Eulogy
the Background and Numbers
Not to take a huge molten shit on the above noder's lyrical analysis, but he's a bit off. While one could certainly infer from the lyrics they were talking about supposed messiahs, such as good ol JC and definitely the late, great Mr. Hicks, they weren't. This song is not complimentary. This song is not respectful. This song is an indictment of those who wear the martyr label, a shotgun center-mass to every zealot's ego, and of your own.
Song Title: Eulogy
Song Length: 8:28
Album Name: Ænima
Lyrics By: Keenan/Jones/Chancellor/Carey
Music By: Keenan/Jones/Chancellor/Carey
Eulogy
the Song
He had alot to say.
He had alot of nothing to say.
We'll miss him.
So long.
We wish you well.
You told us how you weren't afraid to die.
Well then, so long.
Don't cry,
Or feel too down.
Not all martyrs see divinity,
But at least you tried.
Standing above the crowd,
He had a voice that was strong and loud.
We'll miss him.
Ranting and pointing his finger
At everything but his heart.
We'll miss him.
No way to recall
What it was that you had said to me,
Like I care at all.
So loud.
You sure could yell.
You took a stand on every little thing
And so loud.
(*spoken*)
You could be the one to save me from my own existence.
I was so sure that I'd sin and you'd pay too.
I'm just glad you knew me enough to allow me to always sit by you
So mad since you stopped giving all your commands
You weren't too mad when he called you
Oh, what an influence.
(/*spoken*)
Standing above the crowd,
He had a voice so strong and loud and I
Swallowed his facade cuz I'm so
Eager to identify with
Someone above the ground,
Someone who seemed to feel the same,
Someone prepared to lead the way, with
Someone who would die for me.
Will you? Will you now?
Would you die for me?
Don't you fuckin lie.
Don't you step out of line.
Don't you fuckin' lie.
You've claimed all this time that you would die for me.
Why then are you so surprised to hear your own eulogy?
You had alot to say.
You had alot of nothing to say.
Come down.
Get off your fuckin' cross.
We need the fuckin' space to nail the next fool martyr.
To ascend you must die.
You must be crucified
For your sins and your lies.
Goodbye...
Eulogy fades in gently. We're lulled into a sense of complacency with consistent staccato xylophone beats, caressed by gentle guitar strums, and soothed by an odd, repetitious, almost biomechanical sound. Bass drums and cymbals gently join in accompaniment, and it isn't until nearly 2 minutes into the song that we're greeted to jarring guitar notes. Soon Maynard begins intoning the lyrics through a dehumanizing vocal filter, and the song escalates from there.
Through the distorted vocals, Maynard tells us of someone who had "a lot of nothing to say." Such a label isn't branded upon someone deserving of respect. He continues through the song to berate this false savior. Despite the subject of the song having promised to die for whatever cause he belonged to, he's having second thoughts moments from his impending death. Martyrs don't cry. You're not a very fitting martyr if your own death doesn't make you feel vindicated and victorious.
The singer continues, and in the undistorted vocal sections, his emotions are utterly opaque. Anger, condemnation, contempt, and betrayal are all apparent at times throughout the song.
Despite the furor of the subject's sermonizing, the raw passion for the stances he took on seemingly insignificant topics, it was hollow. After his followers' sympathizing, identifying, and submission to this purported prophet, his inability to accept the logical consequences of his actions makes his other acts utterly irrelevant.
Confronted with his mortality, his impending demise, the possibility his divinity wouldn't be guaranteed at death, he breaks down, and thus fails as an example for his cause. He's a useless idiot, unworthy of remembrance by his followers and utterly forgotten by the world.
This song certainly can't be speaking of your Christs, Hicks, and McWilliams', people who bravely faced their own end, smiled while staring death in the eyes, and failed to go gently into that good night. This is about those who lacked utter conviction in their beliefs, and whose last-minute actions defy those beliefs. It's a song about liars, con men, and people unworthy of reverence and adulation.
Of course, that's the literal interpretation. Tool rarely relies on the literal as their primary artistic device. The fun in a Tool song is fleshing out the metaphor. Ænima as an album largely deals with Jungian philosophy; the preceding song on the album, Stinkfist, when read between the lines, addresses the desires of the Ego, its wanton lust for more and better and beyond, and its inability to differentiate between the painful and the pleasureful.
Eulogy, taken in turn with Stinkfist, deals with the crucifixtion of one's own ego on the path to enlightenment. Until one is able to effectively silence their own interal leper messiahs, there's no chance of reaching a state of harmony.
Regardless of interpretation, this is one of the juiciest cuts off of Ænima, and certainly one of Tool's best of all time.