Tool: The Pot Meaning
Song Released: 2006
The Pot Lyrics
You must have been out your head.
Eye hole deep in muddy waters,
You practically raise the dead.
Rob the grave to snow the cradle,
And burn the evidence down.
Soapbox house of cards and glass,
So don't go...
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I would like to look at the line 'weeping shades of cozened indigo'. An earlier post suggested that 'indigo' refers to the third eye chakra, but I also think it refers to Indigo Children. The concept of Indigo Children has been warped by some people who believe themselves Indigo and wear it as a badge of honour (not all, but some individuals receive and ego boost from this belief and see themselves as more important and righteous than other people - which also ties in with the themes of hypocrisy in the song).
Various websites about Indigo children suggest that behavioural deviances or conditions such as ADHD are a result of being Indigo. This could lead those who have ADHD or those who behave in socially unacceptable ways to wrongfully label themselves as Indigo.
Cozened means to obtain or mislead via deception. If you were to 'weep shades of cozened indigo' you might be crying out innocence due to your wrongfully obtained 'indigo' status, using it as an excuse for your behaviour.
I'm probably completely wrong, seeing as this interpretation has nothing to do with the rest of this song apart from the hypocrisy theme, so any feedback/elaborations would be greatly welcomed. So far I have not found another interpretation of this line anywhere. -
First of all this song has nothing to do with Marijuana at all. This song is about crack heads saying Maynard is wrong for doing heroine. I don't know if most of you know but he did or still does heroine.
"Who are you to wave your finger?
Ya' must have been out your head.
Eye hole deep in muddy waters.
You practically raised the dead."
He is saying why is a crack head criticizing me. "Muddy waters" is when you cook your crack on a spoon it turns into a brown liquid.
Rob the grave, to snow the cradle.
Then burn the evidence down.
Soapbox, house of cards, and glass,
So don't go tossin' your stones around.."
I don't exactly know what some of that verse says. But when he is saying Soapbox, house of cards, and glass,
So don't go tossin' your stones around. He is saying that you will throw your life away at it and that you will even sell your house for it. and the stones part are crack rocks.
"You must have been high.
You must have been high.
You must have been."
of course he is saying that they must have been high for saying that.
"Steal, borrow, refer, save your shady inference."
you will steal, borrow, and refer items other people to the drug.
"When you pissed all over my black kettle"
a black kettle is something you cook heroine in.
"Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me.
What's the difference?
what the difference between a liar, a lawyer, and the other person.
I think I got the basic concept down -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Whoever posted on 8/14, I think you must've been high when you made that post (pun intended). Judging from your post you have some serious issues with your own mother and should seek professional help. I don't pretend to know what this song is about and most Tool songs probably don't make any sense using just one interpretation. I think the song definitely has SOMETHING to do with the Cheyenne tribe as suggested in another post, especially since Tool enjoys making references to native peoples and their traditions (read The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda and listen to Third Eye to see what I mean). That being said, I think it is an insult to the intelligence of the band to point to one specific interpretation and say, "this is what they are saying." Tool often brings together different themes from different cultures, schools of thought, etc. Into a single song. What is more important to consider is that music is art and can mean infinitely different things to different people, so just enjoy the music. The fact that we are here debating this topic is a testament to Tool's lyrical and musical ability. Its just another classic album from the last good band left on earth.
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This is not at all about smoking pot or if pot is bad or good. The Pot part is a joke. This is explicitly about George Bush. Explicitly.
Who are you to wave your finger?
You must have been out your head.
Eye hole deep in muddy waters,
You practically raise the dead.
Bush should not point his finger he does the same thing
Muddy water is oil That is all Bush sees.
He brought old information back. Nothing was going on
Rob the grave to snow the cradle,
And burn the evidence down.
Soapbox house of cards and glass,
So don't go tossin' your stones around.
Rob the grave. Talking about the the dead
To snow=bomb
The cradle Iraq or Baghad is thought of as Eden by some.
The evidence was not real
?
probably bombs?
You must have been high.
You must have been high.
You must have been...
Who is "Higher," more power, than the president.
Foot in mouth and head up ass so/asshole,
Whatcha talkin� bout?
Difficult to dance �round this one,
Til you pull it out, boy.
Bush talks a lot of shit
can't pretend this was a bad Idea bring the troops back
You must have been so high.
You must have been so high.
ditto
Steal, borrow refer save your shady inference.
Kangaroo done hung the juror, with the innocent.
bush inferred weapons of mass destruction it was shady
He hopes around to different country kills everyone
Now you weep in shades of chosen indigo,
Got lemon juice up in your eye.
When you pissed all over my black kettle,
You must have been high, high,
You must have been high, high.
You think Tool is a witch
Who are you to wave your finger?
So full of it.
Eyeballs deep in muddy waters,
Fuckin� hypocrite.
Fuckin hypocrite
Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me, what�s the difference?
Kangaroo done hung the guilty, with the innocent.
My favorite line Bush is a liar even with politics
NOOOOOW!
You weep in shades of chosen indigo,
Got lemon juice up in your, eye, eye.
When you pissed all over my black kettle,
You must have been�
Who are you to wave your finger?
Who are you to wave your fatty fingers at me?
You must have been out your mind�
Weep in shades of indigo,
Trapped without a reason.
Weep in shades of indigo.
trapped in Iraq without a reason
Liar, lawyer, mirror, for ya, what's the difference?
Kangaroo be stoned, he's guilty as the government.
Bush also lies just like the Iraq government
Nooow you weep in shades of chosen indigo,
Got lemon juice up in your eye, eye.
When you pissed all over my black kettle,
You must have been high, high, high, high.
Eyeballs deep in muddy waters.
Eyeballs deep in muddy waters,
GANJA? PLEASE!
You must have been out your mind.
Ginja is in the middle east
who would have did this but a crazy man -
Ok here is the end of it all
maynard is or was a drug addict of sorts.
he had always thought his mother threw her life away with religion. but this is from his mothers point of view. this is his mother yelling at him over his addiction. he starts off saying he is eye high in unclear waters or the truth is being hidden. Its a very good piece of writing. -
I vehemently reject the interpretation of this song being about Maynard's mother in any aspect. Some people like to think that there is a screwed up rocker behind every song with a turbulent and disturbing past involving their mother or father. Did it ever occur to you that some people are brilliantly gifted and and take real issues such as that of corrupt government and paint a vivid, brutally honest picture through the medium of lyrics and music?
The song is obviously political, like many of Tool's songs. This is why I like them so much. Nearly every lyric in this song is related to politics, albeit some references are more obscure and require some study and previous knowledge of politics. Maynard's brilliant imagery and metaphors, and Tool's amazing rhythms and overall musical ability definitely set Tool apart from the rest of modern, mainstream rock bands. -
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OK....first, free your mind of all the other ideas shared here on this page.
While they are all opinions and exist without my approval, THEY ARE ALL TERRIBLY WRONG!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Black_Kettle
I'd suggest the schools you people attended (or maybe didn't attend) should be ashamed. This song is so clearly NOT about reefer. Trust me I'm an 18 yr veteran of the bud.
Clearly this song is about a series of historical events that happened right under your nose apparently. Lets just say the Cheyenne Indians know what I'm talking about. Robbery, lies, murdered women and children.
Oh for christsakes, read it for yourself if you care! I'd sign off with peace but that means nothing to this generation of Americans...shame on you!
kelbale@hotmail.com -
Just like in my interpretation for Sober.....
I have the 275th issue of "Guitar School", Adam is on the cover, Adam says it's about the saying, "the pot calling the kettle black." Like someone said above, it's about hypocrisy.
If you got a chance to read the article in Revolver magazine right before 10000 Days was released, Maynard says that all the other Tool albums were about finding oneself and third eye, and you know, everything else Tool writes about, (which is quite a bit!) Well he said that it seems the message wasn't gotten, so 10,000 Days, as a whole, has a pretty straight-forward message ....... "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." He then states something close to ... "it's all right there, your on your own. We tried." It's a good interview, and a rare thing for them to do one in such a mainstream magazine. -
The last lines bear some explanation...I just skimmed through the interpretations (I'm spent after poring over the 46&2 thread, heh), but from what I've seen no one has mentioned the most plausible interpretation of the last two lines. To me, the whole song hinges on them: "Ganja, puh-lease!/You must have been outta your mind!" My interpretation of that closing is that Maynard is rejecting the notion that the person he's speaking of in the song was on pot...he "must've been so high" on something else if (s)he was as "out of his mind" as Maynard says (s)he was. You think "ganja" would inspire this person's actions, Maynard asks? Please!
This didn't hit me until I listened to the song about 20 times AND saw the lyrics posted at toolshed. Before I made that connection, the song seemed lacking of their usual cleverness...sure, the possible double entendre of pot as a synonym for weed and as in the pot/kettle metaphor, but that alone didn't seem satisfactory. Only once I realized that "The Pot" wasn't actually a title with a double meaning, but that its assumed meaning was a red herring...that's when the lyrics became brilliant in my mind. Reminded me of APC's "The Outsider", where everyone assumed the title was referring to the "suicidal imbecile" referred to in the song, but Maynard later said it was actually in reference to the person who COULD NOT PROPERLY DEAL with the person struggling with suicidal ideation.
The man is a brilliant, brilliant lyricist.
Peace,
Matt, Cutthemullet1@aol.com
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