Tool - The Pot Song Meanings
Send "The Pot" ringtone to your cell
Lyrics:
Who are you to wave your finger?
You must have been out your head.
Eye hole deep in muddy waters,
You practically raise the dead.
See the rest of these lyrics
The Pot Lyrics on KOvideo
 Top Rated Interpretation
anonymous
August 19th, 2008 10:40AM
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To me, this song is a convoluted expression of a hierarchy. It's about power,greed and how a mind brought up in power will never see what someone outside power will see, the twisted and immoral reasoning behind a politician/man in power. It is also a constant reminder that in order to progress, you must reflect upon ones self and realize your wrong doings. If you commit an act like a sheep, without reason or cause you are only going to contribute to the system. You are not in control of the system. Anyway here is my interpretation of the lyrics, it is broken down for your benefit. Tell me what you think :)
"who are you to wave your finger?
Ya' must have been out your head.
I think this is said in a hypocritical sense, Waving the finger may symbolize pointing the blame and responsibility onto someone else, although you have also committed that act. You must be crazy if you can point the blame onto someone else, to clear your conscience of your guilt towards your own wrong doing.
Eye hole deep in muddy waters.
You practically raised the dead."
Your judgement is clouded by the surrounding uncertainty which scares you, no one wants to know how deep the rabbit hole really goes. You are only plunging as deep as you are in control of (eye hole deep in muddy waters) and you fear the system. The only thing that is certain is that you are contributing towards the depravity of human kind because you fear change, you fear power and you fear questioning your own morals.
Rob the grave to snow the cradle,
And burn the evidence down.
To benefit from anything less than your own class because you can get away with it. Creating laws, reaping money, Tax, upping your own wages, all because you can, Turn left to the man next to you, is he questioning your morals? No, he is doing the same exact thing! Turn to the man on your right, he is looking to you, Are you doing the right thing? No you are thinking of the man who just upped his wages and got his new car. You find any excuse to fall in line with the crowd! If you were to look down at the man below you, you just spat on him. You burn the evidence by disguising your doings as a motion decided by the 'people'. As long as the crowd is doing it, you will not find prosecution, You are nothing but a sheep following the flock to the greenest grass.
Soapbox house of cards and glass,
So don't go tossin' your stones around.
Soapbox =Simply a House of power, Ruled by the few.
Cards= Politicians (Kings, Queens, Jacks, Aces) =Power
Glass= The smokescreens that no one questions, The interwoven series of immoral justifications like Tax,'Laws',Fines.
With the powerhouse so complex with lies and deceit, Every lie relies upon another lie,another justification and another politician. If one was to point the finger to a card, he must see through the glass, then that card would point the finger. I think the stone symbolizes a 'fault' in the system, a backfire or a maverick which causes the glass to start smashing. :)
You must have been high.
You must have been high.
You must have been...
Head in the clouds Mr fat cat. When will you realize what you are doing? When will the system change? When will we one day embrace this utopic notion of 'equality'?
Foot in mouth and head up ass so/asshole,
What'cha talkin' bout?
The only way to run that soapbox house full of cards is to use the other cards and let them use you. When you ignore those accusations and don't meddle yourself in troublesome matters you won't be pointed at, until you have to face your own.
What'cha talkin' bout?= Ignorance and denial to preserve your power and keep your assets. The day you point the finger is the day you will be sacked by your fellow hypocrits.Foot in mouth and head up ass so/asshole= Brown nose? Standing on someones head but your head up someones arse? Sounds like a soapbox house to me.
Difficult to dance 'round this one,
'Til you pull it out, boy.
Until you come clean and live like the majority you will always have to tread lightly.You will always have to be sneaky, be perverted and lie. That day you finally question the system, your own morals and abandon the perverted, sadistic ways of power you will embrace equality.
You must have been so high.
You must have been so high.
Still think you are innocent? Still think your ways of thinking are pure and benefit the many? What more do you want to hear before you will change your ways?
Steal, borrow reefer save your shady inference.
Kangaroo done hung the juror, with the innocent.
No matter how well you cover up your tracks you are still the vile ,
UNFINISHED..
anonymous
September 20th, 2006 11:19AM
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Kangaroo court
from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
a kangaroo court is a 'judicial' proceeding that denies proper procedure in the name of expediency; a fraudulent or unjust trial where the decision has essentially been made in advance, usually for the purpose of providing a conviction, either going through the motions of manipulated procedure or allowing no defence at all.
Toolio
November 3rd, 2006 12:14PM
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"the pot calling the kettle black" - a situation in which one person criticizes another for a fault they have themselves.
A.K.A. - hypocrisy
anonymous
December 21st, 2006 04:07PM
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here's my two cents on a tiny part.
one thing I am absolutely sure of about the lyrics of The Pot is that the lyrics "weeping shades of cozened indigo, must have got lemon juice up in your eye..." is referring to Anja--the 6th chakra--the third eye. The color that is most commonly associated to this chakra is indigo. this chakra deals mainly with enlightenment of the self. The word 'cozen' means to cheat, deceive, or trick. I'm not sure how to directly interpret that all together, but I would say that it is at least indicating hypocrisy, false enlightenment, or trying to follow through with intent to mislead others on a path of enlightenment.
i wouldn't doubt the band, and the album artist alex grey are educated on the chakra system, along with plenty of other systems of enlightenment.
anonymous
October 26th, 2007 03:06PM
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Generally speaking it is about hypocrisy.
"Pissed all over my black kettle" and "The Pot" Referring to the saying; "pot calling the kettle black".
More specifically it's about the hypocrisy of patronizing of marijuana users in the media leading towards unfair prosecution and misconceptions.
"Kangaroo done hung the guilty with the innocent," refers to to a 'Kangaroo Court'.
"Now you're weeping shades of cozened indigo,
Got lemon juice up in your...EYE!" Might mean falsely criticizing and getting away with by "hiding" behind some sort of moral symbolism (e.g.; The Bible, religion, etc).
The Pot might also be a play-on-words, also meaning pot or marijuana
anonymous
April 17th, 2008 02:58PM
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Kangaroo refers to kangaroo court. The specific one he's talkin about is when people where tried for petty drug crimes and senteced to unfair punishments
anonymous
May 6th, 2008 11:09PM
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I think the best part about this song lies within its vague words; it could have been about any of the things mentioned, from marijuana to opiates to politics. That is a true sign of a good artist is that he gives the audience enough to get their head around it and interpret it in their own way. Phenomenal stuff.
Adas
May 10th, 2008 08:40AM
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First of all, I don't think Maynard would go so personal with the Pot, actually the title itself is about "The pot calling the kettle black", that's what Adam said ^^ Anyway, it's not like Hooker in a Penis, criticizing the critics of Maynard. It's more a general thing, attacking the law. Note, that a lot of drug smuggling cases in the US, are penalized really high (50 years without a parole option). Most of them are kangaroo, everyone knows what's the verdict before the trial begins. And that's why the jurors are hanged, because if they don't agree to vote "guilty" in a kangaroo case, they will also be caught. Of course, this might also apply for other cases.
And the punchline is, after the lawyers got so much attention, probably got rich and things like that, they also start doing drugs.
I hope this one might help :P Cheers ^^
anonymous
June 26th, 2008 09:15PM
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My interpretation of this song is that so many people tell other people that they are doing something wrong when in truth they could be just as worse..
Who are you to wave your finger
you musta been out your head
eye balls deep in muddy waters
you practilly raise the dead
rob the grave to snow the cradle
and burn the evidence down
soap box house full of cards and glass
so don't go tossin your stones all out
this song to me is not so much about drug use, but rather than all of the hypocrites in the world telling people not do something wrong when they do the same thing to a worse extent, like don't smoke weed, when they smoke four times as much as anybody else (the weed thing was the first thing I took from the song)
anonymous
September 1st, 2008 08:17PM
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Um there's a park where it talks about pissing all over a black kettle, well the saying goes "look at the pot calling the kettle black" saying that the pot is a hypocrite because it is black too.. That's why the song is called the pot because it's about hypocrisy.
anonymous
October 28th, 2008 01:20AM
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This song talks a lot about hypocrisy as far as the government saying drugs (heroin) in this case is illegal- YET THEY DO IT! (not all of course)...
A lot of the time he talks about "the pot calling the kettle black"- or being a hypocrite.
Being high, Who are you to wave your muddy fingers at me?
This all comes back too heroin. I especially like the symbolism from "wave your muddy fingers at me.." as if they are covered in it, it's obvious- yet they sit there so hypocritical.
The Kangaroo Court comes back to the fact that they (the government) pay their way out of trouble. They look after each other where they convict the public for the same thing.
Someone wrote about The third eye, and the colour indigo too be the colour of "tricked" and fooling etc. It's like, we all see it, but are in denial.
There is a theme of "not seeing" everything in this song. Using the words "eyeballs deep in muddy water" isn't a coincidence either.
anonymous
November 13th, 2008 08:07PM
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Could it be that the song is about the record industry (the hypocrites) and how they make money with singers connected with (and even died of) drugs and on the other hand some bands (like tool) are blamed for making 'drug music'? It could be some kind of statement to this topic (just look at the "contains moderate drugs reference" sticker on the parabola single). Major parts of the lyrics would fit to that theory, the first to verses as a whole, in fact.
Every april, there are tons of stupid documentaries about Kirt Cobain for example - this could be one of the raised dead of which the graves are robbed. And the teenies (the innocent) are the ones in the cradles that get some little pieces of him (or Hendrix, Marley, you name it).
Furthermore it could be the "Hooker with a penis" or "Ticks & Leeches" song of 10,000 days (a song from the bands view on a particular problem).
Could be totally wrong, of course, but i kind of like this interpretation. And still - it is a great song, and it really does not matter if you got the 'right' interpretation of it, as long as you are happy with yours. This would be the band's intention as well, i guess.
anonymous
December 22nd, 2008 01:19PM
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This song is typical of Tool, and why they are followed so much.
IF you read or listen to many interviews with the band, they typically do not write songs that have a specific interpretation.
Their songs have many interpretations.
Many songs by bands are like looking at a piece of art that you have to work to figure out the deeper meaning.
Tool is different. Instead of providing a finished picture, their music provides you the canvas, brushes, and picks the colors to use.
Then you are left to paint the picture yourself.
That is why I can listen to their songs over and over and not get bored. I always find something new in them.
Depending on what I am going through during my life, or the mood I am in that day, the song can have a different meaning to me.
anonymous
December 29th, 2008 02:56AM
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There is parts of previous interpretations that are true; I just wanted to say that I think Maynard's sense of humor is getting overlooked a lot. I get the impression he was conceptualizing this song - which is about hypocrisy and false empathy - and came up with the concept of "The Pot"... and well, he thought it was funny and threw in the reference about being high. Maynard strikes me as a dry and witty guy and I think he likes having a laugh.
onprcntr
January 24th, 2009 03:18PM
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I read an interpretation a while ago and it makes perfect sense. Due it's track placement it adds up that this song is a response from his deceased mother's point of view and calling him a hypocrite. That is why he sings it in such a high voice. The lyrical content is showing her disdain for his lack of faith and all the bitching he does about religion and her faith. That is why she says "you must have been high" which to me sounds like something a mom would say. It also refers to delicacy of the image he has built for himself "soapbox/House of Cards"
anonymous
February 13th, 2009 07:37AM
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this song is about pikachu not evolving into raichu. the hypocritical nature of a pokimon not evolving into something more powerful due to its iconic friendship to ash is stronger then reason. if he evolved, he would no longer be the symbol of ash's growth, but pickachu's.
it would be the death of friendship, too high a sacrifice to pay for the friendship.
... or not. you can interpret it to mean may things to rationalize to to mean something you want it to be, or you could find the truth in the meaning, but you will never 100% know.
some interpretations, i agree with, others i dont. but thats just me :o
POKIMON FTW!!
anonymous
February 19th, 2009 09:18AM
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The song is about George W. Bush being a hypocrite. There are references to his legacy as president through various symbols. "muddy waters" reference to hurricane Katrina. "Kangaroo done hung the Jury/guilty" reference to Abu Gareib and Gitmo. Some references to the war on drugs. GWB was arrested for cocaine possession. "Cozened Indigo" describes a person that uses deceit in order to propagate his beliefs. The whole song is about Bush being a big fat hypocrit.
anonymous
May 22nd, 2009 04:05AM
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What is this "cozened" indigo. I thought it was Chosen indigo, as in the Indigo Child phenomenon, where parents think their unique precious snowflake is a Chosen One.
I know Cozened means liar, but Chosen makes more sense in this context.
anonymous
June 6th, 2009 02:13AM
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Ok this is what I think I think it's about hypocrites how people judge other people for doing the exact same thing and and try to glorify themselves by doing so
DIGDOUGDOGMAN
July 7th, 2009 01:52PM
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Ok I guess I am the only one that dosn't see this song as being about drugs and politics.
here we go
Who are you to wave your finger?
You must have been outta your head
Eye hole deep in muddy waters
You practically raised the dead
Who are you to call my beliefs crazy
your religion is based off of ones that came befor
Rob the grave to snow the cradle
Then burn the evidence down
Soapbox house of cards and glass so
Don't go tossin' your stones around
the church stole the idea of jebus being born on dec 25 from mithra and they burnd all the old templs and built thiers in thier place. It is so fragial and flimzy if you just look into it, it will fall apart like a house of cards
You must have been high
you must have been high to think I wouldn't have noticed
Foot in mouth and head up ass
So whatcha talkin' 'bout?
Difficult to dance 'round this one
'til you pull it out. boy,
go ahead and try to rebut this but you can't untill you admit to your lies
You must have been so high
Steal, borrow, refer, save your shady inference
Kangaroo done hung the jury with the innocent
there is no room for interpretation and anyone other that the athority has no buisness trying to and will be prosecuted with those who go directly against it.
Now you're weeping shades of cozened indigo
(Musta) got lemon juice up in your eye
When you pissed all over my black kettle.
every time scince advances you lose more of your myth and cry about it.
You must have been high!
Who are you to wave your finger?
So full of it
Eye balls deep in muddy waters
Fuckin' hypocrite
who are you to tell me I am wronge when you have blinded yourself with your own faith
Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me. What's the difference?
Kangaroo done hung the guilty with the innocent.
once again it dosnt matter if you are guilty or not the apperance of athority and the ability to prosecute anyone who appers to go against the fold is what holds thier power.
Now you're weeping shades of cozened indigo
(Musta) got lemon juice up in your eye
When you pissed all over my black kettle.
see above
You must've been...
So who are you to wave your finger?
Who are you to wave your fatty fingers at me?
You must have been out your mind
see above
Weepin' shades of indigo
Shed without a reason *
Weepin' shades of indigo
your wining about a myth
Liar, lawyer - mirror, for you what's the difference?
Kangaroo be stoned. He's guilty as the government.
see above
Now you're weeping shades of cozened indigo
(Musta) got lemon juice up in your eye
Now when you pissed all over my black kettle.
You must've been high!
Eyeballs deep in muddy waters
Eyeballs deep in muddy waters
Ganja? P-lease!
You must have been out your mind
thats my take
boobah
July 24th, 2009 08:17PM
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okay this is a pretty straightforward one but there is just one major element I want to add.
The Pot is a three way reference, Everyone knows the Pot calling the kettle black, and of course Cannabis,
This song is directed at someone who criticized M.'s past illegal drug use but they themselves drink Yage. (or Ayahuasca, google it) This is the easiest and most legal way to go about experiencing the effects of DMT.
It's a tea, that you spend ten hours brewing in a *POT*, occasionally squeezing fresh lemons into the brew for the right ph level, hence "you got lemon juice up in your eye"
When it's finished, it is opaque brown and looks like mud. "eyehole deep in muddy waters"
It is .. if made potent enough, Very hallucinogenic. WAY more than marijuana. Well, it's DMT, Tool fans ought know what that is. "Ganja, P-LEASE, you MUST have been out OF your mind!"
The thing is that may people who choose this way to take DMT excuse it because's "natural" and "healing" and "spiritual" and tribes have been doing it for hundreds of years so they come off very pretentious.
But it's still drugs.
(my experience with it: Everything I imagined I saw covered in green and purple stripes, PRECISELY like the Alex Grey painting of yellow striped skulls in the 10000 days packaging [except different colors]. This was a few weeks BEFORE I even saw that painting. I was QUITE shocked.)
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