What does The Pot mean?

Tool: The Pot Meaning

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Album cover for The Pot album cover

Song Released: 2006


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The Pot 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.

Rob the grave to snow the cradle,
And burn the evidence down.
Soapbox house of cards and glass,
So don't go...

  1. anonymous
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    Mar 2nd 2014 !⃝

    This song is not about marijuana use nor prosecution of marijuana users. It is about the hypocrisy of New Agers or possibly a particular New Ager. Helena Blavatsky used the phrase "the muddy waters of materialism" or "materiality" multiple times in her writings.


    “…An ark destined, in a future
    not too distant, to transport the humanity of a new cycle beyond
    the vast muddy waters of the deluge of hopeless materialism.” - “The Beacon of the Unknown”

    "When the artificial chilly flame of modern materialism is extinguished for lack of fuel, those for whom the great hope of existence beyond the grave is a vexation, should prepare for the greatest disappointment they could possible have. For out of the deep muddy waters of materiality, a mystic force is rising. It is but the first rustling, but it is a superhuman rustling - it is supernatural only for the superstitious and ignorant! The Spirit of truth is passing now over the face of dark waters; and, in parting them, is compelling them to reveal their spiritual treasures,. and this spirit is aforce that cannot be hindered, and can never, never, be stopped."

    I am uncertain of the source of this quote, so I cannot say with certainty that it is authentic.


    The "weeping shades of cozened indigo" is a reference to the ancient Egyptian udjat eye, with its blue tear running downward.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  2. anonymous
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    Aug 28th 2013 !⃝

    About the cozened indigo, its about a solution, that is blue indigo. When your eyeballs are too red because of the pot of other drugs, u put drops of that solution in your eyes to appear sober. Its a legal way to avoid problems... wheeping that cozened indigo...
    get it ? :) (I Used to put drops on my eyeballs too)

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  3. anonymous
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    Jan 19th 2013 !⃝

    I think the song points more to Politics and Weed as in the line "Who are you to wave your Finger" and "Rob the grave,to snow the cradels Then burn the Evidence Down Soapbox,house of cards and glass so dont go tossing your stones around ""Liar, lawyer,
    Mirror for ya,
    What's the difference?""He's guilty as the government".They all point to the Goverment Covering the lies and Falsenes of Religion and Other things that they hide,as well as Dope

  4. anonymous
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    Dec 19th 2011 !⃝

    My go at a coupe lines. Soapbox house if cards and glass don't be tossing your stones around. People used to preach on soapboxes in cities about anything and everything...house of cards sounds like a wealthy class if kings and queens being more valuable than the twos and threes. don't toss stones if you live in a glass house says the rest. Basically don't think your better and tell me I'm wrong if your standing in a pile of bullshit...... Weeping shades if cozen indigo weeping is loud and a strong emotion cozen being lies and indigo color of power. Don't cry out that your better than me if its bullshit

  5. anonymous
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    Nov 30th 2011 !⃝

    "Rob the grave" from what you put there to "Snow the cradle" cover your own crimes by replacing the truth with fake leads and then you "Burn the evidence down". Society robs the graves of the innocent to cover its own guilt and hide the truth from the generations to come. Like digging up a mass grave to burn the remains in order to hide the crime. This may also reflect that you can never entirely or forever hide the truth. Someone at some point will inevitably expose you as the hypocrite you are.

    "Rob the grave to snow the cradle" could also be interpreted as a child (innocence applied) being missing from the cradle (innocence/truth is not being told) so you "rob the grave" to put something in the cradle instead of the child a.k.a. you "snow the cradle" to cover up that the emperor indeed wears no clothes and thus you turn into a hypocrite.

    In order to go through that much effort to show to the world that you are just another hypocrite you must have been high.

  6. anonymous
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    Nov 20th 2011 !⃝

    kangaroo done hung the guilty with the innocents.
    kangaroo is shortening the kangaroo court, in a kangaroo court they abuse the laws and rules of an actual court room, and one thing they abuse the #1 rule is the right to presume innocent until proven guilty.

  7. anonymous
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    Sep 29th 2011 !⃝

    Eyeballs deep in muddy waters..

    I always thought that meant "you're full of shit" :\

  8. anonymous
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    Jun 12th 2011 !⃝

    I think it is about drugs and politics.

  9. Fred Parker
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    Jun 8th 2011 !⃝

    this all has to do with the way he specifies kangaroo done hung the juror with the Innocent, look up a kangaroo court, this song is directly talking about the claims made by the people of acting on behalf of Sovereignty in the Federal U.S. and how the Officers of the law, Usually in blue, or Indigo, make and enforce these claims, that you are not liable to abide by, hence putting lemon juice in a persons eye, it stings, but it won't kill you. so your eyes sting, and your now in the kangaroo court system, and you take all your innocence, at this point having not broken the law, and Hang the guilty, the guilty are the wrongful accusers.

  10. Panman92
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    Jun 6th 2011 !⃝

    I'm going to have to agree with the Cheif Black Kettle idea, seeing as how Lipan Conjuring, which is a native american chant, is the song right after The Pot. It's not just filler, it's a hint :). Although there is definately more going on than just the Chief Black Kettle idea, especially this post:
    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 Dec 21st 2006, 16:07

    as well as the "pot calling the kettle black" saying

  11. eyemme1
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    May 29th 2011 !⃝

    People are thinking way to much & making it sound as if it was about anarchy. Actually it's simple. People worry too much about others & their faults or habits as to deflect from their own shortcomings. Soapbox= a person thinking they are hollier than thou and believe they are speaking from a higher apex which is going downhill slowly..house of cards=a very weak philosophy that will crumble with the slightest touch..glass (representing a glass house) where people can see into & attempt to break the other persons way of thinking or personal way of living (like sombody not agreeing with someone being gay??) But fail to realize that they to live with the same oppressions from others who try & shatter or demolish their (home) way of living. To sum it up...don't attempt to clean my house because yours may be more "filthy than mine) FIX YOUR OWN BULLSHIT & QUIT WORRYING ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK IS UNACCETABLE IN MINE

  12. anonymous
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    Apr 13th 2011 !⃝

    I believe this song is pretty much about one subject.

    "Kangaroo done hung the juror, with the innocent."

    "Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me, what’s the difference?"

    "GANJA? PLEASE!"

    "You must have been high."

    Simply put,It seems to be from the point of view of someone that went to court for a marijuana charge.

  13. anonymous
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    Feb 24th 2011 !⃝

    You people are so dense.

    The Title itself is a play on words. Referring to both the old saying and marijuana.

  14. anonymous
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    Jan 19th 2011 !⃝

    Most of the time, you have to really do your research in order to try to make sense of TOOL lyrics. In this song however, in my opinion. The meaning is pretty obvious. We have strict laws on marijuana use in most parts of this country,and as in most parts of the world. One would be a hypocrite "calling the kettle black" in lawfully putting a marijuana user in jail, but enjoying your alcahol as you do it.

  15. anonymous
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    Dec 6th 2010 !⃝

    There is an old saying going “the pot calling the kettle black”. This expression is used to accuse a person of being guilty. Now, let's look at some lyrics. As we now know, the name of the song is “the pot” which is referable to the drug “marijuana”, so note how they always repeat in the song “you must've been high”.

    Returning to the “kettle black“ as I mentioned earlier, the saying “the pot calling the kettle black” is used as an expression to accuse someone of being guilty. So, in the song, one line says “when you pissed all over my black kettle” and the name of the song is, the pot. Add that together, and you get our old, dear and familiar saying. So obviously the song is trying to express that someone is guilty, let's look a little further to find out who the guilty could be.

    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

    Here we have the opening lines of the song, from the beginning we can identify the main-character. Let's start with some basic facts, “who are you to wave your finger?”, the main-character is obviously a leader of some kind, possibly also a wealthy citizen. “you must have been outta your head”, now we discovered who the guilty one is, Our first line confirmed the character, the second line confirmed the current situation for our main character. Our main-character is a lying, cheating and shameful person, but why “is he outta his head?”. He is trying to put the guilt on the lower man, but how do we know that?

    Steal, borrow, refer, save your shady inference
    Kangaroo done hung the juror with the innocent


    And there we go. Let's look at the first line, “steal, borrow, refer” work your way backwards in that, shouldn't be hard to see which word is “true” and which is “false”. Let's say for now that our main-character plays in the role of a leader. What powers does a leader have over his people. Remember now, that a leader do not need the love and respect of his people to benefit his own twisted leadership. And this brings us back to “steal, borrow, refer” no use in those last two “save your shady inference”. The leader uses taxes, city founds whatever he has to do, to keep his little party going.

    Liar, Lawyer; mirror for ya', what's the difference?

    Out main-character uses a role change, and becomes wealthy citizen. To benefit his own needs, nothing can stand in his way, mister wealthy citizen and his lawyer are the same men, in different outfits. Both the lawyer and the man will do anything to benefit their own needs. The lawyer does not care about right or wrong as long as his client goes free. So what is he, liar or lawyer. Mister wealthy citizen owns one of the biggest tobacco factories in America, he purposely a lot of nicotine in all his products to create a strong addiction among his customers. Mister wealthy citizen is fully aware of the extreme damages of smoking, but willingly put ton's and ton's of nicotine in his product to sell his product, some one sues our big fancy wealthy citizen, and who shows up? Our lawyer (liar), thanks to mister lawyer our fancy citizen go free and can continue to sell suicide sticks to his already F**ked up society, thanks to our wonderful leader.

    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

    When it's about having a high status, and extreme power in society, mister wealthy citizen is not alone. There are 100s like him, all gathered in soapbox house, all posing as cards, aces, queens, kings. It's all a very delicate and dangerous place to thread, even for those who built it, this is a house of lies, built on cheating and exploiting, delicate like the finest glass. Suddenly our fancy mister wealthy citizen gets a chance to turn from his twisted nature, but he has strict orders to “don't go tossing stones around”

    Okay, now we need to get back to to the beginning of the song. This song has several references to drug abuse and marijuana, but this is only used as a metaphor for the lack of control these “cards in the soapbox” has.

    In conclusion, the song is a detailed analyse of the societies which can't manage to keep a certain balance.

    Any questions, direct them to me.


    I wrote this marlenne, AK




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