I'll explain line by line:

"Cast the calming apple Up and over satellites To draw out the timid wild one"

Apple imagery is used repeatedly on this album. Perhaps this is the apple from the garden of eden? Using this logic he is taking the apple - which is a symbol of the downfall of man and evil (JUST LIKE ADDICTION) and he's tossing it away - he's throwing it as far away as possible... throwing something over a satellite is a pretty damn long distance. So he's casting out his addiction. For example, he has stopped using drugs. "To draw out the timid wild one" - basically to get rid of the addict inside him.

The next couple lines:

"To convince you it's alright And I listen for the whisper Of your sweet insanity while I formulate Denials of your effect on me"

This is the part that a true addict will understand and it reinforces my interpretation. "the whisper" is the little voice in the back of your head that tells you to give in to your addiction. It is as if your soul is telling you its okay to give into the addiction and continue doing drugs or whatever without question. Believe me, it's there, and an addict trusts this voice because it is themself. It's an extremely difficult voice to say no to, more difficult than any peer pressure. He's coming up with ways to deny that the drug is effecting him so that when the voice comes to tempt him, he can give into it and not feel like he has to fight it. THIS IS THE HARDEST PART OF OVERCOMING ADDICTION!!! Your will power has to be stronger than your desire to feed the addiction, and it's very draining. its a constant internal fight!

"You're a stranger So what do i care You vanish today Not the first time I hear"

The tense remains the same, the "you" is still the addiction, its still that voice in his head that I was talking about. Again he's trying to justify or find a way to continue feeding the addiction. Addicts do this!
The purpose these couple lines serve, and the title of the song, is to show just how powerful and how controlling addictions are. You're not really me, what do I care anyway, you'll leave me when the effects wear off...you'll leave and I can quit later.

But he's fighting this...he's determined to quit....

"What am I to do with all this silence?"

There is a big void in your life, a big silence, when you remove an addiction. Its like losing a loved one; suddenly one of the most important things in your life is just gone! This is probably the most emotionally moving line on the entire album.

"Shy away, shy away phantom Run away terrified child Won't you move away you fuckin tornado I'm better off without you Tearing my will down "

His will to stop the addiction is speaking here. He's saying that the tornado - which is the addiction thats been ripping up his life needs to "fuckin" move away! He knows he's better off without it, and he knows that it's trying to defeat his will to quit.

Again, the hardest part about overcoming addiction is fighting your internal desire to continue and feed it. I think that people who aren't addicts and can't understand this underestimate how powerful it is and how difficult it is to overcome. I have never been addicted to hardcore drugs, but I was a smoker for 5 years, and I know what these feelings are like.

This is my favorite song on the album.

A classic theme: unrequited love

THIS is from A Perfect Circle's Website:

Cast the calming apple Up and over satellites To draw out the timid wild one To convince you it's alright And I listen for the whisper Of your sweet insanity while I formulate Denials of your affect on me

You're a stranger So what do I care You vanished today Not the first time I hear Or the last.

What am I to do with all this silence. Shy away, shy away phantom Run away terrified child Won't you move away you fucking tornado I'm better off without you Tearing my world down.

FINALLY THE ARGUMENT OVER LYRICS IS DONE!

I always thought it was "move a way from the tornade".... makes more sense to me. I still can't quite figure out what this song is really about, but it is soooo beautiful... like a cold sunset.

maynard and billy create these wonderful lyrics in such a way so that almost every person that listens to them has a totally different opinion on the songs. first of all its "move away, fuck the tornado", but anyway. i think that its about someones influence on him. they influence him in many ways and hurt him emotinally, but they are distant from him and he doesnt matter to them so he denies that they have an affect on him. they constantly lie to him to where he becomes desensitized to what they say. finally he gets fed up with all of the ignorance and insanity that he wants them to leave his life and take their problems with them. P.S Maynard is awesome

i think maddawg is on the right track, but i think the theme of the CD isn't drugs, i think its addiction in general, be that whatever it may.