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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A Modern Day Timothy Leary is what our friend Maynard is.
subtle Christian undertones HUGE LSD overtures.
Dig It.....
and yes much like Hunter S Thompson's "Fear & Loathing.." -
I agree that the protagonist took lsd as indicated by the line:
The blotter got right on top of me
Which blotter paper is a common method to intake lsd but I also think before the lsd he took DMT which is indicated by the line:
10 to 2am X, yogi, DMT and a box of Krispy Kremes, in my need-to-know pose just outside area 51
DMT trips usually have common themes even though taken by different people at different times without knowledge of other peoples trips. One commmon theme is alien abduction and going hand in hand with that is being told a great message. However DMT, like REM sleep, kills your motor control usually and most users lie down and trip their way to different worlds and then come back after usually 10 min so I believe after he did DMT the protagonist then took lsd which used what he saw on his DMT trip to dictate his lsd trip. Thus the long continuation of the DMT theme. -
If you read the lyrics carefully, you can see that it's about an alien abduction while under the influence of LSD. In the song "he" mentions the alien telling him that he was the chosen one which was brought up earlier when "he" mentioned it at the beginning. Since it was mentioned earlier, it leads me to believe that it was that thought that triggered the whole LSD trip in the first place. As you read further and further into the song, it starts to take shape that this whole trip was actually a jump into an alternate universe. Almost like it never happened, but at the same time it did. So to sum it all up, you have an alien abduction, LSD (blotter), and someone who learns what it means to be the chosen one.
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Although the reference to hoffman in the previous part of the song references LSD, I tend to agree with the DMT idea above... people on DMT claim to have 'seen the face of God' and they all describe the same experience of meeting transdimensional beings, some say grays, others say dwarves or elves... and the artwork of the CD cover was created by a close friend of Daniel Pinchbeck who is the most active promoter of DMT in the US...
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I believe the song is completely about dmt. The hallucinogen that has supposedly no side-effects, unless it completely fries your brain. As we can tell from the intro, Lost Keys(Blame Hoffmann) (dr. Hoffmann, according to wikipedia, was the doctor that first started using dmt on his patients) this is the case.
Now, the entire song is just about the story of a guy who takes it, and has a "trip" where he believes himself to be the messiah of sorts to deliver the message an alien race has to humanity. He can't remember what they said, because he either a) doesn't remember it because he can't remember what happens during the trip, or b) it's using that as a metaphor for frying his brain.
That's just my own opinion, and what I got from the song. -
Have any of you ever heard of dmt? If it were any drug trip he would be writing about it wasn't acid. Acid is not a very spiritual drug. I could be wrong but all facts and lyrics of this song point towards dmt. The only time your body creates the chemical that partly consists of dmt (serotonin) is when you are dreaming. The only time you ever experience a dmt like trip is when you are born or dying. A dmt trip is very spiritual. Accounts have revealed an enlightenment in people, a turn on faith, connections with higher beings, and even alien encounters. I have dabbled in small amounts of dmt numerous times and I have one time, felt a strong sense of attachment to spirituality and actually have had a conversation with a being that I realized later did not exsist. As for the whole "forgot my pen again" thing, it most likely is about the narrarator always wanting to write down what happens during his trip but he always forgets a pen. As for the whole dementia thing, it is said to ingest large quantities of dmt it can alter your perception of reality. When you come down from a trip you might be confused as to what is real or not. Are you dreaming are you awake? All the lyrics point towards dmt. But that's just me combining lyrics with what I know. I could be wrong for all I know, maybe Maynard told this story to his nephew on x-mas or something..
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Given the intro,(lost keys), which clearly is a doctor being introduced to a John Doe patient, and then the beginning of "Rosetta Stoned" which is obviously the patient asking the doctor to "picture this if you will" as he starts to tell his tale. I would have to say that the song is about some guy who was tripping outside of area 51 and he lost his cool when ET showed up to nominate him the chosen one, and tell him that he must deliver a message to humanity. Whether or not ET was real or imagined is probably unimportant. The important part is now the guy is strapped down to a bed in a hospital, drinking sunkist and eating sudafed, and he can't remember what the damn alien told him. Which sounds quite like a lot of acid trips I've "heard" about, where you can't seem to find the words to describe something ("they showed me something, I don't even know where to begin"), and then subsequently you forget what the hell it was you were trying to say all together. The phrase "shit the bed" is just an expression that means you "really fucked up." so to sum it up, guy takes LSD, meets ET, gets a message, winds up in hospital trying to re-tell events, and can't remember what he was supposed to say because he forgot his pen. No more meaning, no more point, just a cool song that tells a pretty interesting story. That's my humble opinion, anyway.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Well its definitely partly about acid:
"...It's gotta be the deadhead chemistry..."
"...The blotter..."
"...the dead ain't touring..."
and there're many a thing that point to the fact that there is a trip in progress:
"...Got me seein' e-motherfuckin'-t..."
"...Like I woke up in wonderland..."
"...Y'all sound like peanuts parents..."
"...Will I ever be coming down?.."
and also the fact that he's being abducted by aliens in area 51
some parts of it almost seem like its also partly to make fun of scientology:
"...My sweaty l. Ron hubbard upper lip..."
"...But I forgot my pen..."
there is also my ongoing quest to find what the title means. It is obviously a pun of the rosetta stone, the famous stone that helped people in ancient time translate texts from ancient language to ancient language, it had three languages. My best guess is that it is a translation of the happenings when you're stoned (tripping, high, doped, retarded, shitfaced, whatever you guys want to call it).
I hope this helps peoples' view on the song. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Usually a song isn't laid out so easily for us but the meaning to this song sorta appears clear. In the beggining of this song Maynard says he is sitting outside of area 51 with his yogi D.M.T. Dmt is a powerful psychadelic that that last for only an hour or so, but has a intense peak that though short seems like an eternity. Another line says "the dead head chemistry got me seeing e mutherfuckin t. Dmt users often talk of close encounter with alien life forms while in the phycadelic state. So anyway that's my take
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Long time reader - first time submitter here........
I like to think of this song as just a pure story....
I do see the reasoning behind everyones interpretation that it is a guy on a acid trip - there are many references to it throughout the song.
When I'm singing it (at the top of my lungs) or got it turned up full blast on my ipod I like to put myself in the position of the story-teller and 'pretend' I'm in his situation and 're-live' the tale that the song is telling.....I guess I have the scenes in my head as I'm listening to it and to me it is a guy telling his story to the doctor (from the previous 'song') in a mental hospital setting - to me the whole meeting the aliens etc etc actually happened to this guy.....
Zaq - I don't completely agree with your interpretation - I have read your stuff and I think you r generally 100% spot on with your views - but I think it might be stretching it to think it ties in with the next to songs - but I guess it is because my view is that the song is purely a story being told.......
I could be wrong and it could form part of a 3 song message - it would be interesting to hear what others think.....
I just have a general question (I haven't read many Tool interviews) but how do you think the other band members feel about a lot of their songs being about Maynards son and mother? (I see for 'The Pot' someone thought it was about his mother - I'm not so sure yet)......I know there are a lot of other songs about thinking for yourself etc but a few can be interpretated about being about Maynards family......I guess sometimes the actual content isn't as important as the whole overall effect the songs has on listeners
i know this is probably the wrong place to ask but it has been on my mind for a while....
Thanks for reading -
This song is really a story put to music. Maynard is writing a story of one of his "trips" there is no serious meaning to this particular song it merely shows Maynards story telling skills which are so descriptive I want to shit the bed. In the first line he tells the drugs he's on "-10 to 2 am, x, yogi dmt" x is e yogi is probably lsd but is used as a nickname for a few other drugs and dmt is a powerful powdered hallucinagen you also cook. If there was a meaning to the song it would be Maynards main point in all of his lyrics- "think for yourself, question authority", what better way is there to question authority than by taking mind expanding drugs?
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About an acid trip plain and simple
depending on who you are the deeper meanings change
"the blotter got on top of me,got me seein e-mother fuckin-t""this is a repeat expierience""I don't wanna be all alone""will I ever be comin down?This is so real"
all point to acid/and acid experiences.
"the blotter"is literally what you can take acid with
his loneliness and fear of never coming down and the reality of whats happening to him
thats the background for whatever extra meaning you wish to add -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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