Tool: Sober Meaning
Song Released: 1993
Sober Lyrics
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I think it's about some guy the band knows who can't think creatively unless he's under the influence.... actually I've heard quite a few people say that.
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Have you guys not been paying attention? In one of the flashes where you see the lead singer, he has bleading hands from the center of his palms. Watch it and you will know that this was directed toward the catholic church.
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Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over
It's not about anything to do with drinking or mind altering drugs but the idea of being apart of religion and the fact they they try to brainwash you into thinking that they are right nd everything you do/say/or believe is wrong unless you follow them.
Wel that's what I think anyway. -
Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over
It's not about anything to do with drinking or mind altering drugs but the idea of being apart of religion and the fact they they try to brainwash you into thinking that they are right nd everything you do/say/or believe is wrong unless you follow them.
Wel that's what I think anyway. -
Hahaha.. Its funny how the dude at the top of this page is calling everyone a moron for not "thinking" that this song is about jesus when he himself is a moron for thinking the same thing... This song IS NOT about Jesus or religion/Christianity.. In fact it has nothing to do with it..Maynerd is too good for that.. This song is about denied love."there's a shadow just behind me.shrouding every step I take,making every promise empty,pointing every finger at me." He's trying to deal with his lies and deception.. "Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
something but the past is done." he's asking for Jesus to make things better but the relationship is over. "why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over." he's talking about being drunk with passion and the feeling for her he must fulfill. -
Definately about religion, watch the video. One of the guys has something called "Stigmata". These holes are supposed to show up only on the saintliest of people or they can be self inflicted. Either way, it is definately about Jesus... I'm thinking the person this song was influenced by was molested by a priest.
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Theres a shadow just behind me.
< Past love
shrouding every step I take.
< makeing it so he/she dosnt want to make that mistake again
Making every promise empty.
< everything said would happen now never can
pointing every finger at me.
< blameing him/her for everything
Waiting like a stalking butler,
< some person wating for him/her
who upon the finger rests.
< this person is pointing him/her out
Murder now the path of must we,
< harassing him/her
just because the son has come.
< just because the answer is apparent
Jesus, won't you fucking whistle.
< something to break the silience I.E. Jesus Crist, Talk
something but the past and done.
< talk about something good not anything bad or what happen
Why can't we not be sober?
< why can't we act differantly
I just want to start this over.
< He/she wants to start over
Why can't we drink forever?
< Why want we act like this forever
I just want to start this over.
< realy stressing the want to start over
I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you. Trust in me and fall as well.
< Reconizing he is the problem
I will find a center in you. I will chew it up and leave.
< She/he will find your weak spot pick at it and leave
I will work to elevate you,
< She/he works to make them feel good
just enough to bring you down.
< enevitably just enough to realy fall hard
Mother mary, won't you whisper. Something but the past is done.
< Same as above
Why can't we not be sober? I just want to start this over.
Why can't we sleep forever? I just want to start this over.
< same as above without the exception for sleeping which could refur to how he/she is not going to change and only in dreaming can they be the way they want.
I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you. Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you. I will chew it up and leave.
< same as above
Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.
< He wants the person to believe he is a worthless liar and so on..
BTW this is my interpertation and I've read most over ours and I have infered they are right as well, and that's why tool is such a great band, for the inferance for the need they put to use your mind, to addapt it to what ever you place what ever hits home, and that's why we like music because it feels the way we do or we manipulate it so it does..
Why can't we not be sober. I just want to start things over.
Why can't we sleep forever. I just want to start this over.
I want what I want...
I want what I want...
I want what I want...
I want what I want... -
It's amazing how people love to incorporate their own beliefs and philosophies into songs meanings. Here is the only verifiable meaning of Tool's song Sober:
Tool guitarist Adam Jones has stated in an interview that the song is about a friend of the band whose artistic expression only comes out when he is under the influence. "A lot of people give him shit for that," Jones explains. "If you become addicted and a junkie, well, that's your fault."
Stop the religion bashing folks, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. -
It sounds to me...
(and I am not anti substance abuse at all - just an every day abuser)
That they had a friend that was pretty screwed up because of substance abuse -
and the interview was kind of to cover for him. -
The song is in reference to the 12 step movement in AA groups, or any kind of christian based addiction therapy group. Drug and alchohol dependants seek help for their addictions and the result is they have religion forced on them as a cure. The 12 step movement is a theme explored further in the album thirteenth step by a perfect circle.
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everyones a champ no doubt, everyone's spot on, i just want to add..it is about religion and probably the biggest "no no" in religion. suicide????
the line
"why cant we sleep forever, just want to start this over"
i think this refers to why cant we commit suicide and take matters into our own hands if our life isnt worth living and start again in a new life, why cant we commit suicide and sleep foreveor and start again in another life yet religion saying its a big no no....
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"there's a shadow just behind me,
shrouding every step I take,
making every promise empty,
pointing every finger at me."
This is taken directly from "the Shadow" in Carl Jung's ideas of one's self.
In Jungian psychology, the shadow or "shadow aspect" is a part of the unconscious mind consisting of repressed weaknesses, shortcomings, and instincts. It is one of the three most recognizable archetypes, the others being the anima and animus and the persona. "Everyone carries a shadow," Jung wrote, "and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is." [1] It may be (in part) one's link to more primitive animal instincts,[2] which are superseded during early childhood by the conscious mind.
According to Jung, the shadow, in being instinctive and irrational, is prone to project: turning a personal inferiority into a perceived moral deficiency in someone else. Jung writes that if these projections are unrecognized "The projection-making factor (the Shadow archetype) then has a free hand and can realize its object--if it has one--or bring about some other situation characteristic of its power." [3] These projections insulate and cripple individuals by forming an ever thicker fog of illusion between the ego and the real world.
Jung also believed that "in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness—or perhaps because of this—the shadow is the seat of creativity."[4]
Also interesting...
[edit] Spirituality as a cure for alcoholism
Jung recommended spirituality as a cure for alcoholism and he is considered to have had an indirect role in establishing Alcoholics Anonymous.[43] Jung's influence can sometimes be found in more unexpected quarters. For example, Jung once treated an American patient (Rowland Hazard III), suffering from chronic alcoholism. After working with the patient for some time and achieving no significant progress, Jung told the man that his alcoholic condition was near to hopeless, save only the possibility of a spiritual experience. Jung noted that occasionally such experiences had been known to reform alcoholics where all else had failed.
Rowland took Jung's advice seriously and set about seeking a personal spiritual experience. He returned home to the United States and joined a Christian evangelical Re-Armament movement known as the Oxford Group. He also told other alcoholics what Jung had told him about the importance of a spiritual experience. One of the alcoholics he told was Ebby Thacher, a long-time friend and drinking buddy of Bill Wilson, later co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Thacher told Wilson about Jung's ideas. Wilson, who was finding it impossible to maintain sobriety, was impressed and sought out his own spiritual experience. The influence of Jung thus indirectly found its way into the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous, the original twelve-step program, and from there into the whole twelve-step recovery movement, although AA as a whole is not Jungian and Jung had no role in the formation of that approach or the twelve steps. -
I truly believe that Sober deals with a multiple meaning all wraped into one song. While it is not named after a mental disorder or referring to one like many of the other songs, I believe that this song speaks of how a person can have so many inner demons. So many problems in there life that not dealing with these problem may throw someone into a withdrawal as if they have just finished a long Heroine beings. I believe the lines "I am just a worthless lier, I am just an imbecile" deal with bipolar issues and depression. In the beginning the lines "There's a shadow just behind me, shrouding every step I take, making every promise empty, pointing every finger at me. Waiting like a stalking butler, who upon the finger rests." Deals with schizophrenia. He calls to become Sober not in physical being, but to be mentally sober. To finally feel some what normal in life. He says "Jesus Wont you fucking whistle something but the past is done" Manly because like many people in todays world they can only find one source for all there past mistakes, for all there pain and it all roots back to why the fuck were we created in the first place, are we only toys for some big baby or are we lab rats. So I truly think this song realtes to many meanings all dealing with a very mentaly ill person.
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i agree with anti religous.
my interpretation on the actual term "sober" (i think) refers to how "drugs" open your mind to non-reality. dig deeper into what is not seen. a 3rd eye if you will -
Sober in my eyes is about a mans struggle with stress lies and his addiction to alcohol.
There's a shadow just behind me shrouding everystep I take.
This could be interpeted as his past or the things he has done that "follow" him around in his concience, and the people who know of this doubt his moves; or shroud or wrap in burial clothing, or killing his new steps.
"Making every promise empty."
The things he's done make people have no trust in him.
"Pointing every finger at me"
Everyone blames this person because of their past for things related to his past.
"Waiting like a stalking butler, who upon the finger rests."
His concience is waiting to catch up with him and his concience holds his past who is to blame for these problems.
"murder now the past called must we, just because the son has come"
Which is a metaphore for confessionals or praying for forgiveness because he believes he will die to meet the "Son" or Jesus.
"Jesus won't you fucking whistle something but the past and
done"
Meaning "Jesus won't you speak of my future and not my past" because it is not an acceptible past for jesus
Why can't we not be sober (double negative; "can we get drunk")
Just want to start this over (his life)
Why can't we drink forever
I just want to start things over (depression and regret of his past because of facing a higher power)
I am just a worthless liar, I am just an imbicile (these two are personal regrets of his past)
I will only complicate you, trust in me and fall as well (a warning to another person that he is a bad person and a bad influence)
I will find a center in you, I will chew it up and leave (I will find the good in you and break it down)
I will work to elevate you, just enough to break you down (I will lift you up to trust me just so I can break you down)
Mother Mary won't you whisper something but the past and done. (speak of my future not my regrets and past)
after this are repeated lines until
I want what I want x4
means I wan't a future whether the people in the song doubt him or define him by his regrets
-Matt Smith..
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