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Tool - Jimmy Song Meanings

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This song is about Maynard's early life and maybe something about how his mother left when he was eleven; Jimmy comes from James which is Maynards middle name.

Submitted by: infinitepaths
Added: 2006-01-21 23:13:01     Rating:

I believe that when Maynard says "eleven", I believe that he is symbolizing the #1 + #1 = #11. "'till one and one are one, eleven." "so we can Reunite" I believe that eleven represents his stability, meaning his innocent view of the world, he did not have his own view of how the world and life really is, he felt safe, etc. He used to see through the eyes that "they" gave him as a child. He is now separated from himself from back then, for now he sees through his own eyes. "Defending his light"--A person "knowing" what to believe in and follow, grasping on to their beliefs for a sense of security, they never doubt or question, for they "know". He has lost his "light". He is searching for the light that he once had. If he were reunited with his old light that would be great, but I have yet to find it myself. It would be great bwecause then you would know all of what you know now, but also have that light, that stability, that security, that light to defend. "I am wide awake and heading home" He is heading there, but not yet there for that is the whole point. -KATE

Submitted by: Zaq
Added: 2006-01-24 16:13:26     Rating:

James is actually his first name, but close enough.
i agree with both of you, anonymous & infinatepaths.

If indeed Maynards mother left when he was 11, then I believe "the face of your own stability" suddenly looking away is his mother leaving. This then leads lil' Maynard astray, leaves him questioning all that he knows, including his religious beliefs. This schism (no pun intended) starts him down his path to "enlightenment," if you will. If one starts questioning everything in life, then this person will come up with his own answers and personal truths. This is how Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha. He saw what life was like outside the castle walls, and upon witnessing all the pain and suffering, he sat beneath the Bodhi tree, began meditating, and the rest is history.

I don't pretend to know or care to guess at the meaning of it all, so I'll leave you with that. Some Tool songs are too near and dear to me to overly interpret, this is one of those.

Submitted by: infinitepaths
Added: 2006-02-03 10:15:29     Rating:

I really do not think that his only stability was his mother, and that the minute she left could have brought on all of these feelings and thoughts of questioning his young views and beliefs. I believe that it definetly must be more complex than just his mother leaving. It has to be from other things in his life, maybe his age and his experience in his life. Maybe seeing other people suffer when they were once people he looked up to for guidance. I do not doubt that if that whole thing with his mother did happen, I don't doubt that it played a major role, but not its core. I have endured much suffering in my life as everyone else does, but I did not know from that very point that everything I ever thought was nothing but another person's dream or view. I think that Maynard sings only now of his "eleven", speaking as an adult,and I highly doubt that he wrote this song just a couple of years after the age of eleven, like 12 or 13. I think that eleven only symbolizes the #1 + the #1 equaling eleven when they are joined together. Like in the song Schism, there being a split, being once one, now they are two. metaphor galore is what it is all about in most of his lyrics. I enjoy reading other people's views, if I did not, then I would not care to read them, I would only care about my own, but I am open to all that anyone has to say. That is why I think this way about tool lyrics. I would not enjoy his lyrics if I had a closed mind. --kate

Submitted by: AllenTehAwesome
Added: 2006-02-21 00:17:18     Rating:

Eleven I think, represents two things as a whole, but still two seperate things. "so we can reunite and both move on together." "'till one and one are one,
eleven." As opposed to one and one becoming two, which is a whole, solitray digit.

I believe that the song is about wanting to reunite with someone, bu not wanting to come to close for fear of hurt.

Submitted by: AllenTehAwesome
Added: 2006-02-21 00:17:19     Rating:

Eleven I think, represents two things as a whole, but still two seperate things. "so we can reunite and both move on together." "'till one and one are one,
eleven." As opposed to one and one becoming two, which is a whole, solitray digit.

I believe that the song is about wanting to reunite with someone, but not wanting to come to close for fear of hurt.

Submitted by: oogodmitch
Added: 2006-03-28 21:59:32     Rating:

Check out alchemy, the tarot, kabbalah-eleven-even the Bible (most interpretations)... Astrology/numerology... eleven
Oh yeah, the twin spiraling D.N.A.,the digital code of awakening is 11:11...7+4 (universe and earth). Carl Jung. 11 dimension theory. Maynard is a deceitful bastard! Interpretations make you think, may teach you, but what it means to you is really what counts. If your trying to crack the code, cosmic or conspiracy, there's a lot to keep you busy, Reverend Maynard is the Rabbit. Don't ever believe there's an absolute. Also the song is probably about duality as well,for example;: Yin/yang, mother/son, conscious/unconsciousness, love/hate, body/soul, and on.
Yeah, that's (my) theory, anyway. FNORD

Submitted by: jeffthetool
Added: 2006-04-26 23:29:38     Rating:

So, bored as I was and ambitious to increase my understanding of my favorite lachrymologists, I stumbled across a song interpretation of "H" by Tool. I then did the math enough to know that "jimmy" and "Prison Sex" are also players in my sordid little game of understanding. The entire event that sparked these epiphanies was the song "10,000 Days". All of this will come together if you sit back, relax and close your eyes -- wait, keep them open you need to use them to read this -- anyway this will all make sense, trust me, trust me, trust me.....

My interpretations:

jimmy is James Herbert Keenan or Maynard James Keenan – yeah, that’s his birth name. Make sense?
The "j" in the name is purposely lower case to symbolize a child.

“Eleven and she was gone.
Eleven is when we waved good-bye.
Eleven is standing still”

Maynard was born April 17, 1964, his mother died June of 2003. In aMotive (A Perfect Circle’s DVD) Maynard explains that his mother had a stroke and lived wheelchair bound and partially paralyzed until her death in June of 2003. Take 27 from 2003 and you get 1976 (when she had the stroke), take 1976 from 1964 and you get...12?!! What the hell? Wait, take 10,000 days and divide that by 365 days, that’s roughly 27.3 or 27 years and a quarter of a year. A quarter of a year is 4 months.The first quarter of a year is January through April. Therefore, if Judith Marie Keenan had a stroke between January 1 and April 16 of 1976 Maynard was still 11.
“Eleven and she was gone.
Eleven is when we waved good-bye.
Eleven is standing still”

Judith didn't physically leave Maynard but was crippled and unable to be there for him the was she always was. This could mean Maynard had to rely on his stepfather to provide for him. He suffered abuse from his stepfather and probably suffered more now that Judith couldn't be there to protect him.

“What was it like to see
The face of your own stability
Suddenly look away
Leaving you with the dead and hopeless?”

Again, his happy stability is gone, dead and hopeless because his mom can never be the same, she’s crippled, can't protect him.

“Moving me with a sound.
Opening me within a gesture.
Drawing me down and in,
Showing me where it all began,
Eleven.”

Recalling memories that take him back to when he was eleven – now this can mean either he is remembering the day his mother was crippled or he is moving before that to happier times.

“Under a dead ohio sky,
Eleven has been and will be waiting,
Defending his light,
And wondering...
Where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost, and numb.
So glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading home.”

He lived in Ravenna, Ohio. He is thinking back to his youth and innocence to when he was happy, possibly reverting back to happier times due to the trauma of the entire experience and the abuse he is suffering because Judith can't protect him from his father.

He then moves into “sleeping, lost and numb” – symptoms and suggestions of depression (sleeping) and putting up emotional barriers (lost and numb).
“So glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading home.” – Reverting back to childhood.

“Hold your light,
Eleven.
Lead me through each gentle step by step
by inch by loaded memory.”

Telling his inner child to hold his light to lead him back to that happy childhood, getting lost in memories.

“I'll move to heal
As soon as pain allows so we can
Reunite and both move on together.”

If he can get through the pain he can start to heal, cope with his memories and move on.

“I'm heading back home.”

He’s going back inside himself to that happy place.

If you analyze "H." by Tool you will come to understand that Maynard was emotionally abused by his father (or stepfather, can't be sure which one). This could go hand in hand with "jimmy" if you consider the fact that his mother cannot protect him from the abuse he is suffering because of her condition. This may also go hand in hand with "Prison Sex" because in a live show in Quebec on 11/29/96 Maynard said "Prison Sex" was about "recognizing, identifying a cycle of abuse within yourself, that's the first step of the process -- realization, identifying. The next step is to work though it, but this song is about the first step which is recognizing." The "cycle of abuse within yourself" could be about Maynard's feelings but is probably more about his father's (or stepfather's) because his son had not yet been conceived when this album (Undertow) was released.

This is an interpretation of the song H. by Tool off of their 1996 CD Ænima. This interpretation was submitted to lyricinterpretations.com by a person known as "Zaq". This seems to make sense. It seems that this song is about Maynard and his struggle to not fall into a cycle of abuse (reminiscent of "Prison Sex"?) directed at his son Devo. Devo was born in 1995 and Ænima was released in 1996, though Devo was obviously conceived in mid to late 1994 giving plenty of time for Maynard to write this song about an unborn child "my blood before me". I also think that this song goes hand in hand with "jimmy" in describing Maynard's thoughts and feelings about himself and/or his parents. I came to this conclusion when I saw Maynard James Keenan was actually born James Herbert Keenan. So, jimmy is James when he was eleven and H. could be short for Herbert his middle name. H. Is also Devo's middle name, not initial but name, H. Isn't short for anything save for H.
Here is "Zaq's" interpretations of "H."
The snake represent Maynard's father.
The "blood before me" represents Devo, Maynard's son.
"What's coming through is alive.
What's holding up is a mirror.
But what's singing songs is a snake
Looking to turn this piss to wine."
This means the Maynard we experience in most songs is the Maynard seen in his father's mirror, the Maynard that was shaped in his father's image. But he is trying to turn all these negatives(piss) to positives(wine).
The snake behind me reminds me, how bad I could have been.
My son in front of me begs me to let my guard down, to love, to grow again.
"Venomous voice, tempts me,
Drains me, bleeds me,
Leaves me cracked and empty.
Drags me down like some sweet gravity."
The way he was treated by his father makes him feel like shit, takes his will to live away, and he is tempted to let it drag him down(because he feels worthless). It is "Sweet gravity" because it would be easy to treat his son that way, and in a way it would feel right, because it would be a release, and because his father treated him that way.
"I am too connected to you to
Slip away, to fade away.
Days away I still feel you
Touching me, changing me,
And considerately killing me."
He loves his son too much to slip and fade into what he feels he is destined to become. Even when he isn't with his son, he can still feel his son's effects on him, can still feel his son killing the snake inside of him.
"The walls came down."
The walls he had put up to protect him emotionally have come down, allowing him to love and be loved.
"And the snake is drowned and
As I look in his eyes,
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of those times.
I could have cried then.
I should have cried then."
The snake inside him is dead, and as he watches it die, he is no longer afraid. He was so relieved that he could have cried.
"I have died
and will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind."
The snake has died, other parts of him will die, he will change, but it's okay. I don't mind.
"And considerately killing me..."
HEY, it's a POSITIVE Tool song!!!

Submitted by "Zaq" on lyricinterpretations.com

One note about the line "considerately killing me...", I think that means that parts of him are dying but they are the bad things and they are being killed considerately by love from his son and his love for his son.
I hope this makes sense, it did to me and I was perfectly "sober" when I wrote this. Oh, and sorry about all the puns and subversive references to various Tool songs, I couldn't resist.

Submitted by: skindeep1123
Added: 2006-05-20 19:24:50     Rating:

Going further on the kabbalah theory, I know 11 was a significant number with Aleister Crowley and the whole magick system, whom Tool is a big fan of. Crowley added the "k" to distinguish his "magick" from the more common known magic. "k" is the 11th letter in the alphabet, and number 11 in numerology means "hidden energies."

I'm not an expert, but from my understanding, Magick is about changing reality at will. Crowley argues that there's a 4th dimension and we have to pierce through the looking-glass to be able to see this 4th dimension, which is related to opening the third eye. I interpreted the line "till one and one are one" as a reference to trying to achieve this opening of the third eye, or trying to see through to the 4th dimension.

Well, that's my 2 cents.

Submitted by: skindeep1123
Added: 2006-05-26 13:40:09     Rating:

I have trouble believing that this is a song about his childhood. Reading the lyrics, that interpretation sounds too dramatic for Maynard's style. Personally, I don't think Maynard would make his lyrics that obvious, but I could be wrong.

Maybe the reason the title of the song is lower cased, is to symbolize how it is for an infant to see the world for the first time, that he's seeing things for the first time like an infant, which runs along with the whole analogy of opening up your third eye, or crowley's 4th dimension.

In the song Lateralus, supposedly the 4 colors that Maynard uses in his lyrics (black, white, red, yellow) is the order of colors we see when we're born, which could symbolize seeing things for the first time like an infant, again opening up your third eye, and so on. This seems to be a common theme in their songs.

The ending lines to the song go:
"where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost, and numb.
I'm..so glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading,
home."

This leads me to believe the above interpretation. The word "home" is used a lot. I think it's meant to represent something, and not literally his house in Ohio. One definition for home is: a place we originate, our original habitat.

Maybe it could mean that we have to remember who we are, we have all these influences that mold us into someone else and we don't realize it, and that the song's general meaning might be about looking at ourselves and the world from a different perspective.

Or maybe it could be about Crowley and the magick system, where he says:
"I'm..so glad that I have found you.
I am wide awake and heading,
home."

With 11 being a significant number in Crowley's magick. Let me know what you think.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-07-17 07:47:22     Rating:

When you have lost a loved one (the face of your own stability) and you are re united, would be when one and one are one (eleven).

Submitted by: keepgoingspiralout
Added: 2006-07-31 22:04:25     Rating:

I feel pretty strongly that this is about Maynard's childhood, and that "11" is the point in time Maynard desires to be. This is when his mother whas healthy, and that's the relationship he wants back.....One with his healthy mother (home). "11" symbolizes both his age and a time when his mother was healthy.

"Home" could also symbolize Maynards mom coming home from the hospital I.E she's healthy.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-08-02 05:25:21     Rating:

When the face of your own stability suddenly slips away (is lost), the time with you and that one stops. It stays exactly how it was when it was paused. In order to resume you put one(you), and one together. Eleven.
When one and one are one, eleven.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-08-13 08:58:50     Rating:

By the way, jimmy = James, it might have been his nickname as a child...

Submitted by: suba_357
Added: 2006-11-12 08:16:46     Rating:

I am not gonna claim I know all about Tool, but I seroiusly doubt that Maynard is singing about his past abuse or whatever bull**** he has experienced. For another thing Maynard is not the only one who writes this stuff. Maynard just adds lyrics, so these songs are not all about him... Hard to grasp I know... If he does sing about his past he is singing about moving past that and giving his fear up to love. You guys seemed so focused on Maynard that you have seem to forget there are other band members, and no matter what you think they have a bigger part in what the song means then the lyrics do (i'm talking about the music). For most part the lyrics are an interpretation of the song by maynard, so if you want the true meaning of the song listen to the music not the lyrics.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-02-01 21:33:07     Rating:

Look, I think everyone agrees that the lyrical aspect of Tool's songwriting is most likely NOT the work of Maynard alone, but more a collaborative effort. That said, it's very conceivable that a few of the songs may be about his individual experiences, such as the Jimmy/H./10000 Days links. With something so significant to Maynard as his mother's difficult experiences, I'm sure the whole band would have embraced writing a number of songs just about Maynard's experiences with his mother.

I think these type of songs are great, because they slowly let you build up an image and paint a picture of "the character of MJK", in a sense. I feel that, for me anyway, it kinda makes me understand Maynard's psyche a bit more, and it explains his general outlook on life and where he's coming from when he writes all of his songs (his share of the lyrics anyway).

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-07-08 01:00:44     Rating:

11 actually has to do with the fact that Maynard's mother had a stroke when he was eleven that put her in a wheelchair.

Submitted by: Nirgendwer
Added: 2007-08-27 14:18:46     Rating:

It's about a boy named jimmy who can't count yet and thinks that 1 + 1 = 11
the kid sees it as simple as it can be seen and the result is much higher than it would be for a person "using" maths
1 and 1 are suddenly more than it would be for an older person, who'd "make" 2 out of it...

the numbers represent thoughts, everything imaginated, fantasy (numbers only exist on human minds) and maths is education, which trains your way of thinking, so that it fits into society. everybody's result for 1 + 1 would be 2... Thanks maths.
but "uninformed" kids have still the chance to get other results, they haven't got maths as a tidying, but limiting regulator in their head.
also they don't know what is "true" and what is "false"... In our heads 11 is a "wrong" result, but on a kid's mind it's unvalued... no inner judge, no wrong, no right...

for naive people (who think 1 + 1 = 11) the world is a lot bigger, more scary and also exciting...

think like a kid and suddenly you'll discover new dimensions in your mind... remember the 11th dimension

or do your maths homework...

Submitted by: Nirgendwer
Added: 2007-08-28 17:44:14     Rating:

Ok check this out:

11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

...

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-10-08 13:04:22     Rating:

Duality of the Universe

= 1 + 1.

makes 11.

And that is not bad math.

Reconciliation of opposites = unity = transcendence = love

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