Tool: Rosetta Stoned Meaning
Rosetta Stoned Lyrics
All righty then... picture this if you will...
10 to 2 am, X, yogi DMT, and a box of krispy kreme's in my "need to know" pose just outside of area 51, contemplating the whole chosen people thingy when just then a flaming...
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The term Rosetta Stone has become idiomatic as something that is a critical key to a process of decryption or translation of a difficult problem.
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This song is not that hard to get it's about scientology, that bullshit religion tom cruise is into. any way I say this because in a lot of Tool songs Maynard talks about L. Ron Hubbard and scientology. So that's what I think it's about. L ron hubbard and how the whole idea of scientology came to him. who knows maybe he was stoned when the idea came to him. I mean C'mon a religion about aliens... "this has got to be some good weed because I think aliens planted us all here, that's it... a religion about aliens ill call it... SCIENTOLOGY... wow the wonders of weed". Who cares tool is a hella good band and every one whos posts shit on here about tool is hella cool unless you post bad things about tool like tool sucks and stuff because if you do that then your a fag. So be cool and love tool and hate george bush, hate him instead of tool :) tool 4life...
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Hello there well I'm want to explain that the song is the continue of "faaip de oaid" course the man who is talking is the same man that sees this anomalous thing... i think :P
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This song to me is the theory of using DMT. When taking DMT you have hallucinogenic visions of Aliens or beings from another planet. Much of our history was built off of the use of DMT. The Mayans were well knowned for using a herb that induced DMT and would have crazy visions. But aside from that DMT is used in the first verse of the song "All righty then... picture this if you will... 10 to 2 am, X, yogi DMT, and a box of krispy kreme's in my "need to know" pose... So really when you think about it, it is possible this song is a trip Maynard experienced. but that's just a theory, with Tool you can never be too certain. Im sure there are many interpretations of this song.
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the rosetta stone had three languages right? and he's on dmt, x, and lsd right? so he's stoned on three drugs
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Okie Dokie, I got a theory.
First of all Rosetta Stone is used for decrypting ancient languages. This songs lyrics are from the view of a hospital patient that excitedly explains a story but cannot remember what they said.
Right at about the 1:45 mark the music the music goes into that of the first track of the Lateralus album "the grudge" when Maynard says
"Give away the stone
Let the ocean take and transmutate
This cold and fated anchor
Give away the stone"
Also at the different points of "The Grudge" when Maynard sings "Clutch it like a Cornerstone... and so on." the music played on the instruments reminds me of Rosetta Stoned.
Also Rosetta Stoned is about a patient in a hospital. The next song on Lateralus is named The Patient.
Idk, I haven't really interpreted every word of it, just that it's about a patient in a hospital. I guess I'd say it's about someone who realizes how crazy their life is and how its impossible to understand. He is excited about new experiences that never happen to him. He says he is the chosen one and the song builds up to where he is supposed to deliver a message but he can't remember , dont know, and won't know. -
alright, you're all on the right track but then again your all dead wrong....'Yogi' refers to the 5-methoxy version of DMT...
check out the track time and there it is..... -
I do have to agree with Zaq here. It definitely seems like the following 2 songs sort of follow in a logical order. But in regards to the drugs. It's a pretty known fact that by mixing 2 drugs you get the effects of both, unless one is just so powerful it blows the other out of the water. Much like smoking weed while on LSD, it doesn't do a whole lot because your body is so high on the LSD, the marijuana almost seems like a waste. The effects are not noticeable. Anyway, back to my main point.
Like many of you have pointed out, DMT's effects are often of alien-like abductions, change in perception of time, radical perception shifting, profound life-changing spiritual experiences, as well as difficulty integrating experiences. Now combine DMT with LSD and even ecstasy (as I am lead to believe by the opening lyrics) you get quite a trip. The LSD and E (aka candy flip) combines the cosmic experience of LSD and the loving sensation of E. Combine that with DMT, and what is described by the lyrics makes perfect sense.
"And after calming me down
with some orange slices
and some fetal spooning,
E.T. revealed to me his singular purpose.
He said, "You are the Chosen One,
the One who will deliver the message.
A message of hope for those who choose to hear it
and a warning for those who do not."
Me. The Chosen One?
They chose me!!!
And I didn't even graduate from fuckin' high school."
This stanza in my opinion sums up everything I have just described. The alien-like experiences of DMT are very clear. The cosmic experience or spiritual/religious experience one experiences on LSD, and even the loving effects of ecstasy. ET calms him down with some orange slices and fetal spooning. Now if that's not a combination of all 3 then I don't know what is.
Feelings on this thought anyone?
Perhaps this song is just a story being told, maybe it's an actual experience somebody had. I don't think any of this matters. It's not about the validity of soundness of what is being said, I mean let's be real for a second, we all listen to Tool, and to be sitting here discussing all this, everybody here is a serious Tool fan. They don't always make the most sense in their lyrics, it's just deciphering the message they are trying to get across. (I'm just stating the obvious here.) I think this song is merely showing us the potential of taking mind-expanding drugs, of the possibilities taking these mind-expanding drugs open our minds to, thinking outside the box, going where most people's minds cannot go.
I'm reminded of many experiences on mind-expanding drugs where I could not recall my thoughts specifically, I knew what was going through my head, I understood it, but I couldn't describe it, just as in the song, he can't describe his experiences. But he learned something from his experience, whether he is actually the "chosen one" isn't important, what is important is that he has been opened to a different way of thinking, a different way of perceiving reality. That is the point. Unfortunately in today's world thinking like this will likely land you in a mental hospital, which is what I believe has happened to him in the song. I don't remember who said it while I'm typing this, but someone mentioned Jesus in a previous interpretation. I think that is right on target, and has everything to do with what I am saying right now.
Sorry this was so long, and sorry it took me awhile to get to my point... I tend to go on tangents... perhaps it's all the drugs I've taken. =D -
I have had many discussions about this song with my friends. One of them mentioned hearing from someone that this song is actually about an experience that Maynard himself went through. It was said that Maynard had a dream that he was abducted by aliens and they gave him a message of hope. Just like the lyrics state. The thing was, that when Maynard woke up he remembered the dream but not message that was given to him. That is the meaning behind the lyrics "I forgot my pen. Typical." This seems to be the most upfront answer for me. I think Maynard is trying to just mess with us by trying to make us think there is the huge underlying meaning.
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I might be going out on a limb here and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I thought it was significant that the chosen one "didnt even graduate from fuckin' high school". With a message of hope and a warning for those who don't heed what is said, if these beings were trying to send a message to all of humanity they didn't pick a president, or a religious leader, because in the end we are all one species, there are no levels.
I also found it fascinating that with times becoming more and more uncertain, global warming ensuing etc, the message of hope comes, and the only person who hears it can't remember what was said. "Such a heavy burden now to be the one born to bear and bring to all the details of our ending" He feels like he's failing humanity by forgetting the message and the details, repeating "Can't remember what they said" over and over.
Thats what I got out of it anyway feel free to rip it apart :) -
I tend to agree with Zaq's post earlier. I also think the title's alone allude to that fact. The Rosetta Stone made the pyramid heiroglyphs readable. We might still call it a "wonder of the ancient world", but it really isn't. Because of that stone, we now know almost everything in regards to the purpose of pyramids, how they were built (kind of...) and how ancient Egyptians thought of the afterlife.
If any one of Tool's generation of listeners were to relate a story about being told the details of the world ending, do you really think the political and religious leaders would even consider it for a minute? Hell NO. Some labels that come to mind: blasphemous, drug-induced, degenerate fanatic, misguided, wasted youth. Need an example, look at David Koresh or even L. Ron Hubbard who is mentioned in the song.
Over 2000 years ago, some guy named Jesus told the same story as does the protagonist in Rosetta Stone (minus the synthesized drugs). He, supposedly, was given the word and was told to relate it to ALL of mankind. He is considered an icon today, but today they'd put in him in a mental hospital (hence the intro of Lost Keys). The idea that hundreds of millions of people today can accept an extraordinary, odd story about a man claiming to be the "son of god" is confounding yet perfectly acceptable to those who choose to look no further.
Although the song obviously has references to acid, X, and DMT, I don't think the song is just another song about a cool trip on drugs. We all know TooL likes to trick us, but more importantly, they want to expand the minds of the listeners. As heard from Tim Leary on "Salival" - "Think for Yourself - Question Authority". I doubt that MJK felt it necessary to take this song at face value and explore all the gnarly things you see while on blotter acid. -
I don't know if its just because I'm an atheist but once again I think this is an anti-religion song mainly making fun of scientology (maynard did a little bit of standup comedy with bill hicks for those who didn't know)..i think the patient in the song is suppose to be l ron hubbard...(it even says so at the beginning of the song if you listen)...this should save me some typing time but I found this somewhere
"" This song has written "Fuck You L.Ron Hubbard and Scientology" all over it. Besides the obvious mention of the name, the introduction with the australian accent (L.Ron was stationed in Australia as a Navy Officer), the "And I didn't even graduate from fucking high school" referring to his academic claims, the whole et thing, the gyroscopes and infrared for all the apparatus of machinery used in Scientology, the DMT mentioned 'cause there are claims that L.Ron's body had a psychotropic substance when the autopsy was made...
Forgot my pen...he was a writer.
He was also referred as being a pathological liar "Please believe me..."" and I personally think this song can kinda be applied to most modern day religion theyre all man-made and the people who created them could have been fuck nuts high outta there minds when they thought of them so why base your entire life around a religion? but then again I'm just some atheist idiot guy right? you be the judge this is just what I think makes the most sense. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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without a cocky attitude I will tell you that this is no longer a discussion. This song is a first persons account of a person who just smoked DMT. The speedy lyrics are 100% the kind of shit that goes through your head when youre back on your feet and the "trip" is over. The song makes little to no sense because the speaker is trying to wrap his head around everything he just saw it was terrifying yet he has to show this to everyone ("such a heavy burden...") this is exactly how I felt, exactly. The first thing I said was "holy fuck, harry potter, I have socks on." its really not that different from "sunkist, sudafed."
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I believe that it is simply a tale. But, unlike most Tool songs, It does not have a deeper meaning. Instead, I believe it probably has multiple less "deep" meanings, which are more humorous than serious.
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