What does Rosetta Stoned mean?

Tool: Rosetta Stoned Meaning

Album cover for Rosetta Stoned album cover
Get "Rosetta Stoned" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Rosetta Stoned Lyrics

ROSETTA STONED

All righty then... picture this if you will...
10 to 2 am, X, yogi DMT, and a box of krispy kreme's in my "need to know" pose just outside of area 51, contemplating the whole chosen people thingy when just then a flaming...

  1. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 22nd 2010 !⃝

    I just think the title, the why do you sounds like peanuts parents? and shit the bed are funnily smart

  2. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 5th 2010 !⃝

    Possibly a bill hicks eulogy i believe because it discusses about all the things bill hicks includes in his stand up example: "split the sky line" being abducted by aliens and telling him a message, his being that we all are one, and he was also i on drugs during the whole abduction thing...

  3. iamqqqqqqq
    click a star to vote
    Jun 3rd 2010 !⃝

    Bill Hicks was an avid defender of the use of magic mushrooms to open your third eye. Besides mushrooms, though, he would engage in a wide array of other mind-expanding activities, drug-based or not. One such activity was tying pillows around your head with a belt, to create a sensory deprivation experience.

    Since Tool knew Bill Hicks, and toured with him, it would not be surprising for him to have shared a number of his experiences with them, one of which was his tale of seeing UFOs "split the sky like a sheet", before taking him on-board to tell him telepathically that all humans were one being.

    I believe it is with these thoughts in mind that one can look at the song Roseta Stoned by Tool.

    (Preceding this with Lost Keys, where we see "The Narrator" arrive at the hospital, out of his gourd, before starting to spill his guts to the doctors about his experience during Roseta Stoned)

    ROSETA STONED:

    I believe the narrator of the story is not at Area 51 at all, but has, rather, tied himself to his own bed, where he can thrash, or lay, and inflict no damage on himself, and taken a large dose of the drugs he listed at the beginning (X, Yogi DMT). Lying in bed, with his pad of paper close by, should the need arise to write down his experiences, he begins to hallucinate that he is at Area 51, and aliens come and greet him, before taking him on board their ship. As he begins to trip wildly ("It was so wild, like I woke up in Wonderland / All sort of terrifying"), the alien beings tell him something of great importance, but he finds that he has, of course, left his pen far out of reach of his bed. Slipping in and out of hallucinatory reality, the Narrator finds he can't write anything down, and can no longer remember what the beings even told him.

    I believe the later lines of:

    Strapped down to my bed
    Feet cold and eyes red
    I'm out of my head
    Am I alive, am I dead
    Can't remember what they said
    Goddamn, shit the bed

    take place while the Narrator is tripping in his bedroom, while the additional lyrics when this series arises again:

    Sunkist, Sudafed, Gyroscopes and Infrared won't help, I'm brain dead

    are additional thoughts taking place, technically in the future, when he is at the hospital, in Lost Keys.

    My main point is that the Narrator is not at the hospital saying all these things, he is back in his own bedroom, tripping madly while tied to his own bed, and it pretty much blew his mind apart, leaving him a gibbering mess when he later goes to the hospital.

    R.I.P. Willy, we love ya.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 26th 2010 !⃝

    Obviously under the influence of DMT (and he must have smoked a heroic amount), he was visited by ET-like creatures and told he was the Chosen One. He was told he needed to be the one to spread their message, and those who didn't listen wouldn't survive. But he just can't remember the message. That would be a kick.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 27th 2010 !⃝

    This song doesn't have any conventional meaning. It's a description of a trip or a experience. Definitely acid, just feel it. I realized it when my mate said the same thing after acid "I shit my pants"..and he was so happy.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 5th 2010 !⃝

    ok it is about religion but the album is antigovernmental and anti sociological it is talking about the miscomunication between religion government and socity and even the name implies this (there are many meanings behind the names of tool's songs) the rossetta stone is a stone that had german egypt and one other launguage that escapes me right now but it is how we learned egyption hyrogliphics making the rosetta stone famouse and synonomus with comunication (ie calling someone a rosetta stone is calling them a comunication medium, rosetta stone launguage learning program) and the stoned part is basically saying that when your stoned you can't communicate and if you are a comunication medium who cannot comunicate properly you will have issues such as forgeting the message to save every human's life.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 28th 2010 !⃝

    If anyone has ever read communion by whitley streiber, a book about a mans experiences with alien abductions, they might see this too, but after reading the lyrics to this song I noticed a lot of similarities if not direct allusions to the book. "The chosen ones" is how the aliens referred to their abductees in the book. They were also trying to pass on a message to the humans in the book, but none could ever truly remember what it was. Just thought i'd throw this out there.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 13th 2010 !⃝

    I believe it has to do with the bands message in general. The dudes more then likely had some insane trips on drugs and learned some spectacular things about the mind because of it. They have so many messages and insights that are so seeming unreal that they aren't easily understood or communicated. So they know all these things and all this shit is building up, with the undertow of such a ridiculous burden (like knowing abuse) and then things get twisted up and spit out and it takes a while to cope. Its the tool formula, its this crazy song that really sums it up. Drugs...opiate...finding some bewildering thing, knowledge...undertow...pain of new shit, making a meaning...aenima...twisting it to make a puzzle, lateralus...making the puzzle a tool, and accepting it...10000 days.

    tool1pc@hotmail.com
    id love to hear feedback

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 21st 2009 !⃝

    My interpretation of Rosetta Stoned is that Maynard is describing one of his visits outside of a Top Sectret Military base in which he is sitting there with a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. And while waiting for what he believes is a visit from some sort of higher being, sitting in his "need to know pose" so in other words meditating, he decides to take some DMT. Now because DMT is naturally produced in the brain while you sleep, it is believed to be the cause of your dreams. This theory makes perfect sense because when you take DMT weather it be orally or through smoking it, it is almost impossible to remember your trip and you start to forget it almost immediately just like your dreams unless you think about it right away and right down the details. And one of the common trips or hallucinations of taking DMT is visits from higher beings or strange geometric shapes. Trust me as I would know. now when you dream, its like your in a whole other life, or an alternate reality. So just the same, when you take DMT when you're awake, your reality is replaced with another one. So in Maynards case, he was tripping on DMT and is pissed off because he forgot his pen and therefore could not right down the details of his trip in which an important message was revealed to him to share with the world but has failed to do so. I also believe this account to be a true one, and if not one of Maynard's experiences then maybe someone he was close to. Possibly the great Bill Hicks? Who knows. Either way, I do believe that natural drugs such as Shrooms, Pot and DMT do help us uncover great secrets to our existence as I have had many accounts like the one in Rosetta Stoned and some of them without the use of any drugs and I have achieved this only by meditation and opening my Third Eye.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 14th 2009 !⃝

    First, lets refer to the breathing man in lost keys. He is obviously freaked out beyond imagination. Rosetta Stoned must be his recount of what happened. Then, something must have happened. Lets assume (yeah I know) he was abducted in the first place. Then, lets assume he was abducted again, by military or another xenotheric(alien) race. If so, then they must have done something, something horrible to repress the memory of the first, the peaceful abduction.
    "Strapped done. My bed. Am I out my head."
    email me to discuss further at randomkidb@rochester.rr.com

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 7th 2009 !⃝

    This song IS I repeat IS about a DMT trip.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 6th 2009 !⃝

    Many people miss the big picture... Its not an acid trip people he says it in the song he is tripping on DMT, (Dimethatryptamine)If you know anything about tool you know that they are all about the Pineal Gland (THRID EYE). Your Pineal gland in your brian produces D.M.T when you reach REM sleep. This is the cause for your dreams. This is not about an acid trip! The Pineal and DMT are the gateway to your consciousness and the truth about life beyond your body. People should do more research on the Pineal Gland and DMT. DMT is the strongest holucenigen known to man and is produced by your brain every night while you sleep and right before death. HE SAYS HE IS ON IT IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SONG!!! ITS NOT ABOUT A STUPID ACID TRIP! Its about meeting those on the other side of your consciousness.. DMT brings you to a whole new dimension. Acid doesnt even come close. Most say that when on DMT you can talk to our creators and its like being transported to a whole new dimension. Isolation and depervation tanks are used a long with DMT to get the propper concentration needed to pass correctly without fear. WATCH the movie ALTERED STATE!!!

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 3rd 2009 !⃝

    I agree with the DMT trip explanation. An intense DMT trip can make a person loose both bladder and bowel control. Just like when you die, which is one of the times a large amount of natural DMT is produced in your Pineal gland. Maynard makes a reference to the protagonist pissing his pants and several of him shitting the bed. Last I heard no amount of LSD will make you do that. Also, the speed of the lyrics is much like the progression of a DMT trip, which is so short and intense it is hard to wrap ones brain around what the fuck just happened.

  14. Metal_Marcus139
    click a star to vote
    Oct 26th 2009 !⃝

    From what I've gathered,this song is about a DMT trip.For those who don't know what that does,I've read that it causes people to have immensely vivid hallucinations that may be forgotten if not written down,hence all the lyrics mentioning his pen and what not.I see a flaw in my interpretation though;him being able to tell of the story but yet keep mentioning that he should have written it down amkes little sense.That's just my opinion thoug;hopefully it's somewhat logical.

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 20th 2009 !⃝

    I always figured that it was a weird and kinda funny story about a guy on an drug trip that doubled as a commentary on what people choose to believe(religion). The protagonist, who comes from humble beginnings, has a mystical experience where he is visited by a seemingly all powerful being who tells him that he is the "chosen one." Sound familiar? It should. because this is how most religious stories begin. Anyways, the protagonist is clearly tripping or insane and therefore lacks credibility. But people blindly act and follow religions that are based on these stories where the protagonist is insane. Also, I saw another message. The title "Rosetta Stoned" refers to the actual Rosetta Stone which helped to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. The title seems to indicate that the message the protagonist received was translated wrong. After all, the protagonist is clearly having trouble conveying the message, and he "forgot his pen." On a wider scale, it suggests that even if the stories we are told by religions were remotely true, it would be most likely that their messages have been misinterpreted and/or their meanings have been lost over time. This is either a very agnostic song or Maynard just wrote it to make people like us blog about it(the former is most likely true).




More Tool songs »


 


Latest Articles

 


Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]




Just Posted

Steve's Going to London anonymous
Yes I'm A Mess anonymous
Droppin' Plates anonymous
Rat anonymous
Cry for the Moon anonymous
And the Snakes Start to Sing anonymous
Gingerbread Man anonymous
Not Like the Movies anonymous
This Masquerade anonymous
Birthday Suit anonymous
Dollhouse anonymous
Death anonymous
Copy Cat anonymous
I Hate Jimmy Page anonymous
I Hate Jimmy Page anonymous

(We won't give out your email)