Introduction:

Descending is a song that many Tool fans, including myself, hold dear. With the last new music released by Tool being 2006’s 10,000 Days, fans of the band have been starving for new material. It would not be until May 5th, 2019, that new songs in their entirety would be revealed at Rockville. However, before that, Tool would occasionally play a short piece of new material when performing. That new material would become to be known as “Descending” and was only a short portion of the eventual twelve minute track. No lyrics were ever sung by lead singer and songwriter Maynard James Keenan and we now know this is because their were no lyrics even written yet, as Keenan revealed that all the lyrics for their upcoming album were written in the months preceding May 2019. Now that the full track has been “released”, (not officially, as they’ve only performed the song live) lyrics and all, I’ve decided to analysis and then give my interpretation of Keenan’s words.

MJK’s lyrics are known for their depth and complexity, and “Descending” is no different. As Keenan is my personal favorite singer and songwriter, I consider myself familiar with a majority of his work. Be it in Tool, A Perfect Circle, or Puscifer, the singer never fails to explore complex issues and generally makes every line carry weight. Throughout his music, he commonly explores two topics: his personal relationships to those around him and his thoughts/interpretations of grand ideas, including society’s faults, humanity’s purpose, and even suggestions for a better lifestyle. The lyrics of “Descending” fall into the second category, as the song is a call for humanity to stray from the path it seems to be taking. The “path” is humanity’s destruction at our own hands. No matter how you feel, it is undeniable that tensions across the world seem to be at an all time high. Especially in the US where the band and I are from. This tension has lead to a lost of identity, throwing our future into uncertainty. We as a species like to boast about our progress, and for the sake of not being too pessimistic, it must be said that we have made a lot of genuine progress towards the goal of a better world. However, as shown by the events of the past decade, it is uncertain if humanity can actually achieve a better world due to our nature. Despite progress providing many benefits, due to our reluctance to outgrow our primal feelings of hate and greed, those same benefits we once enjoyed have now turned into disadvantages. For example, the development of modern weapons were once hailed as a way to keep many safe. In the age of tension however, it is easy to see how what once protected us can now be what spurs our downfall. This is where “Descending” connects to my ramblings, as Keenan perceives our uncertainty and possible regress as a precursor to the climax of civilization. Of course, no one wants to see the climax of civilization as that would be the end of us all at our own hands. That is why MJK pleads within the song for something to change our course and “mitigate our ruin”. With the background of my interpretation explained, I will move on to an actual analysis of the lyrics.

Lyric Analysis:

As the official lyrics of “Descending” have not been released, their are some lines that are not totally clear. For this analysis I will be following the lyrics of Lyric Music Videos on YouTube who consolidated lyrics from sources such as Reddit. For the unclear words, the up-loader indicated that they gave their own interpretation. I tend to agree with what he/she understands those lyrics to be, but I will be indicating the interpretative lyrics with a *.

Verse 1:

1. Free fall through

2. Our midnight

3. This epilogue

4. Of our own fable

5. Release our slumber

6. Flowing minions*

This opening verse discusses the ending of humanity, describing armageddon as “our midnight” and an “epilogue”. The use of “our” three different times here reinforces this idea as surly Keenan means humanity and not him and a select few. Civilization isn’t going down gracefully either, as MJK describes it as a “free fall”, indicating a lack of control. We have set a course for destruction and lack the control to change it. In line 4, the use of “fable” is interesting as it could just be a synonym for story which would make sense, but could also be deeper. Fables are stories with a distinct lesson being taught, think The Boy Who Cried Wolf or The Tortoise and the Hare. Perhaps Keenan is implying that our story of growth and decline could be taught as a lesson? A lesson in what, though? That is not clear. Perhaps a lesson of indulging in our primal feelings of hate and greed only leads to eventual downfall? Line 5 is a plead for someone, maybe God or no one in particular, to “wake” us up from our metaphorical slumber. Our slumber being our free fall towards the end. Line 6 is the one line in this verse I’m not sure about, and because we do not know if “minions” is the word used, it is not worth incorporating it into our understanding of the lyrics. In pursuit of food for thought however, maybe minions refers to the common people who are unknowingly on the path to destruction?

Verse 2:

1. Free fall through

2. This boundless night

3. This nightmare

4. Of our own making

5. Lonely visage flying

6. *Lonely prison infinite*

The message of the second verse is similar to the message of the first. Humanity is on an uncontrollable path towards destruction on a road built by our own hands. On lines 5 and 6, characteristics of a broken society on the brink of collapse are given, the same society we are living in right now. “Lonely visage” implies a lonely populous and “flying” I interpret to mean in view of all. Indeed, it is no secret that within a society that boasts about connectivity brought on by technological advancements we are seeing rising levels of loneliness and unhappiness. It is implied in line 6 that the depression felt by society is infinite due to the parameters we have set on ourselves. We have created a society that breeds loneliness and sadness and yet we refuse to change it.

Verse 3:

1. Come our end suddenly

2. All hail our lethargy

3. Concede suddenly

4. To the quickened

5. Disillusion

6. Pray we

7. Mitigate this ruin

8. Calling all to walk in order

This is when things get even more interesting. MJK again discusses humanity’s end, however the use of “suddenly” twice is what separates the climax discussed in the first two verses and this one. Before, the end of civilization could have been viewed as the eventual destination of our free fall. Keenan clarifies that our end will not be one of gradual decline, but one of sudden demise. This leads me to believe that MJK thinks the end of humanity will be caused by nuclear annihilation. Which makes sense, as nothing else currently exists that is capable of destroying civilization in the matter of minutes. I would argue that we are the closest we have ever been to nuclear war, for many unstable states such as North Korea, Pakistan, and Israel all have nuclear capabilities. Continuing on, Keenan’s use of disillusion in line 5 was interesting to me. At first, I thought it was a call back to “Disillusioned”, a song by MJK’s other band A Perfect Circle. That song’s purpose is to call out people participating in the disadvantages of modern society, using disillusioned as an adjective to describe those people. While in “Descending”, the word is used as a noun to describe humanity’s demise. Same word, but used in two different ways. Lastly, in line 8, the song calls for order among society. At first glance, one might think the line asks people to fall in line and submit for the sake of humanity. However, because that goes against the “think for yourself” message conveyed by MJK throughout his career, I do not believe that is what this line means. I think this line means that we as a society have moved away from order, and have instead given into our primal feelings of fear and hatred. So we do not need to submit ourselves, but rather return to a place of civility.

Verse 4:

1. Drifting through

2. This boundless night

3. This nightmare

4. Of our own making

5. Sound our dire reveille

6. Rouse all from our apathy

7. Lest we cease to be

8. * Steer us from our *

9. Wanton slumber

10. Mitigate our ruin

11. * Call us all to laws and order *

Lines 1 through 4 of this verse are similar to previous verses and thus I have already discussed its meaning. The rest of this verse can be summarized as a plea for someone to step in and save humanity from our self-imposed destruction. That ‘someone’ is never specified, leaving it open to the reader. Maybe it’s meant to rouse the reader themselves into action? Line 6 is interesting to me, as apathetic is a valid adjective for modern society. It seems like humanity has been progressing at a steady pace over the past couple centuries and we have now reached a point where no one has a clear idea of how we should proceed. This lack of identity as a species has lead to humanity clinging on to whomever seems to have the answers. Sadly, it seems those most confident in their vision of the future tend to be demagogues more interested in taking advantage of the confusion rather then actually paving a way towards a better future. Thus, progress or those who would spur on progress, have become lethargic and apathetic.

Verse 5:

1. Sound the dread alarm

2. Futile primal body

3. Some will never be: To be or not to be

4. Rise

5. Stay the grand finale

6. Stay the reading [of] our swan song and epilogue

7. One drive, to stay alive

8. Elementary

9. Muster every fiber

10. Mobilize

11. Stay alive

Verse 5 is the last verse and is also my favorite part of the song. Lines 1 through 3 discuss a question humanity has been pondering ever since the start of civilization. It is similar to the question contemplated by Hamlet in the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy written by Shakespeare. Hamlet debates with himself on weather it is better to ‘be’, as in stay alive and endure the pains of existence for the sake of life or to ‘not be’ where you accept the fact that death renders all things done in life inconsequential and thus you skip the hardships of life by prematurely ending your own life. In “Descending”, the question is weather it is accept an inevitable end and thus take no action to stop it, or to fight for life and actively try to save civilization. In the context of that question, this song is a rallying cry for humanity to fight for life. Of course, some will disagree and MJK fires back at that idea, comparing those who would disagree as people who would choose ‘not to be’ instead of ‘to be’. Those who would lay down and surrender humanity to destruction are submitting to primal ways of fear and are lost. We moved past our primal stage when civilization began, as to participate in a society requires us to adhere to the unnatural social contract. In order to “stay our swan song and epilogue” we must subscribe to the idea of ‘to be’. To achieve the “elementary” idea of staying alive as a society we must “mobilize” and steer ourselves back onto a path of progress and not keep on the path to self-destruction. We must stay alive.

Conclusion:

MJK has never failed to explore deep concepts, and therefore I had no doubt the new Tool songs would be interesting and full of depth. I was not wrong. The song covers a grand idea as most MJK songs do, but similarly to A Perfect Circle’s 2018 album “Eat the Elephant”, their is a twist. The concepts in these songs could be applied to any time in our history, but they seem uniquely framed in the context of post-2016 society. Thus the relevance of these messages make them feel even more important. With all the talk of humanity’s downfall, one could call MJK pessimistic and dark. Maybe he is, however, it is obvious from the lyrics that he does not want civilization to collapse and the whole point of the track is to inspire others to work towards the opposite, a better future for the human species. Is one pessimistic and dark for anticipating the end of society and actively trying to mitigate it? I think not.