What does Disposition mean?

Tool: Disposition Meaning

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Album cover for Disposition album cover

Disposition Lyrics

mention this to me
mention this to me
watch the weather change
watch the weather change
watch the weather change
watch the weather
change

mention this to me
mention something
mention anything
mention this to me
watch the weather...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    j2thab
    click a star to vote
    Aug 12th 2008 !⃝

    I think Maynard is defiantly using 'weather' as a metaphor for his mental state. So I think the message is both simple and profound depending on how you look at it. Someone mention something, anything to him and instantly he can 'watch the weather change' it shows how much we are influenced by external stimulus. If I say WAR or PEACE or YOGURT or any damn thing if you watch carefully you will notice a picture in your mind, or some internal dialog about what these words mean..... The weather is changing in you with every word I speak. SO I think it's an example of his sensitivity and reaction to stimulus.

    Also there is no doubt that Maynard has done a lot of inner work and has probably been involved with meditation or contemplation. This 'watching' of the weather is something really interesting.... most of the time we think we ARE our thoughts and emotions, rather than having thoughts and emotions. But if you watch your thoughts they are an object in your awareness, so who are you then? who is watching? The witness, the open space in which the thoughts arise. This is called the True Self in Zen.

    The True Self is likened to the sky, always open, spacious, it allows all the different weather patterns to happen, and just watches.... I think this song is about witnessing his mind and his reactions, and getting in touch with that part of himself which does not change. The weather changes but not the witness! hope you enjoyed this interpretation.

    Be Well

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    infinitepaths
    click a star to vote
    Jan 21st 2006 !⃝

    I honestly have listened to this song so many times that I have felt as if he were expressing experience through his journey of searching for any real answers. He speaks of the weather changing symboling "TIME". Time passes...still no answer...more time passes...nothing yet...etc. If you listen to him, he emphasizes more impatiance and despaire towards the middle end. You also can take into consideration the guitar, the music itself defines so much. Let the guitar touch you internally. Relax and feel his emotion through his words, DO NOT only read them, FEEL them, they sometimes define his meaning more accuratley. If it is too sappy for you, then goodluck with your own views, you seem to be doing...ummm...just fine. :)--KATE

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    Hermano08
    click a star to vote
    Nov 16th 2005 !⃝

    I think this words are related to the fact that all is connected in a systemic way, I mean that weather is a systematic process that works in cicles, like the other things in nature it has a pattern, and by watching it change we can change to, perceiving that we change to by watching our weather inside or our homeostasis in order to achieve an higher sense of self.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 26th 2014 !⃝

    I think it is about Maynard's Dad locking Maynard in his room as a little boy. And Maynard asks his dad what to do when he's super bored and his dad says to watch the weather change.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 22nd 2012 !⃝

    Listening to this song as way to help me feel relaxed and sleepy before i fall asleep helps me understand (personaly of course) the meaning behind disposition.

    I believe that this song is all about the effects of actions, an in particular the way our mood ("weather") can be swayed by something so easily ("mention something..").
    A prime example of this songs message would be me using this same song to help fall asleep.
    i used this song to help put me in the right mood for a good night's sleep, and what can be seen as nothing but sound waves, vibrations in my ear, or signals to my brain cause me to think of anything and everything in a different way, my mind now subject to the disposition of this music.
    thanks, enjoy the song

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 30th 2011 !⃝

    Hey, I am checking this blog using the phone and this appears to be kind of odd. Thought you'd wish to know. This is a great write-up nevertheless, did not mess that up.

    - David

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 25th 2010 !⃝

    I Think This song is about being in a bad way and not being able to ask for help. So you're waiting for someone to ask you if "something" is wrong. If "Anything" is wrong.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 17th 2010 !⃝

    I like all of the interpretations you guys have made so far, and even though it wasn't what I thought about this song, I agree with you that he seems bored and all that. The song is very slow, like the weather changing. But there is a sense of calm and wonder in the way Maynard sings and expresses himself here.
    What I thought after I had to walk home alone in the dark one night, and listened to this song, was that you should look at what is changing around you. The weather, your feelings, your partner, your friends. You should open your eyes, care about things and not walk around like a zombie not thinking, reacting or responding to your feelings.

    When I heard that night, it was the very first time, my headphones were fitted tight on my head, so there were practicly no other sounds from the outside that affected me; only a semi-cold, very dark, yet very thoughtful night ahead of me.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 2nd 2010 !⃝

    I am going to interpret the song Disposition as how I think it could apply to M's life. I don't know him and am not claiming to. I do know that he says his songs are what we make of them and how they can be applied to our own life experiences, as long as what we make of them is logical and reasonable. Anyways, if you listen to Disposition as a part of what has been referred to as "The Holy Gift", which is a rearrangement of the Lateralus tracklist based on the Fibonacci sequence, it comes after the song The Patient. In The Patient, M keeps saying "I must keep reminding myself of this..." which I interpret as to try to be patient during stressful moments in time or to just be patient in general, it is,after all, a virtue. He then goes on to say, "gonna wait it out". Now I understand this song can be viewed many different ways, depending on the listener's background and how it possibly relates to them, but think about how it could apply to M. In Disposition, M keeps saying "mention this to me. Something...anything..." As the song goes on it's almost as if he's pleading this to someone. I personally think he could be talking to his mother. I wouldn't know because I have never had to deal with a situation like M's but I can only imagine how something like ghat would wear on you day after day, year after year, decade after decade. I feel as if he's asking his mother for the strength to be patient and wait out the situation, and would literally like to get a reply from her, hence the "mention something...mention anything..." and because he knows she can't right now, he's going back to "watch the weather change". Think about having to endure something like that. I know it would definitely affect my disposition...

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 15th 2009 !⃝

    okay think about it. all he says is "mention this to me. watch the weather change." all these guys keeping talking about metaphor for changing weather but no one has said anything about the first part. i say he is talking about something specific. mention this one thing to me and watch MY weather change. weather meaning his mood. mention this thing and watch me get pissed. i think the song is just saying dont talk to me about this.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 16th 2009 !⃝

    I think in this song Maynard is trying to say that he can't believe some news he is hearing and wants to hear anything but the bad news, and as for the lyrics "watch the weather change" is the genesis of the situation changing, as he gets more accustomed to it,
    Thank you for you're time, PS TOOL ROCK

    --Anonymous

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 16th 2009 !⃝

    I think disposition is about our interpretation on life as we evolve and grow, in to something that is more human than itself, what I am trying to say is the song means, we are who we are and we have no way to disown that as we are changed into something more human than us,is it too hard too understand: take a pencil for example, a pencil is temporary and can be rubbed out, but, humans made a more permanent solution, a pen, think of us humans, as we are like the pencils, we are only temporary for this earth, and as we try too evolve into something more, (a pen) we cannot, that is my interpretation

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 11th 2008 !⃝

    Life.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 10th 2008 !⃝

    I think that the song is about the idea of acting in the midst of changes. like being able to act when things are changing in a way we can't really manage, like the weather.

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 23rd 2008 !⃝

    I heard in an interview that Maynard thinks that the music hold all the emotion and the lyrics/words just direct them

    so maybe in this song, he's leaving it up to you to direct the emotion all by yourself?

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 9th 2008 !⃝

    MJK: "If you look at the cycles of the moon, it starts as a thin crescent and then gradually waxes and becomes full; then it gradually wanes back into another crescent and then is gone. The moon reflects sunlight like humans reflect information. We wax and wane and when we become full moons, our egos are full. We think we have this knowledge when, in fact, the information we have is pure. And it reflects or shines off of us, is something we take credit for as though the moon could take credit for the light it reflects from the sun. We have to understand that we are egoless, just as the moon is without light. It and we are simply reflectors. The ego is not responsible for the information."

  17. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 5th 2008 !⃝

    I think everyone is looking way too far into this. A disposition is just a common state of self for some individual. Some people's dispositions include angry, sad, happy, giddy, etc.

    I think all Maynard is saying is that he really doesn't have a disposition. That is to say that he doesn't have a consistent mood, and that it's always changing.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 24th 2007 !⃝

    I think that the weather changing might be a reference of this song linking directly into reflection (the next track on the album)
    but once again I think Maynard has written a song that is interpreted however the person feels

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