Tool: The Grudge Meaning
The Grudge Lyrics
Of negativity
Calculate what you will
Will not tolerate
Desperate to control
All and everything
Unable to forgive
Your scarlet letterman
Clutch it like a cornerstone
Otherwise it all comes down
Justify...
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The Grudge
“Clutch it like a cornerstone. Otherwise it all comes down.”
Anger, jealousy and greed are some of the rawest human emotions we will ever experience and we are all connected by this. Everyone knows what anger feels like just as everyone has experienced sadness at some point. These emotions make us human and help to shape us. They also connect us in a some what primitive way. We can all relate in one way or another to these emotions which allows us to sympathize and relate to the feelings of others. These emotions are great no matter how terrible they may make us feel because we are reminded at our most feeble that we are still alive and part of a fully functioning system far greater then the consumer plantation we have constructed. My greatest moment of sorrow is something I wouldn’t trade for the world because it is an experience that contributed to my personal growth in some way. The Grudge focuses heavily on elements of vengeance and spite. “Wear The Grudge like a crown of negativity” examines the way we parade our anger towards others like royalty. Its narcissistic and self-deprevating behaviour that detracts from all we could be experiencing. We allow our anger to be the cornerstone to our life and build around it fearing that if we abandon it everything will come crashing down on us. The anger we have created will continue to build despite our hopes and will become a factor in our life when it really seems petty in the grand scheme of things. “Saturn ascends, choose one or ten. Hang on or be humbled again”. No matter how important we feel our problem is when we compare it to the infinite galaxies all around us it seems to get a little less so. We can choose to continue our warm familiar embrace with our cornerstone or we can allow it to go, and stare at the vast beauty of the rest of the world. This choice will either leave us humbled with a very valuable lesson in tow or with us clinging to the last threads of spite. Either way the earth will continue to rotate and Saturn will continue its ascent with or without you. “Justify denials and grip em’ to the lonesome end”. Anger is uninviting and cold leaving you to wallow in self pity while people and opportunities pass you by. In the end you will be reinforcing your decisions to yourself detached and unaware of anything or anyone. Your absorption in a problem long forgotten will leave you alone to face the trials and tribulations of life creating a void that can never be filled until you decide to empty it. “Saturn ascends, the one, the ten. Ignorant to the damage done”. The cosmos have continued to operate in spite of your absence and are unsympathetic to your problem. Others have ascended and await your revival so you may join them and become part of what really matters. You are unable to forgive and sink deeper and deeper into the emotion you have created. You no longer feel happy because it has become foreign. To be happy is to release anger and invite in love. The consumption of your soul becomes inevitable, this is the crossroads where you must decide whether you will live or complete your fortress of solitude and misery.
This is not a complete interpretation just a sample, I find everything on Lateralus so complex and intricate that my interpretations often change or I add things. There in lies the true essence of the album in my opinion. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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With Respect to SATURN reference, while I don't know the details of Roman mythology, SATURN's parallel in Greek mythology is CRONOS, who often personifies time.
Thus, "SATURN ascends" could refer to the immutable (well assuming v << c ) passage of time, while "ignorant to the damage done" may refer to decay and damage equally wrought upon all by time's passage (i.e. Saturn's ascendancy).
"Comes 'round again" express the idea that Saturn has gained ascendancy in the past, i.e. destroyed all who have come before even as it is destroying all now.
Coupled with the surface "anti-Grudge" message, these passages serve to juxtapose "The Grudge" against the vastness of eternity, thus revealing its insignificance as well as the silliness and triteness of clutching onto one. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I agree about 'Saturn' meaning the mythological god, Saturn, but there's also another thing; this site says the lyrics are "Scarlet LetterMAN", but I've always seen it in plural form, "Scarlet LetterMEN," which would help support the theory that it refers to people who've hurt you.
I think it makes more sense that way, because it'd make the song more general, and it refers to many more people. -
I think you guys might have the wrong Saturn. I'm not saying that I know I'm right, but I think the references to Saturn, children, and the stone might have to do with the Mythological god Saturn, who swallowed all of his children in fear of being overthrown by one of them. When, Zeus, the 9th child was born, Saturn's wife wrapped a stone in a blanket and gave it to him, and Saturn ate it thinking it was the baby.
Zeus later tricked his father into drinking a remedy that made him spit up Zeus' 8 siblings and, together, they overthrew Saturn. -
I agree with the obvious interpretation of being unforgiving. But I thought maybe the song was about science as well.
"Scarlet Lettermen" made me discover this new interpretation. The 'lettermen' are the scientists writing their theoretical knowledge."calculate what we will or will not tolerate": like human sciences.
"Desperate to control all and everything": Science is and endless process, and society is more and more built upon it.
"Terrified of being wrong"
"Saturn ascends, choose one or ten. Hang on or be humbled again.": Maybe he means with "humbled again" that humans fancy themselves god by thinking they are capable of knowing everything.
"Defining, confining, sinking deeper. controlling, defining, and were sinking Deeper." Again some scientific words.
"Give away the stone. let the oceans take and transmutate this cold and fated anchor.": We have to accept we're not almighty, and we just have to live our lives without trying to figure everything out.
There are pieces of the song which I can't link to this interpretation though... -
My guess would be that this song is about Freemasonry.
Ill leave the research up to you folks. -
IDK. There is this Seven Year Cycle which states every seven years the human body goes through a life change because of something to do with Saturn's orbit.
"Saturn comes back around
To show you everything
Lets you choose what you will
And will not see and then
Drags you down like a stone
Or lifts you up again
Spits you out like a child
Light and innocent" -
Saturn ascends is just an abstract idea because Saturn does not actually go down unless in orbit. Its not all about astrology just because it mentions Saturn once. Wearing a grudge on your head like a crown is reference to permenent declaration of remaining mad or upset and being obvious about your anger.
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As far as I'm concerned, the only one who can give the proper explanation is the writer himself. However, here is mine... The reference to the grudge can have many explanations. I believe the writer is referring to a grudge over something or things which are beyond our control. The lyrics may have multiple meanings. The principle behind Saturn's return are for 3 reasons: the astrological principle, the one relating to alchemy and the ever changing celestial body of the planet itself, which, according to theory, could draw our own planet out of orbit and end all life as we know it. The term grudge may be a message: why bear a grudge over things or events which we cannot prevent or change. "...to consume you till you let this go" Some of the song refers to typical human nature and behavior, "...wear the grudge...calculate what you will or will not tolerate, desperate to control all and everything." the term "Scarlet Letterman" could refer to Christ's role in the bible and the grudge one may have concerning the bible's influence on society. perhaps it is about Nathaniel Hawthorne's character, Hester Prynne, who was labeled for committing an "unforgivable" act. Either way, we all have regrets...Just 'let it go' we have a life to live. Atrius
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The Grudge is about the anger we put up because of the problems we face for our wrongs and cannot solve them.
The grudge personifies gods contribution to the human kind. And our lack of appreciation for it.
P.S Hey I'm anil from bangladesh, small country in asia. I love your interpretation specially infinitepaths. I had the exact same belief and I am glad to find someone who shares the same perspective. -
I think bob is on the right track with regards to the "scarlett lettermen" reference.. and I feel that mjk is the victim of the lettermen. in this case, the specific reference to "scarlett letter" suggests that he has been the subject of the accusations, criticism, slander, persecution, judgement, etc. it's a very poetic way to express the hurt and frustration felt when dealing with it..
or maybe he cheated on his girl and she's never let him live it up. get over it! lol -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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When I listen to The Grudge, I hear him speaking again with Jung and the great work towards wholeness. Saturn also represents the "darker" half of self, as oppossed to one who clings to only their "lighter" aspects. This is where one will have feelings of not letting go, because they have forgotten their animal instinct to say "%$&* it". The only path to wholeness is by understanding that saturn will ascend in youself again, and again.
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