Awesome song! I love how it descibes a crazy acid/whatever drug trip but still manages to be applicable to any one who feels like they are not good enough. He is only telling a story, but that story is one I am familiar with w/o being in that actual insane situation.

You'd better

You'd better

YOU'D BETTER LISTENNNNN

I don't totally understand what this song is all about. I have noticed however, that people, have a tendency to take Tool at face value. Too many people seem to take references and lyrics literally. All you have to do is look at Hooker With A Penis.

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Not 100 percent on this, but I am pretty sure then part "I hope uncle martin here doesn't notice that I pissed my fuckin pants!!"

is actually "I hope uncle Quark here doesn't notice that I pissed my fuckin pants!!" But this is neither here nor there, i guess.

With all the pop culture references in the earlier section of the song IE. Jackie Chan, ET, Isabella Rossellini , vanilla chig champa, birkinstocks, xfile, and so on... it makes sense to have a star trek comment in there.

I view this song as a spiritual successor to 3rd Eye. 3rd Eye, to me, is about the use of drugs to open your 3rd eye. It is about drugs being used in a positive way. Where as, this song seems to be more along the lines of what could happen if you over use, or OD. It is a bad trip, if you will.

Just my 2 cents

Really guys? As TOOL fans you're going to simplify one of their songs by saying it's about "this" or it's about "that"? If you really listen to the messages in this song and read through the complexity of the lyrics and how it all flows without picking out bits and pieces of lyrics, you'd see that someone could write a 100 page paper about all the elements in Rosetta Stoned alone. I mean, have you actually listened and - I mean really listened - to TOOL? The L. Ron Hubbard thing is just a minor gem, so are the drug references, and the doctor, the ET alien thing. These and almost every line in this song culminate to a single instance which they call Rosetta Stoned. Any decent musician or writer knows you don't draw off one perspective to write a story, so why do you belittle TOOL by claiming you "get it." Trust me you don't, I don't, even Maynard probably doesn't "get it". Just let it happen and admire what you can.

Ok, just to throw this out there, Tool are outspoken critics of Scientology, and the song could be a jibe at L. Ron Hubbard and the formation of Scientology (the "sweaty L. Ron Hubbard upper lip"). He was a sci-fi writer earlier in his life, which fits with the aliens theme, also a basic belief of Scientology. Basically the song laughs at Scientologists whose beliefs are based on Hubbard's acid trip.

He also says

"Fuck me
It's gotta be
the Deadhead Chemistry
The blotter got [right] on top of me
Got me seein' E-motherfuckin'-T!"

refers to LSD, as a blotter is a hit of acid on paper

Im just curious as to who Dave and Bob are?

does anyone know if this is based on an actual experience maynard had or is it all fictional?

I think this song is describing a trip, cross faded by three different things.
the rosetta stone is a rock with 3 different scripts on it.
"10 to 2 am, X, yogi DMT"
first it explains the DMT, and X is a street name for the drug MDMA or ecstasy.
Later in on the song, " blotter got right on top o' me. "
blotter is another name for LSD tabs, and also the song before it Lost keys (blame hofmann)
Albert hofmann is the creator of LSD.

so basically i think maynard is saying how the patient is like the rosetta stone, because each drug is like another language or script.

or it could just be another glass onion type of song haha.

and i guess everyone was born on december 31st, 1969.

so whats the deal with TREXOR and pikki and egb?
seems like all these folks know each other or somethin


oooh dear me i wish i could just have all the answers sometimes

Well said 'toolmusik'

Good lyrics such as these have different meanings to different people.
That's what makes a good song, everyone takes there own meaning from it.
Personally I believe it's about someone realising their view on the world and the phrase "Shit The Bed" refers to a sudden realisation of great truth.

By the way... I Love Tool!!

*Opiate*

OK, I gotta post again here, especially after all of this "no absolute truth/meaning to it" bull-crap. I'm sure that it is about DMT, death, moms, and poop. That's all pretty obvious. The question to ask is better put as, "why did tool write this song?" Tool wrote this song to make money, to express unexplored/repressed levels of consciousness in the mainstream. However, it should be noted that Tool has explored in depth the mysteries of the 'Priory of Sion,' (holy blood holy grail was on their recommended reading list) and Rennes Le Chateau (Undertow was written in Southern France). The true composition of death and the philosopher's stone is on http://www.dissectional.com. After nearly 20 years I think that the Band just decided to summarize all of their hard-earned knowledge in a fun multifaceted song such as Rosetta Stoned. This song is definitely about what is really behind Christianity and how sometimes you might not like 'opening your eye.' End of story.

I love you all.

Also, this song could be about someone's 27 year old mother crapping out DMT on a UFO. Just a thought.

this song is definitely about a DMT trip, DMT is a hallucinogen where you trip for anything from 1 minute to an hour and most of the people that have done it have seen aliens and they all have described the same aliens... also the whole breathing rapidly and all that.

Also Maynard is a noted DMT/hallucinogen of any sort user... obviously.

DMT is also in your body and it is what causes you to dream, it also gets released when you die.

my sources are the internet (good ol' google) and i know people that have done it.

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The meaning, or purpose of this music, is to get all of you scrambling your brains for something that doesn't exist. A meaning. Whether or not there was an intended message in this, or any Tool song, none of you will ever know exactly what that intended meaning, message or feeling trying to be conveyed was. All you know, is your experience of this song, tied in with the other experiences of your "life". This song has no purpose. There is no such thing as a purpose, whether it is for this song, or for existence itself. We strive to maintain existence, but there is no purpose for us to do so, no gold at the end of the rainbow. Everything is futile and irrelevant, and that includes me, you, and any feelings or thoughts you have about these songs.

If any of you have heard the song Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann), it is merely a drug that causes hallucinations. The drug reffered to as DMT, or dimethyltryptamine, has caused nearly 95% percent of its users to visualize extra-terrestrial life forms. When Maynard refers to "shitting the bed" he is referring to his mother shitting the bed after she died of being sick for approximately 10,000 days. Thus the name of the album. Rosetta Stoned is used as the name of this song cause of the mysteriousness of the Rosetta Stone (referring to extra-terrestrial life). Stoned as in high off of DMT.

these lyrics are fucking awesome.
I just laught theee SHIT outta me.
dude...freakin hilarious.

ok this is what i think guy gets stoned he sees aliens on his trip and the drugs cause complications and he is dieng at a hospital hence the line "shit the bed" cause when you die you release your bowels do you not? thats what i think as i said already

oh, and i forgot to mention; that ultimate truth/enlightened feeling is completely inexplicable... absolutely impossible to put into words. rosetta stone(d).

this song is incredibly simple if you've actually tripped on a hallucinogen. no matter what fantastic revelations or profound enlightenment you discover, you lose it sometime after coming back to reality. for example: every time i take mushrooms, i discover/remember the ultimate truth of the universe -- it's just a feeling -- but i always lose it almost as soon as i stop peaking. it's quite frustrating.

this song is a satirical comment on the premature, quick-to-claim-enlightenment that's a result of hallucinogenic drug use, only to come down wallowing in reality... and shit.

oh, and those who freak out about the short lived smoked DMT experience or your frat party mushrooms not making you shit your bed, just go research ayahuasca.

It's an acid trip. Given away by the term "blotter". As a friend of many druggies, "blotting" is the term designated to putting LSD or LSA onto a piece of blotting paper or virtually anything you ingest to get the LSD/LSA into your system. The "blotter" was right on top of him because the acid trip was intense.

I think it's only fitting to follow ColdenScene on this thread. I usually listen to a Tool album a few times before I pass any judgment. The bottom line is that Tool is a talented band and so their works should be appreciated. To me Rosetta Stoned is, in a sense, a way for them to express their unique sounds without the background noise of mainstream subjects/sounds. As to what they're trying to convey I can only surmise it has something to do with the desensitization to both what is sacred and what is feared. In our media-controlled society sanctity of life and also fear of death are two sides of consciousness that are completely undermined. I see this song as a way for a very talented and open minded band to express the feelings that accompany dehumanization (ET symbolism), and censorship, etc. Sorry for this lengthy comment, I literally started this account just so I could comment on this one song. Hahaha, I am so pathetic.

Have fun on your gay ufo's.

from what i read, the song seems to be about this guy that gets high. then he sees "et" and "et" reveals to him how the world will end. and the guy was "the one" to send the message to everyone else. but he forgot what "et" told him and that just about wraps it up. but im not quite sure what the last part means

I think Dragonfly Key got it right. Frankly I am disgusted by peoples use of drugs in general. They haphazardly use them as an escape instead of the experience they can be. Psychedelics are life changing for the better if you are open to the experience and aren't doing it just to get "fucked up" which is what I see a lot of people using drugs for. To be honest it is pathetic and you are only acting like sheep who are being herded off a fucking cliff. Stop being so blind.

What I think:

Maynard always has the lyrics of songs tie together in their albums. And the last three songs (excluding triad) Rosetta Stoned, Intension, Right in Two, seems to be a critique of humanity to me. So I tend to believe this is more based on humanity's shortcommings rather than drug abuse (drug abuse could be considered one I suppose but this is more important than just that).

Rosetta Stone is a program to help people learn new languages so I think this character in this song got 'stoned' from hearing a new 'language' which in this case was the aliens' form of communication. And by stoned I don't mean good times and laughter I mean his mind got completely thrown in the gutter and he can no longer think straight because of what he was shown. Because the alien form of communicating is completely beyond the capabilities of a human mind and he was reduced to a babaling idiot and is now therefore in a hospital. Pleading with people "You believe me, don't you?
Please believe what I just said". And not comprehending people "And can anyone tell me why
Y'all sound like Peanuts parents?"

If I remember correctly the tone and pace of the lyrics changes from before the lyrics "You'd better. You'd better. You'd better. You'd better listen" where it was fast paced and detailed, and then those lyrics came, whether they are the characters words or the aliens, and then after that the message is delivered ("Then he looked right through me"), all sane thoughts are lost to the wind and for the most part the speech is slower (easier to understand anyway) where the persons mind is not as detailed as it used to be and more aloof.

I think his reference to "But I forgot my pen" was the characters last sane thought before he was shown, whatever it was he was shown. Thinking to himself almost jokingly, 'i need to record this but i dont have my pen...*blam*'

So from here I venture from things which are shown in the lyrics to what I believe is the purpose of the song. Like I said earlier, near the end of the album it becomes more evident of describing the faults of humanity, and i think this song is just to show how pathetic our minds really are. For instance, compare our minds to an ant. Each indivual ant has a job or purpose, and ways of going about that purpose, they also have problems which impede them and rewards from achieving goals (the prosperity of the hive). Now compare the ants lives to us, we (humans) are probably unknown objects to them, natural phenomena* if you will. If an ant was shown one shred of our consicousness I believe that ant's mind would probably be overwhelmed. Even if we were just trying to warn it of a flood coming and what would be the "The details of [their] ending." So, for the sake of argument put ourselves in the position of the ants and the humans are the aliens. I now believe you can see where I am coming from where the person would be "Overwhelmed as one would be, placed in [his] position", brain dead and unable to keep control of his simple bodily funtions (taking a shit when he is supposed to).

So for all of our overwhelming and vital problems we are really not that important. Quite pathetic actually. And as a side note I think it can be derived that, the thought that we even think we understand the smallest bit of a higher intelligence's intention or reason, whether it be a god or an alien species, is purly arrogant.

I kinda think I am biased with this since I am big into sci-fi so my imagination can wander in this direction but I don't see that as a bad thing.



So I think you guys can understand where I am coming from with all of this, I understand that the vocals for Tool always have multiple levels and different ways of looking at it, which is one thing that makes their music art instead of just the pointles babling we here most of the time today. So I think there is no 'right' interpretation to the song, only your interpretation.

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