Tool: Sober Meaning

Song Released: 1993

Sober Lyrics

There's a shadow just behind me, shrouding every breath I take, making every promise empty, pointing every finger at me. Waiting like a stalking butler who upon the finger rests. Murder now the path of must we just because the son has come....

1. anonymous

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   Dec 12th 2007 !⃝

   Adam Jones said during an interview this song is questioning why we can't drink or do drugs. Hence the lyric "why can't we not be sober".
2. anonymous

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   Nov 30th 2007 !⃝

   To all of those who think its Maynard singing about his past...no. You're an idiot. As many people know who he is now is basically the opposite of his past(he joined the army though now he hates authority, he grew up in an episcopal family though now he despises religion, etc) so I can see how you think it's about Maynard wishing to forget his past, however you forget forty-six and 2. Step into my shadow? The shadow being everything he has suppressed and hated, stepping into his shadow created who he is, and without his past, he wouldn't have that shadow and wouldn't be who he is. Therfore, your fundementally wrong. It's about religion. He hates religion in every way. Like the song 'The Pot' not only defends drugs but says those who created society must hav been high(more like crazy but it fit into the song) Sober points to being drunk while thinking up religion, and how religion is drunk with power while dictating many people's lives. This can be found in the song Third Eye. A lyric goes: So glad I'm sober. This means while opening his third eye(seeing people, society, religion, authority figures, and life for what they really are) he is able to think clearly, which shows that the 'sober' part of the song Sober is thinking clearly and disbaning religion.
3. anonymous

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   Nov 13th 2007 !⃝

   The only reason I submitted this is because I'm making translations of the music of tool so my non-english speaking friends who love Tool should understand the lyrics better..
   
   I agree with the alcoholic/druguser version of interpretation, regardless if it's just about Maynard or the archetype of The Ex-Alcoholist(if you've ever met one, you can tell this song is a perfect definition of the mental-parasyte that leeches off people wanting to help him/her.).On the other hand I'd have to be a total atheist to fully take in the anti-christian message which is there whatsoever.
   
   The only line can't fully translate or don't understand is the: "who upon the finger rests". If somone'd help me by discussing this, i'd be grateful..
4. anonymous

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   Oct 9th 2007 !⃝

   I think that Maynard leaves his songs with no certain interpretation. I think that he lets you interpret in your own way. So there is no right or wrong interpretation.
   
   I honestly think that this song is about a bad acid trip. Because I had a bad trip the other day, and I found myself saying things like, "Dude, I need this to be over" "I need to go to sleep or something" "I want this to be over"
   
   "Theres a shadow just behind me. Shrouding every step I take. Waiting like a stalking butler, who upon the finger rests."
   This line reminds me of the the paranoia I had during my bad trip. I always would think that everyone would know that I was tripping.
   
   "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 this over."
   During my bad trip, I wanted to be sober. I wanted to go to sleep and wake up sober. I wanted to drink enough that it would put me to sleep.
   
   "I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecile.
   I will only complicate you. Trust in me and fall as well."
   When I was having the bad trip, I was basically autistic for a couple of hours. I thought stupid thoughts. I started to think that everything was my own imagination.Therefore I was an idiot. I was asking complicated questions. If my friend ,that was also trippin', believed me, then he might have gone into a bad trip.
   
   I didn't say all that stuff during my bad trip just because I like Tool. I said that stuff when I was "autistic." When I was "autistic", I couldnt comprehend anything. I couldnt hear my friends because the walls were louder than them. I couldnt comprehend that. I didn't comprehend what breathing was. All that I could say was, "Am I dead? I want this to be over. I need to sleep and wake up sober. I need alcohol to put me to sleep. Oh my God, is this the end? I want it to be over.
   
   This interpretation doesn't apply to everyone. But it applies to me. There is no right or wrong interpretation.
5. anonymous

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   Sep 3rd 2007 !⃝

   To me this song has nothing to do with drinking or drug addiction. To me he is talking a stab at christianity. He's saying how jesus happened 2000 years ago and we still worship it. He wants something to happen now and believe in the present. I could be wrong, but to me sober is being free from all the christaianity
6. anonymous

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   Aug 26th 2007 !⃝

   To me this song is all about christianity. he's saying how jesus was 2000 years ago. and we need to forget about that and concentrate on the present. quot living in the past. Stop believing things from a long time ago and believe in something now. so to me sober is being free from christianity. maybe I'm way off????
7. anonymous

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   Aug 21st 2007 !⃝

   To me the song is about christianity. I think they are saying how everything in the bible and religion happened a long time ago. And how Maynard wants people to focus on things now. To me sober is being from christianity
8. YourFan

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   Jul 24th 2007 !⃝

   This is my favorite Tool song
   I agree with most of you but I heard on an interview that Adam Jones said it's a song about a friend of the band whose artistic expression only comes out when he is under the influence. I'm pretty sure that's not it, though.
9. SongBird_Singer

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   Apr 21st 2007 !⃝

   Geez, there are a lot of angry Tool fans....huh....
   
   anyway, I think Tool wants you to interpret the song on your own.
   whether it be about drugs, alcohol,religion,sex, love, murder, jesus or mother mary and so on-- it doesnt' matter!! I love the Undertow album, it's just so great.
   To me the song personally means that a man has been through such a bad life caused by his own decisions and demons that he just does not want to be sober. He gives into his own evils, and brings down the one's he loves with him.
   It's tragic, but brilliant. :D
10. anonymous

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    Apr 3rd 2007 !⃝

    I have an old "Guitar School" magazine, and in it they interview Adam when Undertow first broke, and they talk to him about the "Sober" video. Adam says, that this song is about someone the band knows who was only at his artistic best when he was drunk. Like ALL Tool songs, the lyrics go with the "Your Own Interpretation" theory. So Adam could've just been saying what HIS interpretation of the song is. But that's my little bit of input into this, and it's from Adam. Personally for me, being someone who was once in a struggling semi-pro band, being drunk a lot, I can relate to this and see how Adam's interpretation could be true. Again, it's only ONE point of view, and so far from what I've read here, all of them could be true!!
11. anonymous

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    Mar 10th 2007 !⃝

    I agree with most religious interpretations or at least that it is about religion. The song is at first from the viewpoint of a christian and then it is him speaking to an atheist which he believes is as empty as the religion which came from his past but is scary so he drinks religion, numbness from questioning, consciousness.
    
    Btw, this song isnt on Opiate it's on Undertow, and the video makes some sense when you watch it knowing it's about religion. I won't lie it toke me ages to figure out but that is what is so great about Tool.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Feb 21st 2007 !⃝

    I agree with most of what you guys are saying with the anti-religious feel;
    Chew on this, however, say the shadow that he is referring to is in essence the same shadow that Carl Jung spoke of- except in this case the shadow is society's ugly side, or what most people generally accept as being sinful.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. anonymous

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    Feb 19th 2007 !⃝

    i agree with all the people who think this song is talking about religion, any real Tool fan would know that...the song is talking about how religion always make you feel guilty for the so-called sins that people do everyday.(this is the finger that keeps "pointing" at him in the beginning) ... Tool doesn't believe in religions if you read the little except in the booklet on the "Ænima" album it says how religion allows the brain to stop thinking/asking questions making the brain useless "believe in nothing!"...also on the "opiate" album they say religion is the opiate(depressant drug) of the world...so in the song when he ask "why can't we not be sober?" he's saying why can't society/mankind wake-up and realize how ridiculous religion is and how it keeps people from really living there lives and thinking for themselves.
    
    "jesus won't you fucking whistle"..lol that is so funny to me
14. anonymous

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    Feb 5th 2007 !⃝

    There's a shadow just behind me,
    shrouding every breath I take,
    making every promise empty,
    pointing every finger at me.
    Waiting like a stalking butler
    who upon the finger rests.
    Murder now the path called "must we"
    just before the son has come.
    (I think of this part as past relationships and how they've failed and you just keep in mind that these troubles in the past can happen again and that thought is like a 'shadow' following you everywhere)
    
    Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
    something but the past and done? (Jesus is a metaphor for people with power in your life that keep reminding you about 'the past and done' and all the pitfalls of love)
    
    Why can't we not be sober?
    I just want to start this over.
    (love is intoxicating, we do weird things when in it, you don't want to be in love but you still want to have someone to be with, and you think you can do better if you try it over.)
    
    Why can't we drink forever. (we want to still have fun with the opposite gender, and the same for all you homosexuals, but not have to fall in love)
    
    
    I just want to start things over. (again, you want to start over and give it another shot, because you think you can do better)
    
    I am just a worthless liar.
    I am just an imbecile.
    I will only complicate you.
    Trust in me and fall as well.(you don't feel good enough for this person but you are willing and kind of want to give it a try)
    
    
    I will find a center in you.
    I will chew it up and leave,
    I will work to elevate you
    just enough to bring you down. (you will find a bad thing in this person and over exaggerate it, just to feel like you have power)
    
    Trust me. (you know its true, and they don't believe you)
    
    Mother Mary won't you whisper
    something but what's past and done. (Mary is a metaphor for people with power in your life that keep reminding you about 'the past and done' and all of your past failures of love)
    
    
    Trust me.
    
    
    
    i just got these lyrics from TDN but some parts are left out
    
    and this is what this song reminds me of its not what I think it meant to Maynard,(I think its a waste to try and figure out what the actual meaning is) its what it means to me

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
15. anonymous

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    Feb 1st 2007 !⃝

    pretty spot on you guys who interpret it as being about religion. I only disagree slightly.
    i don't think the chorus is actually about drinking, or literally being under the influence of drugs. The inebriation that Maynard is referring too is that of religion itself.
    this is off of the album opiate, remember?
    religion is said to be the opiate of the world.

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