if you watch the commentary for this video done by Maynard, he explains that the song is about being in denial that your loved one has died, pretending they're not actually dead. Noticing how the beautiful the blue in their eyes are, but not noticing how their skin is blue, because they're dead. I can relate, watching someone die from cancer is exactly like this. You're in denial the entire time, you don't want to believe it. Then it happens, and you're numb. Love Perfect Circle and Tool, Maynard is one talented dude
+Krissy Brown Not so much that your loved one has died, but rather your loved one is a drug addict. Though I guess you could argue that one leads to the other.
I lost some family members to cancer and this song helped me cope with their loss because of everything you said and I felt like I already knew all of what you said since I have first heard this song
5 years ago my girlfried has died in car accident. She was remarkable very promising person, who for sure could make this world a better place. After that everything has truned to shit in the most fucked up way possible, and still getting worse, even after 3 years in coma thanks to traumatic brain injury and sudden schizophrenia of my best friend. Everytime, watching this clip, I'm asking myself a question, who is more dead - she, existing only in my mind and forcing me push through this destructible times no matter what, or me after all this damage, acting like a ghost in my attempts to repeat everithing what we did. Anyway, I love this song. It's a nice fucking song.
I'm so very sorry for your loses, 😥💔 just hang in their. Lean on Jesus. He's the only way. When we are lost and weak, he is strong 💪. My only son, who was only 21, was killed in a car accident last year, so I feel your pain. 😭😭😭
I remember having have bought this CD. It was a special edition and had this video in it... I was 15 at that time and English was not my native tongue. I thought it was weird but I liked it.... Now I am 34, and I understand it well. Love it and always will, as well as other APC and tool songs.
This video will not make any sense to anyone who has never loved an addict. I have, and this video is absolutely perfect for this song. Loving an addict is like loving a corpse. You make a nice dinner and they might sit at the table with you, but they're not really there and you're the only one eating. You crave their touch, but you have to guide their hands because they're too gone to lift their arms. You kiss their lips, but they don't kiss back because they're not conscious enough to feel it. And all the while, you're in denial even though you know full well what's happening. You can't stand the thought of losing them, so you just ignore the smoke and smile. This video makes me cry. This is EXACTLY what it's like to watch the one you love kill themselves with drugs.
As a newly recovering addict who is loved by someone who is clean, it makes me cry from the opposite shoes. It's incredible how much we put us and our loves through.... Sorry you had to be sucked into the misery of addiction. Hope your loved one finds help. It is possible, I'm still here and trying like hell...
+McKenzie Batastini: I know all too well how that feels! I'm 9 months into recovery and everyday is a struggle! Knowing what I did to people is horrendous. Anyways, stay strong and keep your head up, no matter what!
As a clean recovering addict I can completely love and appreciate this song and video on so many levels. I have love and lost and struggled to find myself constantly even when I didn't want to know. Coming out the other side of near death and life experience I can relate to the pain of living with à corpse, whether it be myself or my addiction. Life isn't fair in who it chooses to take or bury, but today I choose to live and recover and love those who have fought any significant battle and won, no matter the consequence! Peace and blessings to all.
this is the official, APC gave the opportunity for one of their fans to create the video for them, this is what they choose and it fits the music perfectly
the video is really sad, she dug up her man because she missed him so much she couldnt take it anymore, she wanted to look pretty for him one last time feel his touch again, when you love someone so much its hard to let them go without dying yourself sometimes, i can feel her loss in her emotion, a really good actor they picked for this video.
pokéVix agreed-I just had an argument about that. The artists have a meaning in mind, and the video might structure around that, but this song means what you want it to mean. The opening lyrics to me personally make me think that this song is about people who hide their problems. The dead body is you hiding your problems and the person is you. You have to be around the fact you’re hiding it-you might not see your problems, but your problems see you.
I understand what you're getting at, but there are quite a lot of artists that would disagree. Some try to convey a message, use sarcasm or symbolism as a form of expression. Some would really like you to see that message and when you dont, may get upset or discourage that their message didn't get through though they felt they expressed it properly. I'm not saying you can't have your own meaning to a song, just keep in consideration that there may be an actual meaning and message by the artist.
maynard is a badass songwriter. great album on addiction. He conveys from beginning of the album with the music and lyrics how sick to the door you become.
I think this song is a wonderful insight into why a codependent is codependent as well as a poignant insight on loving an addict (and all the scenarios those two situations can symbolically represent). I could be looking too far into it but it fits for me, I really love this song, so many layers of meaning. :)
@Celladoor You do realize that this is a "concept album", right? 12 step programs. 13th step meaning to start a passionate relationship with another addict. Hence the "WORM" heading its way to the womans nose. Cocaine.
It's about a man and a woman (Presumably in a relationship) and the man is watching the woman OD on Heroin. The song says "Call an optimist, She's turning blue, such a lovely color for you" And in the lyric "She's turning blue", When ODing on heroin you tend to turn blue and the man says to "Call an optimist... Such a perfect color for you" He is trying to be optimistic but he know that she is dying, but he says "I don't wanna know" He doesn't want to know what's happening but he does. When he says "Mistook the nods for an approval, Heroin addicts usually will "Nod" which is them kinda (Might not be an accurate description) falling asleep but waking up which is called the "Nods"...
First, a lot of respect for the whole group, secondly, I want to thank my older brother because he taught me everything about your music. I will come to your concert in his honor. he wanted to, but unfortunately he couldn't because the cancer was stronger. thank you Prefect Circe thanks Tool thanks Pucifer thank you very much bro for giving me knowledge about the best group in the world lots of love and greetings from Croatia
I think it could be compared with few different situations. Depends on emotional conditions, current problems. Love this song. Playing it again and again. It makes my inner space suck me into it like a black hole.
as a life long addict myself i can assure you all that some of us do possess the potential to love something other than our needed fix. I have accepted that i play an important role in that my chosen life is meant as a warning to others of what to expect following in my footsteps. Some of us die so that others can live...
@Chris Moore I know exactly what you're on about. That posession of "potential" is like a higher consciousness, alter-ego, whatever... Problem is that we all forget to remind ourselves of it being there and paying attention to it!!!
This video is the contest winner that apc for fan music videos when the album was released. I was entered in this contest as well. Great video, I tried to make my video like a Tool vid.
I lost my mother when i was seventeen. Sometimes i dream with her. Sometimes i just wanna cry. She suffered at the hospital. The last time that i saw her... She was... turning blue
While it's entirely possible this song is about addiction. I love how so many people insist on that based entirely on one or two lyrics...It's a little like writing a book report on War and Peace based entirely on the title.
Bahahha soo true hmm need to go grab more drugs now, oh wait if I do cause of this songs premise I'll die fortunately I'm single so there goes that theory thanks man have a good one hahaha one idea worldviews are soo lame :p
@Jeremy Heminger Yes, I agree. because anyone who has been involved in a 12 step program such as alcoholics anonymous knows exactly what a 13th Step is... and this ENTIRE album is a thematic one, a story, as Mer De Noms was based on a se*ual theme, this is about the 13th step. I know it all too well, trust me.
"the song was given lyrics by Keenan, who tied its meaning more into the Thirteenth Step's concept of addiction and recovery, with the lyrics being about having to confront the aftermath of a person overdosing on drugs."
@ROCK & METAL PLAYLISTS yes, spot on, but as many times as I hear people quote the chorus as "Call it Aftermath", it isn't... it's actually 100% --- "Call an optimist"
it doesn't have to be something specific...anyone can give his own meaning depending on his or her experiences...i;m sure that this songs fits to many life situations ... of course the writer of the song had something specific on his mind when he wrote it, but it can still be interpreted in so many ways... that;s the point of art....
@lia xronidou , @Iia xronidou Anyone who has been involved in a 12 step program such as alcoholics anonymous knows exactly what a 13th Step is... and this ENTIRE album is based upon whoever that 13th step girl is.
@kimmyfreak200 I walked into my mother's house, saw her watching an episode of "Bold And The Beautiful", as my DAD Larry Muhoberac (r.i.p) wrote the theme, it was recorded at our studio in Los Angeles, yet he was never paid a cent in royalties, his entire life)... and this song somehow reminded me of the Bold And The Beautiful Theme song. Probably because if I were to have been in his position for that many years, I'd probably turn BLUE from a drug overdose too.
This video goes hand in hand with Tom Petty's 'Last Dance with Mary Jane' for me. Eerie but romantic. Definitely portrays a twisted sense of one person's love for another.
She's turning blue, such a lovely color for you.... She turning blue, why do I just lay and stare at you.... She turning blue, such a lovely color for you eyes....
@Marc Weigel HELL YEAH!! out of any APC song, this is my absolute favourite. But I love the fact that just like Mer De Noms (which is about s*x and relationships), this album continues from where that left off, only entirely related to drug addiction.
@James Walker Dont forget, 21 grams leaves the body upon death. Some say it's the spirit leaving the physical body, some say it's the drugs (in overdose) that basically evaporate before death, and some say it's the residual results of um,..... I can't say it on here due to regulations, but put it this way --- it um... out of millions at a time, breaks down to ONE ONLY, and the others are um... "excreted"??!?
Everything DAVID LYNCH does turns to gold. And I'm pretty sure the "WORM" on the front cover of the album is to signify Coca*ne addiction, and the yellow colour probably means it's from Bolivia. Don't ask me how I know, as I never touch the stuff, but I have seen it many many years ago in 100% pure form.
The whole album is based upon 13th step, which is the thing you're NOT meant to do while being in a 12-step program like alcoholics anonymous or narcotics anonymous, which is to attempt to establish a romantic relationship with someone in the group.
You’re going to hate me comment section people but this song always gives me limp bizkit vibes. Just the music not the singing. Obviously Maynard sings.
My vision is different. It can be compared with relationships, where one person still loves another who's feelings are already dead. In this case - I am the dead corpse, but still feel pain, when I see her attempts to act as if it all normal. Sometimes it is v.v. It makes me feel that all is empty. Me, her, the world, any words, any actions. Sorry for that whining, just wanna let it go and be free.
He said dont forget, but I forgot what it was he said not to forget, and I cant call his name because I forgot that too. He started going lala la lala and that when I decide to walk away, and forget
if you are interessed there are some footage of this song play live in canada (really good quality), search for a perfect circle bluesfest (well i said that because i was there)
@gorowhoro Hey man, haha! you're the 3rd person who says something about necrophilia on here, and I'm not sure what you 3 people mean exactly... haha please explain, as I'm totally in the dark about it. (which necrophilacs, I'm sure, would rather have the lights ON) HAHAa
@marie Chavez ABSOLUTELY!! glad you picked up on that one. and the WORM going towards her nose on front cover. I'm hoping I'm correct in assuming you are referring to being "ON THE NOD", right? Falling asleep through heavy addiction? Nobody else on here has mentioned that line, but I've always known what it meant.
this song to me is about someone that is in the process of dying, prob heroin overdose and him just watching her as she does. this video is about some crazy lady digging up her dead man and staring at him at dinner? to me it whole thing was cheesy!
@theplayachick HAHAHA! what an awesome response!! Whether it be a joke or not, it put a smile on my face. The whole album, is, actually about someone being in a relationship they may have met at an Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, etc, "12- step" meeting, and indulge in trying to form a partnership. Anybody who has been through that knows exactly what I mean... the "13th Step" is what they call it.