From: ez040307@chip.ucdavis.edu (Gregory Gardner)
Subject: TOOL: Undertow

Here are the lyrics to TOOL's LP, Undertow. I got them from the TOOL Home
Page.


Undertow, by TOOL


danny carey / membranophones
paul d'amour / bottom feeder
maynard james keenan / mostrsticator
adam jones / bastardometer

from the liner notes:
trust me trust me trust me trust me -- Sober
i just want to start this over -- Sober
say you won't go -- Crawl Away
this is love -- Crawl Away
i'll make weapons out of my imperfections -- possibly originally from Bottom
lay back and let me show you another way -- 4 degrees
only this one holy medium brings me piece of mind -- Prison Sex
cleanse and purge me in the water -- Flood
twice as loud as reason -- Undertow
euphoria -- Undertow
i've been far too sympathetic -- Intolerance
no one told you to come -- Swamp
i hope it sucks you down -- Swamp
life feeds on life this is necessary -- Disgustipated

Intolerance


I don't wanna be hostile.
I don't wanna be dismal.
And I don't wanna rot in an
Apathetic existence.
See I wanna believe you,
And I wanted to trust you.
But I don't wanna have faked you.
Put away the dagger.

But you lie, cheat, and steal, and I tolerate it.
You lie, cheat, and steal I cannot tolerate it.

Fear of virtue, can't you hide your method while I'm
smiling, laughing, dancing, singing, racing, roaring
Shroud of virtue, won't you mask your stigma as I'm
smiling, laughing, dancing, sing your glory while you
Lie, cheat, and steal. I cannot tolerate you.

I kill, I blame, I've been far too sympathetic
I blood, I fall, I've been far too sympathetic.
I am not innocent.
I am not innocent.
You are not innocent.
No one is innocent.

You lie, cheat, and steal. I cannot tolerate it.

I will not tolerate you.
I will go down inside you.
I must go down inside you.
No one is innocent.

Prison Sex

It took so long to remember just what happened.
I was so young and they stole it, you know it hurt me.
But I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive
Even the signs seemed to tell me otherwise.
Got my hands down, and my head down,
And my eyes closed, my throat's wide open.
I do unto others what has been done to me.
Do unto others what has been done to you.
I'm treading water. I need to sleep a while.
My lamb and martyr, you look so precious.
Won't you, won't you come on up closer.
Close enough so I can smell you.
I need you to feel this. I can't stand to burn too long.
Release in sodomy. The one sweet moment I'm home.

I do unto you now what has been to me.
I do unto you now, what has been done.
You're breathing so I guess you're still alive.
Even the signs seem to tell me otherwise.
Won't you, won't you come on up closer.
Close enough so I can smell you.
I need you to feel this. I need this to make me whole.
Relief in sodomy. Can you witness the blood and, this can't be trusted. I.
Have you witnessed the blood and, this can't be trusted. I.
Only this one holy medium brings me piece of mind.
Got your hands bound, and your head down,
And your eyes closed, you look so precious now.

I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this.
Shit, blood, and come on my hands. I've come round full circle.
My lamb and martyr, this will be over soon. You look so precious.
You look so precious now...

Sober

There's a shadow just behind me. Shrouding every step I take.
Making every promise empty. Pointing every finger at me.
Waiting like a stalking butler, who upon the finger rests.
Murder now the path of must we, just because the son has come.

Jesus, won't you fucking whistle. Something but the past is done.

Why can't we not be sober? I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever? I just want to start this over.

I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you. Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you. I will chew it up and leave.
I will work to elevate you, just enough to bring you down.

Mother Mary, won't you whisper. Something but the past is done.

Why can't we not be sober? I just want to start this over.
Why can't we sleep forever? I just want to start this over.

I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you. Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you. I will chew it up and leave.
Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.

Why can't we not be sober. I just want to start things over.
Why can't we sleep forever. I just want to start this over.

I want what I want...
I want what I want...
I want what I want...
I want what I want...

Bottom


Compassion is broken now. Wounds, they're openin' now.
Desire is broken now. Makes me feel ugly.
I'm on my knees, I'm burning. My [?? moans are human ?]
I set my head on fire. Smell my soul, it's burning.
Broken, lookin' up I see the enemy.
And I have swallowed the poison you feed me.
But I survived on the poison you feed me.
Guilt fed. Hatred fed. Weakness fed.
It makes me feel ugly.
I'm on my knees, I'm burning. My [?? moans are human ?]
I set my head on fire. I'm dead inside.
Shit adds up. Shit adds up. Shit adds up.
Shit adds up at the bottom.

If I let you, you would make me destroy myself. In order to survive you, I
must first survive myself. I can sink no further, and I cannot forgive
you. There's no choice but to confront you, to engage you, to erase you.
I've gone to great lengths to expand my threshold of pain. I will use my
mistakes against you. There is no other choice. Shameless now. Nameless now.
Nothing now. No one now. But my soul must be iron 'cause my fear is
naked. I'm naked and fearless, and my fear is naked.

Dead inside...
Nameless now. Shameless now. Nothing now. No one now.
(Shit adds up) As you see me naked now. Fearless now.
Naked now. Fearless now.
(Shit adds up) It leaves me dead inside! Dead inside!

Hatred keeps me alive. Hunger has kept me alive.
Weakness keeps me alive. Guilt keeps me alive at the bottom.

Crawl Away

Crawled away from me. Slipped away from me.
Tried to keep a hold, but there was nothing I could say.
Slid away from me. Crept away from me.
Tried to keep it down, but there was nothing I could say.

What you try to say is you don't wanna play.
What you want and what you need don't mean that much to me.

I can see you're back is turning. If I could, I'd stick a knife in.

Crawled away from me. Slipped away from me.
Tried to keep a hold, but there was nothing I could say.
Slid away from me. Crept away from me.
Tried to keep it down, but there was nothing I could say.

What you try to say is you don't wanna play.
What you want and what you need don't mean that much to me.

I can see you're back is turning. If I could, I'd stick a knife in!

This is love...
This is my love for you...
This is my love...
This is my love for you...
This is my love for you...
This is my love for you...
This is my love!

Say you won't go.
Won't go... Won't go... Say it.
Get you stronger of me.
Get it 'till you get it right.

What you try to say is you don't wanna play.
What you want and what you need don't mean a fuck to me

I can see you're back is turning. If I could, I'd stick a knife in.

Swamp

My warning meant nothing.
You're dancing in quicksand.
Why don't you watch where you're wandering?
Why don't you watch where you're stumbling?
You're wading knee deep and going in.
You're wading knee deep and going in.

This bog is thick and easy to get lost in.
'Cause you're a stupid, belligerent fucker.
This bog is thick and easy to get lost in.
'Cause you're a dumb and belligerent fucker.
I hope it sucks you down. down...down...down...

My warning meant nothing.
You're dancing in quicksand.
Why don't you watch where you're wandering?
Why don't you watch where you're stumbling?
You're wading knee deep and going in.
And you may never come back again.

This bog is think and easy to get lost in.
'Cause you're a stupid, belligerent fucker.
This bog is thick and easy to get lost in.
'Cause you're a dumb and belligerent fucker.
I hope it sucks you down. down...down...down...

I hope it sucks you, fucker, I hope it sucks you down.

Wandering, wandering, no one even invited you in.
You're still stumbling, suffocate, suffocate,
Why don't you get away?
Wandering around, who let you in?
No one even invited you in.
You're still stumbling, suffocate, suffocate,
Why don't you get out while you can?
No one told you to come!

My warning meant nothing.
You're dancing in quicksand.
Why don't you watch where you're wandering?
Why don't you watch where you're stumbling?
You're wading knee deep and going in.
And you may never come back again.

Undertow

Two times that...
I've been struck down by a voice that speaks from deep.
Beneath, here the water is twice as clear as heaven.
Twice as loud as reason.
Even rich like silt on a river bed.
Just as never ending.
Currents mount below me. Opens up around me.
Gestures, beckons, oh, I'll swallow it.
Surrounds and drowns and wipes me away.
It all seems comfortable. So comfortable.
Shut up! Shut up! Shut up and sex your enemy!
How could I let that bring me back to my knees.

Third time and...
I've been baptized by a voice that screams from deep.
Beneath, the cold black water is half as high as heaven.
Half as clear as reason.
Clear and black like silt on a river bed.
Just as never ending.
Currents mount below me. Opens up around me.
Gestures, beckons, oh, I'll swallow it.
Surrounds and drowns and wipes me away.
It all seems comfortable. Seems comfortable.
Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Sex your enemy!
How could I let it happen?
Why don't you kill me? I am weak and young and insignificant.
How could I let that bring me back to my knees?

Euphoria...

I'm back down beneath the undertow.
I'm almost in all the way. I'm in the undertow.
Way down beneath the undertow.
There doesn't seem no other way out of the undertow.

Euphoria...

4 degrees

Get up, get up now.

Free yourself from yourself.

Locked up inside you like the calm beneath castles.
Carrying enough treasures that no one has been to.
Let's go digging, let's go digging, bring it out, and take it back in.
You won't do what you'd like to do.
Lay back and let me show you another way.
Kill what you want to. Take what's left, I need it.
Take over nothing, just too short to push it away.
Take it all. Take it all in.
All the way in. All the way in. Let it go in. Let it go in.
You won't feel what you'd like to feel.
Lay back and let me show you another way.
Kill what you want to, take what's left, I need it.
Take over nothing, just too short to lock it up.
Knock me down, I'll just come back running.
Knock you down, and it won't be long now.
All the way in. All the way in. All the way in. All the way in.
Take it up, take it up higher.
Four degrees now, four degrees warmer.
Give in, now. Give in, now.
Let me in.
You'll like this. This brings us higher.
You'll like this. It brings us closer than dying and cancer and crying.
Let's take it...
(Won't you take it up...)
Kill what you want to, take what's left, I need it.
Take all of nothing, just too short, I'm losing.
Just like that.

Flood

(Moans): Water...

[I swear I hear voices in the right channel at about 4:10 into the song..]

All I knew. All I believe.
Crumbling images no longer comfort me.
Scramble to reach higher ground.
Order and sanity something to comfort me.

Take what is mine. Hold what is mine.
Suffocate what is mine. Bury what's mine.
Soon the water will come and claim what is mine.
I must leave it behind and climb to a new place now.

This ground is not the rock I thought it would be.

Thought I was high. Thought I was free.
Thought I was there to find a destiny.
I was wrong. This changes everything.

Running away, got me running away.
Now I'm running away.

Take what is mine. Hold what is mine.
Suffocate what is mine. Bury what's mine.
Soon the water will come and claim what is mine.
I must leave it behind and climb to a new place.

One that doesn't cover me. [i don't think that's right]
So the water doesn't come on me.
So just someone come deliver me.
But it's too late, so you punish me instead.

Die..

Ground break down right under me.
Cleanse and purge me in the water.

Disgustipated

 And the angel of the lord came unto me. Snatching me up from my place of
 slumber, and took me on high, and higher still until we moved through the
 spaces betwixt the air itself. And he brought me into a vast farmland of our
 own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom arose from the
 soil. One thousand, nay, a million voices full of fear. And terror possessed me
 then. And I begged: "Angel of the lord, what are these tortured screams?" And
 the angel said unto me: "These are the cries of the carrots. The cries of the
 carrot. You see, reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day, and to them, it is
 the holocaust." And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat with the tears
 of one million terrified brothers and roared: "Hear me now, I have seen the
 light. They have a consciousness. They have a life. They have a soul. Damn
 you! Let the rabbits wear glasses. Save our brothers. Can I get an amen. Can I
 get a haleluia. Thank you, Jesus."


This is necessary.
Life feeds on life.

 It was daylight when you woke up in your ditch. You looked up at your sky.
 That made blue be your color. You had your knife there with you, too. When
 you stood up, there was goo all over your clothes. Your hands were sticky.
 You wiped them on your grass, so now your color was green. Oh, lord, why did
 everything have to keep changing like this. You were already getting nervous
 again. Your head hurt, and it rang when you stood up. Your head was amost
 empty. It always hurt you when you woke up like this. You crawled up out of
 your ditch, onto your gravel road, and you began to walk, waiting for the rest
 of your mind to come back to you. You could see the car parked far down the
 road, and you walked toward it. If god is our father, you thought, then Satan
 must be our cousin. Why didn't anyone else understand these important things.
 When you got to your car, you tried all the doors. They were locked. It was a
 red car, and it was new. There was an expensive leather camera case laying on
 the seat. Out across your field you could see two tiny people walking by your
 woods. You began to walk towards them. Now red was your color. And of
 course, those little people out there were yours, too.

______
Greg Gardner
greg@intellisoft.com
gegardner@ucdavis.edu