Angels on the sideline

[ntdz]

Tool - Right in Two

Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused.
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they?re all confused.

Don?t these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly old monkeys,
Where there?s one, you're bound to divide it,
Right in two.

Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.

Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.

Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They forge a blade,
And where there's one they're bound to divide it,
Right in two.
Right in two.

Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They make a club.
And beat their brother down.
How they survive so misguided is a mystery.
Repugnant is a creature who would,
Squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven,
Conscious of his fleeting time here.

Gotta divide it all right in two. [x4]

Fight, over the clouds, over the earth, over sky.
Fight, over life, over blood, over air and light.
Over love, over sun, over another.
Fight, all the time. Over what? Over Lies and...

Angels on the sideline again.
Been so long with patience and reason.
Angels on the sideline again.
Wondering when this tug of war will end.

Gotta divide it all right in two. [x3]
Right in two. [x2]

I think they just about nailed it on the head as far as the human race goes. Discuss?

 

[Kadarin]

Answer:

Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused.
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they?re all confused.

The concepts of "angels" and "Father" (with a capital F) are figments of human imagination and wishful thinking, with zero evidence to support the existence of either. Thus, this verse must be treated as abstract. Whether or not humans have "free will" is debateable, but we certainly have the perception of free will, so the debate is rather pointless without evidence.

Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.

These mythical "angels" apparently aren't sophisticated enough to "get" things, aren't they?

Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They make a club.
And beat their brother down.
How they survive so misguided is a mystery.

Is it so hard to understand what motivates people? You know, concepts like competition over limited resources, tribal conflicts, ambition, control?

Repugnant is a creature who would,
Squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven,
Conscious of his fleeting time here.

Short sighted, yes. But "repugnant"? The word carries the connotation that you treat something with such disgust that you prefer it to be away from you (or worse). So in making this statement, the songwriter tacitly endorses divisiveness.

Fight, all the time. Over what? Over Lies and...

What lies? No lies are specified in the song, unless the songwriter is referring to the aforementioned "Father" and "angels", both of which have zero evidence to support their existence.

Angels on the sideline again.
Been so long with patience and reason.
Angels on the sideline again.
Wondering when this tug of war will end.

Here we are with the angels again, always mindlessly wondering about things, and too stupid to figure them out.

 

[Czar]

This is what I love about tool, you dont realy appriciate their songs untill you read the lyrics 🙂

or see the videos

 

[43st]

The question is whether this resigns you to the life of an animal or whether it allows you to acknowledge, reason, and overcome your disagreements. One group for the former, one the later.

 

[OFFascist]

I havent heard that song, but from the lyrics is seems pretty cool.

I will have to check it out later.

 

[LumbergTech]

the song isnt meant to be revealing something that we dont already know.....its just talking about how depressing it is

 

[jrenz]

That's about as insightful as the ingredient list on a bottle of Coke.

 

[jhu]

# Carbonated Water
# High Fructose Corn Syrup
# Caramel Color
# Phosphoric Acid
# Natural Flavors
# Caffeine

 

[sandorski]

Insightful lyrics. :thumbsup: