Tool: Jimmy Meaning

Jimmy Lyrics

What was it like to see
The face of your own stability
Suddenly look away
Leaving you with the dead and hopeless?

Eleven and she was gone.
Eleven is when we waved good-bye.
Eleven is standing still,
Waiting for me to free him
By coming...

1. skindeep1123

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   May 20th 2006 !⃝

   Going further on the kabbalah theory, I know 11 was a significant number with Aleister Crowley and the whole magick system, whom Tool is a big fan of. Crowley added the "k" to distinguish his "magick" from the more common known magic. "k" is the 11th letter in the alphabet, and number 11 in numerology means "hidden energies."
   
   I'm not an expert, but from my understanding, Magick is about changing reality at will. Crowley argues that there's a 4th dimension and we have to pierce through the looking-glass to be able to see this 4th dimension, which is related to opening the third eye. I interpreted the line "till one and one are one" as a reference to trying to achieve this opening of the third eye, or trying to see through to the 4th dimension.
   
   Well, that's my 2 cents.
2. AllenTehAwesome

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   Feb 21st 2006 !⃝

   Eleven I think, represents two things as a whole, but still two seperate things. "so we can reunite and both move on together." "'till one and one are one,
   eleven." As opposed to one and one becoming two, which is a whole, solitray digit.
   
   I believe that the song is about wanting to reunite with someone, but not wanting to come to close for fear of hurt.
3. AllenTehAwesome

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   Feb 21st 2006 !⃝

   Eleven I think, represents two things as a whole, but still two seperate things. "so we can reunite and both move on together." "'till one and one are one,
   eleven." As opposed to one and one becoming two, which is a whole, solitray digit.
   
   I believe that the song is about wanting to reunite with someone, bu not wanting to come to close for fear of hurt.
4. infinitepaths

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   Feb 3rd 2006 !⃝

   I really do not think that his only stability was his mother, and that the minute she left could have brought on all of these feelings and thoughts of questioning his young views and beliefs. I believe that it definetly must be more complex than just his mother leaving. It has to be from other things in his life, maybe his age and his experience in his life. Maybe seeing other people suffer when they were once people he looked up to for guidance. I do not doubt that if that whole thing with his mother did happen, I don't doubt that it played a major role, but not its core. I have endured much suffering in my life as everyone else does, but I did not know from that very point that everything I ever thought was nothing but another person's dream or view. I think that Maynard sings only now of his "eleven", speaking as an adult,and I highly doubt that he wrote this song just a couple of years after the age of eleven, like 12 or 13. I think that eleven only symbolizes the #1 + the #1 equaling eleven when they are joined together. Like in the song Schism, there being a split, being once one, now they are two. metaphor galore is what it is all about in most of his lyrics. I enjoy reading other people's views, if I did not, then I would not care to read them, I would only care about my own, but I am open to all that anyone has to say. That is why I think this way about tool lyrics. I would not enjoy his lyrics if I had a closed mind. --kate

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5. Zaq

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   Jan 24th 2006 !⃝

   James is actually his first name, but close enough.
   i agree with both of you, anonymous & infinatepaths.
   
   If indeed Maynards mother left when he was 11, then I believe "the face of your own stability" suddenly looking away is his mother leaving. This then leads lil' Maynard astray, leaves him questioning all that he knows, including his religious beliefs. This schism (no pun intended) starts him down his path to "enlightenment," if you will. If one starts questioning everything in life, then this person will come up with his own answers and personal truths. This is how Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha. He saw what life was like outside the castle walls, and upon witnessing all the pain and suffering, he sat beneath the Bodhi tree, began meditating, and the rest is history.
   
   I don't pretend to know or care to guess at the meaning of it all, so I'll leave you with that. Some Tool songs are too near and dear to me to overly interpret, this is one of those.

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6. anonymous

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   Dec 28th 2005 !⃝

   This song is about Maynard's early life and maybe something about how his mother left when he was eleven; Jimmy comes from James which is Maynards middle name.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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