Eye on the TV
Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be
Like
Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
Shot by his own son
She used a poison
In his tea
And kissed him goodbye
That's my kind of story
It's no fun until someone dies

Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie

While the mother holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky crying,
"Why, oh why?"

Cause I need to watch things die, from a distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all need it too, don't lie

Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit it?
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
Neither the brave nor bold
Were writers of the stories told
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing

I need to watch things die... from a good safe distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same, so

Why can't we just admit it?

Blood like rain come down
Drum on grave and ground

Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore and voyeur
Still have the transmitter
Synched to the death rattle

La, la, la, la, la, la-la-lie (x4)

Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men
Pull your head of your hippie haze, and give a listen
Shouldn't have to say it all again

The universe is hostile, so impersonal
Devour to survive, so it is, so it's always been

We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire

Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I



Lyrics submitted by DarkAntiCrista

Track duration: 03:37

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

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Vicarious song meanings
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435 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201012/… explains why VICARIOUS is an accurate observation regarding upright apes walking around killing each other while the congragation of apes watch in disgusted delight....
    Flag whitehawkkkon June 10, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think psychologytoday.com best explains this song - "
    Why? The answer may lie in the work of evolutionary psychologists and neuroscientists. Humans seek out news of dramatic, negative events. These experts say that our brains evolved in a hunter-gatherer environment where anything novel or dramatic had to be attended to immediately for survival. So while we no longer defend ourselves against saber-toothed tigers, our brains have not caught up.

    Many studies have shown that we care more about the threat of bad things than we do about the prospect of good things. Our negative brain tripwires are far more sensitive than our positive triggers. We tend to get more fearful than happy. And each time we experience fear we turn on our stress hormones."
    Flag whitehawkkkon June 10, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think psychologytoday.com best explains this song - "
    Why? The answer may lie in the work of evolutionary psychologists and neuroscientists. Humans seek out news of dramatic, negative events. These experts say that our brains evolved in a hunter-gatherer environment where anything novel or dramatic had to be attended to immediately for survival. So while we no longer defend ourselves against saber-toothed tigers, our brains have not caught up.

    Many studies have shown that we care more about the threat of bad things than we do about the prospect of good things. Our negative brain tripwires are far more sensitive than our positive triggers. We tend to get more fearful than happy. And each time we experience fear we turn on our stress hormones."
    Flag whitehawkkkon June 10, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Simple enough, as human beings we watch others to judge our own behaviour in comparison. The problem is that in today's 24 hour media society we've become obsessed with the miniutae of watching others suffer but we can do it "from a safe distance" and no one needs to know how much we enjoy it.TV, newspapers, websites, it's all there, all the gory, nasty detail we could ever want to revel in and with no strings attached! You ask anyone if they enjoyed it and they will all say, "Oooh no! It's disgusting and tragic. I can't understand why.", just admit you enjoyed watching someone else suffer and be thankful it wasn't you!

    Brilliant track.
    Flag fuzzypiggyon April 12, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:so im a huge tool fan, you can tell by the way my acount is tooliscool lol but anyway i personally think this song is basically about how humans need to watch others suffer, its afourm of life. by the lyric "eyes on the tv" its refering to the news (which is a great fourm of finding out about deaths and such) think of it this way, when you pick up the newspaper and the headline is WIFE MURDERD BY HUSBAND. Like that is what is naturally going to attract a humans attention, especially compared to polictics and such. suffering, being murderd, death ,p ain and everything of the sort is like a drug for a human, as long as they dont get hurt themselves. i myself am attracted to deaths, just like the song says, why cant we just admit it? even the president will have enjoyment from death and suffering, its a human instinct. haha sorry for anything false, im 11
    Flagged tooliscoolon April 04, 2013   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:The song is about how us people are so attracted to violence. We turn on the TV and watch the news. Nobody cares about the news until somebody dies. We enjoy watching death from a safe distance. I'm not sure if I explained that well, but hopefully you can understand.
    Flag skelemeon March 24, 2013   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:Its very fucking simple, you dumb-ass hogs. Quit trying to over-complicate it. He's talking not only about human perception, but God's as well. We are created in his image (or so the Holey Bible {no, I did not mispell that} tells us)... It's as plain and clear as the sunrise in our everyday lives: we crave death and destruction... because he does and he made us that way because its fun to watch us slaughter each other.
    Flagged Danielsan1on December 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:its not just that it amuses us or we like violence and death and destruction. Its that it is necessary. "devour to survive so it is, so its always been" basically he is saying embrace it. pull your head out your hippie ass. if you want peace prepare for war type of thing. and stop acting appalled at it when its inside you too. Sigmund Freud came to the conclusion after studying the events of world war 1 that the desire to cause destruction is the single greatest motivating factor in human beings. It is more powerful than sexual desire. thats deep right?
    Flag key2nothinon October 10, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about why the news centers on what it does, combined with that feeling, you know, when someone does something wrong and then thats one thing, but then they have the AUDACITY to pretend the opposite. Everybody knows that feeling.

    Okay fine, violence is interesting, thats the way we're wired, so be it. But for fucks sake, don't act like you're above it.
    Flag Tunes24on October 01, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:my interpretation of this is that death amuses us all , and we enjoy seen others in pain aslong as we arnt
    effected by it , and watching it over the news on t.v is a safe haven where we wont been judged by others
    because we are ashamed of the joy we get out of watching others in pain , tools lyrics are beautiful and deep , one of my best bands
    Flag Ninjaguy6on April 10, 2012   Link

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