Tool: Forty Six & 2 Meaning
Song Released: 1998
Forty Six & 2 Lyrics
Shedding skin and
I've been picking
Scabs again.
I'm down
Digging through
My old muscles
Looking for a clue.
I've been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could've been.
I've been wallowing in my own confused
And...
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Oh, and one last thing, all humans have 46 + X and Y chromosomes, period.
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Dear all, I didn't take the time to read every comment here but I'd like to make some clarifications. Evolution occurs within chromosomes, chromosome adding (species creating) happens about a hundredth the time as genetic mutations. 46 and 2 likely refers to the splitting process that happens in sperm creation, where the genes break into two, one their shadow, one the actual or origial genetic string along the chromosome. The song definitely has connotations of both spirituality, and evolution. There are scientifically mysterious processes that occur to fix genetic messups or aberrations, which is what "picking my scabs again" refers to. Listen to my muscle memory refers to how humans know certain motions entirely on their own, more than just walking. "I choose to live and grow..." refers to life in general, and he understands mitosis, which is what this song is about and how the original cells and genetic material a person is born with change with age because they are constantly copying (their shadow) to make new cells, he is continually losing his old armor, shedding skin.
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SMRT your full of shit. okay, I don't care how many years of college youve had but your wasting your time writing all those paragraphs because nobody cares about what you have to say about the song and it kinda makes me mad that your bashing Maynard he's a great singer/songwriter and he's one of the best at puting emotion in his songs. Its a great song anyway no matter how much scientific bull shit you have to say about it and you might have a great understanding of being a doctor but youll never understand music.
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i think that hes looking for a religion in a way maybe christianity in the beginging of the song and change in that way or change into a jesus like person when he starts getting into the forty six and 2 suff which could take the jesus meaning, but towards the end the whole meaning of that changes to where hed be just as powerful as jesus but opposite morals. ha if that makes sense to you
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Seems most of the posts have overexplained the meaning. The song is about a metamorphosis of self. The lyrics and "sound" of the song and Frankly of Tool as a whole is a peek into the dark side. The change is of self becoming evil and on the cusp of acting out the evil. IMO.
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its about analitical psycology if you research it it will talk about shadows and chromosomes but im in a hurry so i cant explane it sorry.
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this is an Iching reading the image of break through... the shadow is a jung term you almost have to study C.G. yung to understand tool. although it will change your life and your understanding of tool.
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I see this as him trying to change what is wrong with him (I've been clearing out what coulda been) and he is feeling evil (I've been crawling on my belly [as a snake does the personification of the devil] and he has been going through his past mistakes (I've been picking through my scabs again)and he has a lot of them (iv been picking through muscle now) and he is trying to gain divinity (46+2 ahead of me)
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Well forgive me guys, I'm not as "accredited" as a few people that are here, all claiming to be mathematicians and physicists and experts in Carl Jung's theories and philosophies, but I have done some homework on Maynard, and have fully immersed myself in the "frightening terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are or where we are going in this ocean of chaos...". My point here references a different song, but understanding Tool's influences and interests, such as the classic Bill Hicks that I just quoted, or the interest in Sacred Geometry, Feng Shui, and mind altering states of conscience. I also know how much of the songs were influenced by the pain he experienced growing up and the pain he went through with his mother, who god rest her was strong for what she faced. I will say once you know more about Maynard in particular you can really understand his music, because only part of the song is the words, and more meaning can be derived from tone and emotional inflect than by the words. Inevitably, you would be reminded by Tool to think for yourself, find out what it means to you, and hold on to that meaning!
But never mind background, here's my insight:
My shadow's
Shedding skin and
I've been picking
Scabs again
[the shadow is the noncoporial, ethereal self, or soul, and shedding skin refers to the body failing]
[picking scabs is a reference to reopening old wounds, experiencing the same pain, in some it is in remembrance]
I'm down
Digging through
My old muscles
For a clue
[Down as in down and out, in dire straits, etc, and digging through old muscles is about sizing yourself up and reviewing the past]
I've been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could've been
[a metaphor for barely surviving, and trying to get past the regret of the paths not taken]
I've been wallowing in my own confused
And insecure delusions
[of righteousness and faith, probably due to Christian upbringing]
For a piece to cross me over
Or a word to guide me in
I wanna feel the changes coming down
I wanna know what I've been hiding in
[references to the hope for transcendence, to be one with the god-head]
My shadow
Change is coming through my shadow
My shadow's shedding skin
I've been picking
My scabs again
I've been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could've been
I've been wallowing in my own chaotic
And insecure delusions
I wanna feel the change consume me,
Feel the outside turning in
I wanna feel the metamorphosis and
Cleansing I've endured within
[wants to shed this mortal coil and be free from the pain and suffering of this caporial existance, wanting to know that the pain he's experienced is a trial by fire of sorts]
My shadow
Change is coming
Now is my time
Listen to my muscle memory
Contemplate what I've been clinging to
Forty six and two ahead of me
[46+2 ties into sacred geometry and higher levels of existence, transcendence, and a more god-like state]
I choose to live and to
Grow, take and give and to
Move, learn and love and to
Cry, kill and die and to
Be paranoid and to
Lie, hate and fear and to
Do what it takes to move through
[these are all steps to transcendence, experiencing this reality from all sides and all paths, to experience all it has to offer. After all, that's the meaning of life, eh?]
I choose to live and to
Lie, kill and give and to
Die, learn and love and to
Do what it takes to step through
See my shadow changing,
Stretching up and over me
Soften this old armor
Hoping I can clear the way
By stepping through my shadow,
Coming out the other side
Step into the shadow
Forty six and two are just ahead of me
[this old armor represents callouses of life, like a hardened heart, hide, and mind, just to escape into something more spiritual and free of form. To exist as pure energy, both positive and negative] -
I don't know if anyone has said this or not... but I'm not reading all of these interpretations to find out. what I came up with is this: 46/2=23. 2/3=.666, a number commonly know as the number of the beast. also 46-2=44, in the bible 44 is a number seen very often. in the book of Revelation it is said that 4400 people will be saved when the apocalypse comes.
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Ok, there's seems to be a lot of somewhat of misinterpretation of this song. Though I believe everyone can have their own opinion its better to see under the light of which Maynard truly sees it
The song is all about life, death & rebirth. One is born with an ego, this ego clings on to things to substantiate its reality in a swarming abyss of possibilities. Yet in order to lose the ego one has "shed the skin" by contemplating, by contemplating the person realizes what the true self believes regardless of exterior influence which is "SELF-realization".
"Crawling on my belly, clearing out what could have been, Ive been wallowing in my own confused & insecure delusions". Now when one is on the road to higher consciousness the ego needs to be eliminated. But the only way to do this is have that part of ourselves, our shadow self or ego, project itself into ones own conscious both mentally & physically. This allow the person to become aware, a very scorpionic trait in the zodiacal calander. Its basically projecting to people & ones own mental contemplation the old self which will manifest as lying, deceit, mental predjudice & so on, that stems from precedent lives, the things you have rejected in them & inherited genes from the family line.
Hes also desperately trying to find a way upwards, a way to higher consciousness. Yet when one starts taking psychedelics and other intense practices you are basically throwing yourself into a world of illusions. This world has a purpose though, its meant to "Clear out what could have been". Delusions of power, grandeur, being something your not, the way reality actually works, higher dimensional awareness that might be contradicted by another thought right after. So this basically forces the mind to not latch onto anything that comes its way because it begins confusing you. The illusions swarm and your trying to "clutch them like a cornerstone", to feel whole & stable but constantly this plateau of comfort keeps getting contradicted making you dig deeper.
Though Tool never mentions it, much of what they talk about alludes to 2012. "Looking for a peice to cross me over or a word to guide me in" he's searching desperately for something that will allow him to cross to into the next world since an intellectual insecurity that he may not understand or be ready for it predominates. Another very obvious remark in "the grudge" is Saturn, ruler of Karma, Capricorn & Aquarius. So he's looking for this ability, to be ready to raise into higher consciousness, away from the dissonance, to face the shadow so that he can greet his own self as well as this future ascension into the new world. Everyone has to face their shadow before that, so he is doing what he must to elevate. This also is connected to the spiral of evolution mentioned in Lateralus, also signifying the 7th crown chakra. -
As some have stated 46+2 is a metaphor for evolving. It doesn't relate to a literal physical evolution. I agree with those who see Carl Jung's theories at work in the lyrics. Here is a Carl Jung passage I found that helps shed some light. Not only do you make this external journey of real experience, but inwardly as well.
"Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to abandon exact science, put away his scholar's gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart through the world. There in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab suburban pubs, in brothels and gambling-hells, in the salons of the elegant, the Stock Exchanges, socialist meetings, churches, revivalist gatherings and ecstatic sects, through love and hate, through the experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reap richer stores of knowledge than text-books a foot thick could give him, and he will know how to doctor the sick with a real knowledge of the human soul." -- Carl Jung -
well i have see what a lot of you people have been thinking and 99% of it is good thinking. I i believe that this song 46 and 2 is one of the all time greats (it may also be because it was the first tool song i ever heard.) I do believe that this song is about evolution, maybe not on the masurable scal of humans at this point but, evolution non-the-less. We as a speciase are constantly evolving and so are other things around us. Snakes have not always been poisonis they had to evolve it for their own good (snakes did have legs at one point in time.)So if I where you (and I'm not) I would not take this song at face value. Maynerd is an extremly complex individual so this song could be about finding the perfect shampoo for all we know, lets just try to give it our best guess and also listen to alternat points of viwe for a change. think for yourself and question athority!!!!!!!!!
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Hey. Just so everyone knows, the fact that humans have 46 chromosomes and our 'evolutionary predecessors' have 48. Chromosomes are symmetrical (double helix) a pair of chromosomes in our evolutionary history actually fused together. And the &2 part refers to the 2 sex chromosomes x or/and y.
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