jewstalker@yahoo.com May 10th, 2005 04:22PM  

If you listen to audion comentary on the "aMOTION" dvd/cd box set, Maynard himself explains the song meanings. The secret is that 3 Libras is actually about 9 different people. The song itself is about people who feed on everyone elses energy instaed of growing from it. The libra part is just because the 9 people happened to have a birthday around the same time.

3Libras February 26th, 2006 04:52PM  

Wow someone seriously considered 3 Libras was about an orgy! Well it isn't its a song about pain. Maynard worte the song about 9 people that had a birthday around the the same time but only called it 3 Libras so that they could fight it out to figure out who the three were. The song is about having someone in your life that uses you and doesn't really see everything you have to offer and lives off you instead of growing from you. The song is filled with pain and bitterness. It is purely beautiful.

halo242 May 23rd, 2006 05:12AM  

I was at the show in Phoenix with NIN in 2000.... and he definately did say that to the crowd. Of course that doesn't support the orgy thing, but obviously 2 of the 3 or 9 people live here in AZ. Both bands played absolutely amazing sets that night, but the one thing I remember most vividly was Maynard talking to the crowd about Three Libras. Even from a hundred feet away, you could easily see and hear that incredibly strong emotions were at work with this song....

halo242 May 23rd, 2006 05:12AM  

I was at the show in Phoenix with NIN in 2000.... and he definately did say that to the crowd. Of course that doesn't support the orgy thing, but obviously 2 of the 3 or 9 people live here in AZ. Both bands played absolutely amazing sets that night, but the one thing I remember most vividly was Maynard talking to the crowd about Three Libras. Even from a hundred feet away, you could easily see and hear that incredibly strong emotions were at work with this song....

mzombie33 June 8th, 2006 05:31PM  

This song is possibly referring to a love triangle. The narrator is involved with at woman who is involved with someone else either in marriage or a serious relationship. The narrator possibly had something at one time with this woman, or is currently carrying on an affair with her. However, the narrator sees this woman as the embodiment of beauty and perfection, and the woman sees him as simply a good fuck.

anonymous September 18th, 2006 02:18AM  

Though MJK is difficult to interpret, I think "3 Libras" is a more self-explanatory song. The most repeated phrase "you don't see me" means just that. A man (perhaps MJK) is being over-looked, whether by a female, friends, and family is for you to decide. This man longs for love and attention but seems as if no one pays him any mind.

anonymous September 21st, 2006 04:08PM  

Hey I always thought it was about how people don't see eachother properly...Like..The only know the obvious stuff about eachother..They don't actually know them....! Its like also ppl are " in love" with someone..Even though they don't actually know the person like I mean know them! And there just in love with the fact of being in love!

Anywho! I love this song! Plz don't say it's about an orgy?!? Is it!!??
Xxxsarah!

anonymous March 15th, 2007 06:49PM  

All songs Maynard writes are open for your own interpretation, and how its a reference to your life as well as his. He tried to open up to someone, but his name was among a million same, meaning he's just another person in this particular person(s) eyes. I've seen you naked means he knows everything possible about this person. The song is a reference to someone you wish to be a friend or a lover with, who knows for Maynard, but how is it relevant in your life? Truly a beautiful piece of art.

anonymous March 26th, 2007 08:33PM  

i think that the guy above is right...where he has 5 stars and the lyrics to the song..the "fallen angel" is refering to how beautiful the girl is..but everything else is true...the girl is devastated by the break-up of her x husband,boyfriend,fiance, and he is showing his love and is in love with her but she doesn't want him or isn't ready to start loving again and he is hurt because of it..great man!!

adrian_garcia July 2nd, 2007 11:55AM  

As he describes in the DVD Amotion, much of the song is about the idea of not being seen/noticed etc. I'm not sure if or how the title '3 libras' fits into that, perhaps an inside reasoning. He says the logo for APC is based on this idea and I think they wanted to get this idea out nice and early in the band's history. I think the logo represents this with the fact that there's actually 2 circles, not just the one that you kind of see.

anonymous September 6th, 2007 04:38PM  

I think this song is just beautiful. I think this song relates a lot to the poem “not waving but drowning”. Its a cry for his friends/family to see him for who is really is. just from the fact that this song has had so many comments, he may just have achieved just that.

TheBrock December 8th, 2007 01:38AM  

I listened to this song the other day about 30 times in a row (I'm a bit of an audio addict) and came up with this possible idea. Love.

Since Tool is generally about society, he probably wanted to start a band where he can talk about the things he can't in Tool- love (which to me, seems to be the focus for the first album).

It might be my own personal connection to the song, but it feels like he's talking about a girl he likes that doesn't like him back. He sees her for everything she is (naked) but she doesn't see the same for him (oblivious). He felt he was too optimistic and screwed up somewhere. He made it obvious (at least for him) that he liked her but she didn't see him for the same attraction.

This would make sense by the song title 3 Libras. The sign for the Libra is a scale. 2 people would make a harmony of balance (or love) but there are 3 so the scales are off balanced and it doesn't work.

anonymous April 3rd, 2008 10:47PM  

One shape I believe these lyrics could be twisted to fit is Maynard's disappointment with a person he was once fascinated by. This person was seemingly beautiful and hurt and tortured. He felt for this person and believed there was "more behind the eyes of a fallen angel". He "threw them the obvious" and gave a little intimacy. a little bit of himself to test this fallen angel. To see if she was in fact an angel. but he was disappointed to find just a husk of a person. He "expected too much from the wounded" this song is an apology to this person for expecting too much and also a bitter "there is just nothing to you is there?"
But what the hell do I know?
I'm just a hippie with a computer
And Maynard is probably involved in emotion we can't even grasp
And anyway, I believe his songs are intentionally vague to make it possible for us to feel it in our own way
But again, hippie with a computer

anonymous April 3rd, 2008 10:57PM  

Ok Let me add to that stuff I just wrote about being disappointed in a person he wanted to be close to. He could also be talking about how this person seems to have everybody fooled. but he "sees through" and "sees them". They are naked but oblivious. They are right in front of him in bass relief and not nearly as intelligent as he would have hoped they would be. He saw them completely. and they neither knew nor understood.

anonymous May 7th, 2008 12:11PM  

I knew a libra once that had a disturbing past and used drugs(what was I thinking?). I liked her deeply and tried desperately to express my deep feelings for her inclemently on several occasions. The last straw pretty much for that was when I told her I loved her and she denied me the right to express my feelings when she would really do whatever she wanted! needless to say we aren't speaking, but I also know that she had 'betrayed' people many times before and was constantly on the run. And guess what? now she's moving...Again!

anyway this makes me think that perhaps some of the 9 people or atleast "3" were friends who were messed up either on drugs er what not and/OR more so girls he tried to date or like(maybe even used by) that had been 'mistreated' early in life.

by the way it was definitely a take relationship. I was poor in wallet & spirit. She seemed rich in both and yet she would hardly return the favor. I bought her nice things she needed. and she'd wait till xmas or birthdays to give me used items that were partial, chipped, and cracked. The nicest gift though was a stuffed animal I had ta wash what? 5 times? And of course she fed off my patience and emotions like you can't imagine. She would even talk non stop about herself on the phone in the middle of the night on a night when I had to work the next morning and yes I told her that! she wouldn't let me speak during those calls about my problems not even to give her advice & when I didn't talk she'd stop somewhere and accuse me of not listening!? if you love someone, trust me, you listen! she even used my other room where I rented for waaaay too long...

although, I still have libra friends. and I know different people get messed up for different reasons, especially libra's sometimes. But the only real reason I don't talk with her is because she never quit the 'stuff'. coincidentally the only reason she still doesn't talk to me you could say is the same!

Peace Libras.
Peace All...
always,
Sagittarius-Dog
Grey timberwolf by lifepath
redhawk by birth
anonymous-otherwise

anonymous July 16th, 2008 06:14AM  

For me it's just a song about Unrequited love. The speaker (not necessarily Maynard) sees this person exactly as they are. He sees their weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and flaws and is ok with those things. He accepts this person totally and completely and wants to connect so he throws them an obvious sign of his feelings. That's why it's "difficult not to feel disappointed and passed over" because his obvious sign is ignored. This person doesn't see him like he sees them and so he feels invisible and unimportant. Because he can't connect to that person, that's the "apparently nothing" line which to me came off as bitter and sorrowful. His bitterness at being passed over. The repetition at the end reflects the cause of the bitterness and sorrow.

anonymous July 29th, 2008 02:07PM  

I just thought it was about fallen angels and how god betrayed them.

Maya November 20th, 2008 05:35AM  

Here's my thoughts: This song is about a man who is in love with a woman who does not love him back. It seems to me that he either tells the woman how he feels and she laughs him off. Or it's someone who he sees on a regular basis, he's tried to tell her how he feels and she just doesn't get it - hence the "you don't see me". From the feel of the song, I also think that this woman is perhaps in either an abusive or loveless relationship that she is not willing to give up. Just my opinion. P.T.S.F.!!!!

anonymous January 14th, 2009 11:51PM  

For me personally the song is simply a love song:

Threw you the obvious and you flew
with it on your back, a name in your recollection,
thrown down among a million same.

***That Part of the song is about Maynard saying his love, or affection for someone and them just not disgarding it. He perhaps doesn't even tell them he likes them, they just don't see the signs***

difficult not to feel a little bit disappointed
and passed over
when I've looked right through
to see you naked and oblivious
and
you don't see me.
***This Part relates to the previous section, this person is obviously a friend to Maynard (naked and oblivious can be a metaphor for open) but despite this they still don't see Maynards love***

but I threw you the obvious
just to see if there's more behind the eyes
of a fallen angel,
***Maynard again referring to the obvious, this person is slipping in his esteem (fallen angel, meaning he/she was an angel previously)this is the beginning of the bitterness***

the eyes of a tragedy.
here I am expecting just a little bit
too much from the wounded.
but I see through it all
and see you.
***Perhaps this person he loves/likes has just experienced a tragedy, perhaps through love, a recent relationship split up (expecting too much from the wounded, he wants this person but they are still hurt from a relationship)****

so I threw you the obvious
to see what occurs behind the eyes of a fallen angel,
eyes of a tragedy.
***He threw the obvious to show love, to help this "fallen angel"***

oh well. apparently nothing.
you don't see me.
you don't see me at all.

***The final rejection, she doesn't see him at all, the worst feeling to someone can be that of being ignored by their love, unrequited love hurts the most****

So to me the song is about unrequited love, at least that's what it says to me.

(Whoever wrote this, wrote exactly what I was thinking) I just didn't feel like typing all that so I copied and pasted yours. Thanks!

madmatt92 March 29th, 2009 10:11AM  

maynard stated that it's about being overlooked, but just like in tool he doesn't tell the real meaning mostly because his songs have many meanings, i think it is about someone who spends their time trying to please people who use them and grows sad because they don't see them for what they really are.