Tool - H. Lyrics Meaning

Posted by Noelle Montes on Monday, May 6, 2024

before i tell you what this song is about, i shall tell you how it was brought upon me.

my math teacher and i love the band tool, he always refers to them in class (uses the number 10,000 a lot in problems)(album 10,000). he told me to look at the lyrics of h. and tell him my answer.

i told him that its about maynards father abusing him and raping him, he replied no, thats prison sex (this was all said infront of the class).

he then told me to listen to the song with lyrics infront of me. i said fine...

then before the song started he said imagine if your father abused and raped you. then all the thoughts of your past with your father came through into this world in the form of your son. would you treat him with all the care you possibly could because you didnt want to be like your father? or would you feel the need to "pass on" his legacy, become him, see what it was like from his point of view, just to understand why all this even happened to.

What's coming through is alive.
What's holding up is a mirror.

this decribes how maynard is almost in the shoes of his father, watching himself, or at least a part of himself, being brought into the world.

They're both totally void of hate,
But killing me just the same.

this describes how he has two decisions, pass on the legacy and see why he was tormented, or never find out and always wonder? both decisions are "killing him just the same"

The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been.
My blood before me begs me
Open up my heart again.

snake, his father, and his fathers ideas, what they could possibly do to this childs life, his blood before him begs him to not to, but to open up his heart and be as loving and caring as possible.

And I feel this coming over like a storm again.

Venomous voice, tempts me,
Drains me, bleeds me,
Leaves me cracked and empty.
Drags me down like some sweet gravity.

^this describes how the thoughts of doing all this do his son is hurting him more than anything. this is crucial to maynard, he can not make up his mind, its draging him down, leaves him feeling empty (unloved.)

I am too connected to you to
Slip away, to fade away.
Days away I still feel you
Touching me, changing me,
And considerately killing me.

this illustrates that he is to connected to his father to forget about the thoughts, he still feels the tormenting, the touching, the changing of his soul, its all killing him inside.

Without the skin here,
Beneath the storm,
Under these tears now,
The walls came down.

this is a very powerful verse. without the skin, meaning, thinking with his consiousness, not his body and brain, beneath all sickining ideas(storm), under all the tears he's shred over this, the only thing blocking him from loving his kid was a "wall" his fathers doings and how its affected his life, made him who he is today. hes trying to forget all about it, even tho its been affecting him his entire life, his breaking down the wall.

As the snake is drowned and
As I look in his eyes,
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times.
OR
as my thoughts of him are drowned(stopped)
and i look in his(h. his son) eyes,
my fear(thoughts) begins to fade,
remembering all the times

I could have cried then.
I should have cried then.

^self explanitory

And as the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died
And will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind.

recalling the times, he feels like thats already killed him, killed his future, he knows he will die someday, but he doesnt mind, hes over it, hes conquered his lifes greatest battle

I am too connected to you to
Slip away, to fade away.
Days away I still feel you
Touching me, changing me,
And considerately killing me.
considerately killing me.
killing me.
considerately killing me.

but then the ideas come back to maynard.
he knows he will never forget whats been done to him, he cant help it, its his father, he loved him, the memories will always haunt him. there still killing him, he still has to look at his song the same way. nothing else matters

so either he has defeated the thoughts and looks at his son the way he wants to, or he looks at him the way his father looked at him(maynard).

p.s my class was pretty freaked.

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