Reviews for Eulogy Lyrics

Maynard has complicated views on religion. His mother was a very devout Christian (see Wings for Marie and 10,000 Days, which are about her and full of religious iconography); while he doesn't follow her beliefs he respects the way she lived her faith. My understanding is that he generally shuns organized religion and more than anything despises people who let others do their thinking for them.

In this song specifically, the line "Not all martyrs see divinity" would indicate that the subject is probably not Jesus since Jesus did claim divinity (and Maynard appears to leave open the possibility that one or more martyrs may be divine). I have also heard that the intended subject was L. Ron Hubbard, who was a complete fraud and whose lies people out of their money for his damnable sci-fi cult.

dear TonyG123, fuck you.
I don't know who you think you are for telling people that they are not true Tool fans. In case you were wondering, Maynard is an athist, and if you do not believe me, research it.
But please don't ridicule others for their beliefs.

This song according to Danny Carey is refering to L. Ron Hubbard, who in my opinion was a dick.
For those who don't know, Maynard writes his lyrics to follow the music of the song, and they can therefore be interpreted as the listener desires.

funny thing that there are actually web page hits for meaning of eulogy lyrics or some such thing--surely they could not mean absolute meaning, because we should understand that no matter what a song is about its meaning is subjective to the observer and their stock of knowledge and/or vibrational state of awareness--Anyway if you have really ever listened to tool with an open third eye you may have noticed that the sounds/vibrations of the music and voices (not the lyrics themselves) carry a purer, less prone to misinterpretation "meaning" of the song--intended by the artist or otherwise--tuning into these aspects of this communication is far more likely to produce an objective interpretation than simply turning the semantic puzzle that is the lyrics into another deveation of the same or similiar semantic puzzle--so know we might ask what is the meaning of the meaning--thus this method will leave you tumbling down the rabbit hole---In any case i see the song as speaking more generally about the individual ego, in particular your ego and mine ( or what we call ego--though the concept and the actual thing that may be isolated as ego may vary considerably--and i think that sentence is semantically tautological and therfore should not exist----yet it does..------a similiar ego based theme is played out in perfect circle's Judith which contains more direct if not more numerous mesianic references--"He did it all for you"--imagine this line being a reference to the necessity/"duty" of our ego--basically our soul/minds janitor or trash compactor--to keep our line as it were in tact until the real deal that is the commanding essense of of being recovers from attack upon humanity made by parties most likely responsible for the establishment of spiritual-cidal religion in what we call the world---so if you can make that leap at least another dimension will be open----and since messiah worship may just be reducable to self (ego-self) worship. father why have you forsaken me--being described as sinless the mouth of messiah uttered this phrase as no lie--so is it being revealed to him at the moment of his death the fruitlesness of the venture.. i should be easy enough to see that "god" is not anything that is not everything--and such its nature connot be defined within the finite mathmatical bounds of what we call real--nor since being conditioned to such a construct can our brains (or whatever) even generate crude models of infinity without mass confusion as the models would make no since to our reason--therfore in our current state everything that is not god but higher than man (and man himself) has become or created some form of finite describable GOD ready willing and able to enslave---blaze bla

Why are we so coaught in the undertow of the symbols--loosing all touch with reason and follow.

Jesus this and jesus that and blazeaa blazeaa bla.

Ok everybody realize that subjective meaning is all a song ever has--so stop trying to posit semantic rabbit holes for semantic black holes please.

This song may be in ways about one or another messiah figure, but when does a metaphor derive meaning from its explicit parts--basically the mesasiah ideas/architypes are so tied up in our heads they become powerful metaphotic tools--basically the connotation makes you want to pay attention to what is going on because we all seem to have some kind of strong emotion in this area--messiah architypes work really well for capturing attention and intension especially when you obliterate them as is the object of the message in eulogy--simply a rendition of many we have heard before.

"we were amused by this"

similiar to the way we read of news and christian read their bibles many that have posted here have tryed to take a part to describe the whole when the whole must be used to describe the parts because the whole contains the posibilities of all explanation while trying to induct from a part traps us with all sorts of logical atavism--for example here we take what we already think we know about this messiah and god person and try to make the whole universe/song conform to the values we associate with messiah--i would have thought this would be obvious--

but if you really want someone to blame you need not but look into a mirror--Basically the song, like many of tools psuedo-prophetisms is derived from the internal conflict of the human soul or the human incdividual conciousness--accept it or not there is actually no real difference bectween your soul and the whole soul accept your ego--which had a lot to say, had a whole lot of nothing to say, so i bash my skull through the window while looking over the sea. My catious ego fades.

ok...ive had many debates about this song, as it is very powerfully written. My good friend, however, pointed out, very plainly and on the basic level that this is lyricaly about the man who was tempted in to being Jesus Christ.

"You could be the one who saves me from my own existance." This could be a heartful, or snide direct reference to being saved.


"To ascend you must die.
You must be crucified
For our sins and our lies.
Goodbye!!!"

This actually sounds like a eulogy for Jesus Christ. Note that I'm talking about the man, not the idea. Like the guy being tricked into martyrdom.

I'm sure this isn't exactly how MJK meant the lyrics, but it was the funnest interpretation I've come across. Disect, destroy, enjoy.

i think it has to do with hypocrisy "Ranting and pointing his finger
At everything but his heart.
We'll miss him.
We'll miss him.
We're gonna miss him.
We're gonna miss him."
and i think it says that in order to go to heaven you have to be jesus or be crucified and that although "he had a lot to say", theyll miss him.

I'm not defending that other guy, but I can answer your questions TonyG123. There may or may not be a human soul. Personally I don't think there is, but it would be amazing if there is and I find some truth in all religions. Humans don't "know right from wrong" because there is no objective "right" or "wrong", it's all perspective. Morals were a creation of humans and we aren't born with it (see feral children). In different cultures, what one may consider "right" may be wrong in another. You're conditioned from birth through punishments and rewards to incorporate right and wrong values. We aren't the only animals that laugh or cry. You're forgetting that humans are just animals with more intelligence and bigger egos (although I wonder about the intelligence part sometimes). "exhibit true love"? I'm sorry but you seem to be glorifying human love as transcendental. Physical and personality traits we value in another for subconscious reasons. It's just another animalistic instinct, a sex drive, that we mask under layers of virtue and romanticism. A cohesive adaptation to have more of a chance of surviving our environment as a collective unit. Sounds bland but it doesn't make it any less amazing unless you want it too, but it surely isn't something supernatural. One thing is for sure: We can neither affirm nor deny anything beyond our natural experience and scope.

And by saying "I think you are depressed. I think you are an atheist." you're contradicting your own point by assuming things.

I love the sarcasm in the song, it drips with a dark humor. It's insightful, lyrically phrased, and meshes well with the deep current of the bass. As for the songs meaning... sure, it's a slam on martyrs and demagogues. And it could be a jab at Hubbard or Cobain or Jesus or whoever, whatever floats your boat. But, the main take away for me is that death (or a willingness to die) does not make a person's ideals any more relevant; it just makes them dead.

Maynard's a true artist in every sense of the word. Whether or not he has an ego that is over the top or not creates no real substantial issue to me as a tool fan....he just wants us to listen with an artist ear.....This song reminds me of the beggining of the una bombers manifesto, or that time that I had anal sex with that shemale midget in Guatemala.....Sarcasm is the holy grail of Maynard's ego and personally i wouldn't have it any other way....but i truly beleive that Mayanrd's inspiration for this song had to do with his perception of the world around him between the years of 1993-1996. Bill Hicks was certainly part of the equation in the creation of the album Aenima and the song Eulogy. But i would look deeper into that time period to find his true inspiration and meaning of the song...Tool's song's are always layered with one emotion and perception on top of the other, and I feel that Eulogy was a stern reflection of that time period in Maynard's heart and mind...ok

Not to say one's, or rather, any of your opinions doesn't matter, to the contrary they are quite important and detrimental to you and your existence, but imposing one's own opinion upon someone else and saying theirs is wrong is a little absurd. i think we all get what the lyrics here are saying and are getting the meaning for them interpreted in benefit and acknowledgement of our own little inhabited space and place in life. Does anyone know where this quote came from; "I'm too smart when your invisible to the bone and symbol on you. So he bashes his skull through the window while overlooking the sea. Twilight amber ego. We were amused by this."? It would be very much appreciated.

I think you are depressed. I think you are an atheist.The two don't mix well, you should be careful. It's one thing to be skeptical and curious, but its another thing to mock and put down a religion. People like you make me sick. I understand your belief, "the conservation of energy", "when we die we become part of the earth". Cool. But your forgetting about the human soul...how do humans know right from wrong, instinctively? Why are we the only animals that laugh and cry? Why are we the only animals that exhibit true love? Lastly, who are you to say a religion is "wrong"? You know about as much as the Christians do about anything celestial, and frankly, you don't know anything at all. What a Tool fan you are.

I have seen the Bill Hicks Bootlegs and Official videos and listened to the recordings as well.
If you read deeply into the politics of His Material then you will see what Tool means when they say they shared similar views on all matters.
What the song means (IMO):
It is from an audience member's perspective (especially like in the time of Jesus). Bill had very strong ideas that challenged the very foundations of everything that the Western World esp. USA held as important.
Now, the constant bombardment of information and ideas from the Media (which is owned and controlled with deceitful intent) controls the ideas and beliefs of the new world, such that subliminal messaging (not the ignorant idea of how you thought it works) has become overwhelmingly powerful in it's ability to overcome logic and common sense.
Bill Hicks spoke out about all of this but unfortunately his message fell on deaf ears because everyone had already fallen into the "web of subliminal comfort" spun by TV and the likes. (You wouldn't have believed his story back then). So basically, people would leave the playhouse at the end and then go back to the telvision and be cloaked again with the belief that there is no flood to worry about ("Ranting and point his finger" like Moses). As you may have known, Bill Hicks died of Pancreatic cancer and often held his side in pain during performances ("pointing his finger at everything but his heart"). i've gotta go but i'll be back with the rest when i get back. perhaps some links to some of the conspiracies that Hicks tried to expose as well. - GoatBoi

the way i have interpreted the song is it's about jesus...but on the other hand Maynard has stated in an interview that his lyrics arent written to mean one specific thing...it's all in how each person interprets them...so basically whatever you think the song means is right and whatever the next man thinks is right as well...i've heard many different "meanings" to this song from jesus, maynards mother to it being about kurt cobain...i think everyone should stop for a second and quit trying to prove another persons "meaning" wrong because it's not! it's all in what maynards songs mean to you. That's it!

The beauty of Maynard's lyrics are the play on double entendres (at times) it's impossible to decypher his true meaning...only he knows. Maynard is one of the greatest lyricist to provoke thoughts about evolution, religion, and human existance.

PLEASE! go read this one below!

Open your third eye! | Reviewer: The Goat Boy | 11/27/07

Goat Boy makes me proud to place myself in the same category!
Hicks is a legend and should be remembered among the greatest minds ever!

But as much as I agree with Goat boy, I think music should be enjoyed and interpreted your own way. If not for the brilliant and timeless lyrics, then for the amount of talent and beauty
poured into all of Tool's music.

Find how YOU relate!

That's why i will not say any one interpretation here is wrong (even though some of you are REAL close minded suckers of satan's c#ck!(yes, i quote some))

Also!

Re: Chaotic_angel_vahn@yahoo.com | Reviewer: Pat | 2/1/08

And feel free to check out Pat's youtube link.
Maynard is wise beyond his years.(Like Hicks)

If you are reading this, I assume you are seeking clarity on this song.
I hope you read my comment and the ones i referred to and make any other choices yourself!
Think for yourself...

Thank you.