Tool: Opiate Meaning
Opiate Lyrics
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As many have said above me, i believe that that song name alone is enough to give you a "mind set" on which to analyze the song by. Clearly stated, an opiate distorts your conscious views on a situation, as does religion.
"He has needs
Like i do
We both want
To rape you"
I feel that when manyard refers to rape he is describing how you are forced into something without your own will. (religion) This concept applies to another lyric in the song.
"Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow
What you need is someone strong to guide you...
When humans are born they only learn from what other people tell them. Concerning religion, children who don't know any better will follow what adults tell them to, almost forcing them to abide by a religion. -
This song is incredibly anti-religeon, not just anti-christian. The title ,opiate, refers to this Carl Marx' quote: Religeon is the opiate of the masses. Opiates of course are tranquilizing and mind numbing drugs just like religeon. The song begins by saying:choices always were a problem for you...this is speaking of the inception of religeon at the dawn of man. Since man has existed on earth he has always allowed himself to be exploited by people who have claimed to be divine or holy(hence the lyrics: let me lay my holy hand upon you)the lyrics:Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow, also speak to this effect. Every civilization has had some form of religeon and the purpose of religeon is not to worship a god but make those who are not holy feel inferior or unworthy. Notice how as a civilization falls often too does its religeon dissapear. Not because it was proven wrong but because the civilization was built on that religeous structure as is ours today. However the church or any other modern religeon has done a great job of sticking around for a while. I suppose the system has been corrected enough by previous cultures trial and error. Is anyone aware that the pope lives arguably the best life on the planet? every decision he makes affects the choices of 2 billion people(catholics and christians) he doesn't cook, he doesn't clean, hell he even has a glass cage that drives his lazy ass around. Oh yeah did I mention he has his own castle and country(Vatican City). Also note heaven is not a new concept, most religeon recognizes some form of heaven or utopian environment after death. This expectation of a greater life, but only and I stress only, after you have carried out the will of the one who guides you.(Pope, dhali llama, etc.) But according to those who are "holy" you can only get there if you do what they say. Sounds pretty good to the elites in our society. Simple mind control. There are currently 4 main religeons all of which vary a reasonable amount. Whose to say any are wrong? Religeon is bad and Maynard knows it!And the raping he speaks of is the fact that most people donate either money or time to these self-satisfying institutions. When you die though god will make your reward great in heaven. Unless...
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I think this song is about the people that abuse the believers fate, by that i mean the church that takes so much money every year, he explained in some songs the definition of God as love. God was translated from some language to God, some people take it as an ultimate everything, but it really meant love, faith and all the good things in life, the bad things are just there to make us enjoy the things we have even more. This is somewhat close to what i had in my mind. I'm a schizophrenic, so kinda hard to explain myself to full extent. Peace :)
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I just took it as the hypocrisy of some people who use religion as a tool to exploit others( kind of like the holy man in the pardoners tale). people turn around and offer false promises of deliverance in order to take from those desperate enough to fall for these cheap parlour tricks. I also interpreted 'rape' not as the physical sexual act, but as the act of taking things that are close to a person and should be considered sacrid to that person( the forceful taking of ones spirit/soul/lifeforce/identity etc)
the song just always reminded me of those con-artist sermon figures that always yell'praise the lord', then pass around collection plates to make you feel obliged to 'donate' to save yourself.
i don't think it was aimed at any particular religion tho. just my thought. -
To the guy above me, that is what I was thinking
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To the guy above me- actually they all concur with the first comment. Its because this is a simple song to interpret and almost impossible not to understand, so its easy to see why all of them agree.
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Wow. It is kind of shocking that you’re all taking a work of art and doing a literal translation. The whole thing could be a metaphor for politics in general. Or any other legitimate point of authority.
The whole point of the song is to not be a "sheep" – and every comment is just a concurrence to the second post. Irony or coincidence? -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This whole song is a "fuck you" to religion if you will. He is comparing organized religion to a cult. The irony of how the major religions look down upon cults for "brain washing" their followers is made aparent throughout this song. "Choices always were a problem for you. What you need is someone strong to guide you." Baisically he is saying religion s a crutch like a cult. You're to weak to get by on your own you have to have someone to tell you what to do.
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I think this is a song against mass religion saying it blinds us from our true beliefs. brainwashing and trying to form people into something they are not. also it promotes individualism, and the idea that people should create their own religion tailor fit to there own personal beliefs... rather than someone else telling you what to believe and what is right
fuck the system -
To the guy above me.
We all know jesus didn't say that and this isn't a song against jesus. It's a song against established religion and the fact that they try to lead you blindly, and if you ask questions you either get kicked out of the church(like I did) or are told that jesus wanted it that way, or that god works in mysterious ways.
I completely agree with maynard, and think that most people look to hard for meaning in TOOL's songs and can't see the simple yet in depth meaning right in front of them. -
Anyone who actually opens and reads, yes there are words inside of books, the Bible will understand that Jesus never says not to question him. Also saying Christians should just follow blindly is also not a Biblical Belief. Jesus spoke to his people in parables...in other words he wanted people to figure out divinity and morality for themselves and not just because he said so. These views would be ones handed by word of mouth, which would be following blindly, or going by what you see of Christians you know or see on T.V. which is judgement. Guess Christians aren't the only dumb sheep!
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---RELIGION IS THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES---
in christianity/catholic/whatever God supposedly talks through Jesus, then to us. well any one who believes this us too blind+dumb to open up their eyes, and def not to listen to the actual truth.
because these def+blind+dumb people have a problem making decisions, jesus does it for them. He opiates their senses and guides them in the direction of accumulating ego. -
This song is very literal and very easy to figure out. Although the content of this song is rather evil, I cannot help but be astonished by the conviction with which it is carried out. The song eludes to Christians as being weak and needing something to believe in in order to survive. Maynard is equating Christ with a drug. Christ is viewed a drug, an opiate for those who need him to make it through adversity.
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