Tool - Ænema (Lyrics and Meaning)

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• published: 10 Sep 2009
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EDIT: This description has just been edited (July 28 2014). When the initial description was written, I was 15. 15-year-olds are not known for their mature writing style or openness to challenges to their opinions. The initial description was *mostly* accurate. For the most part, my editing was just rewriting the same concepts more clearly and concisely. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The song is called ÆNEMA, not ÆNIMA. Ænima is the name of the album. The song expresses hate for stereotypical Hollywood, Los Angeles, etc. - all the fake people, the misguided life focus, the absurd amount of worry over menial things that Maynard so kindly has listed quite orderly in the song. The fact that American media comes from California is probably also integral to the song. A country's media is its culture. The entertainment businesses, production companies, etc. spread ideas, concepts, attitudes, information, and other cultural milieu to the entire country. So, put simply, the song's message is this: stereotypical Hollywood & L.A. douche bags have disgusting and shallow life philosophies and priorities, and they spread that through media, like a plague or an infection, polluting America's culture and the hearts and minds of Americans. "Enema" is a commonly known medical procedure in which the colon is flushed out, and cleansed. If California were to be "flushed away", America would be "cleansed". "Anima" is a Jungian term, from Carl Jung's theories (which are well-expressed in "Forty Six & 2"). There are several references in the song to a physical destruction of California (fault lines that cannot sit still, meteor showers, floods). Towards the end of the song, it would make sense that the "Mom" that the band refers to would be Mother Nature. Before you get all butthurt about a Tool song hating on California, realize that the song is not literal. Some of the lyrics are literal, and some are figurative. The theme of the song is, if you ask me, very obviously figurative. Maynard would not jump for joy if the literal entire state of California literally broke off of the country and literally sank into the ocean, literally killing millions of people in mass, literally with zero prior judgment of those individuals. Literally. No. The theme of this song is straight from Bill Hick's comedic album "Arizona Bay." "Ænima", the album, is dedicated to Bill.