H. by Tool

I don't know much about the band, their home lives, or anything beyond the lead singer's name really. But I'm a firm believer in their lyrics, and have had this interpretation stuck in my head for awhile. I've read that the song H is about Maynard's son and heroin, but I hold strong in my opinion that my interpretation of the song is just as accurate. I've even tried to explain it to people and they haven't been able to grasp it. I've gone as far as to draw diagrams and they still don't get it. Hopefully I can explain it well enough here how I see it.

Imagine if you will....that this is what the music video looks like. A man is simply sitting on a single one seated cart on a train track. In front of him, attached to the cart is a large mirror which he is facing. Behind him is a large snake that is standing on end. The mirror and snake make the sides of the H and the man in the middle is connected by the two perpendicular lines to make the horizontal. The man cannot go forward on the track because the mirror is in his way.

This song is about relationships and decision making. You have to move on sometimes, despite what has happened in the past. In a relationship with another person, even if you have been hurt in the past, you need to shed your skin of old and learn to trust again with open arms.

What's coming through is alive.
This is basically saying, what is happening is not imagination. It is real. It can change things. It is concrete.
What's holding up is a mirror.
A time of reflection is occurring. He is looking at himself in the mirror.I would like to point out here that the mirror is in fact WATER, not a mirror itself.
What's singing songs is a snake
Classic temptation
And he's looking to turn the piss to wine.
Despite it being temptation, the snake is trying to do good.
They're both totally void of hate and killing me just the same.
This line is self explanatory
The snake behind me hisses, what my damage could have been.
My blood before me begs me "Open up my heart again."
In these two lines we have been given the purpose and position of the objects. The snake is behind the man the mirror is in front of him, and he is in between. An H has been formed, literally. The snake represents his past. It's telling him of things that have happened or could happen (mostly bad decisions). It is the bad choices, and it is the regret. The "blood before" is actually the mirror pleading him to move forward, ignore the snake and mistakes that he has taken in the past, and step through the mirror.
And I feel this coming over like a storm again, now.
At this point, the song has come to represent decision making. He is torn between his past and future. Does he listen to the snake telling him about all the regretful things that may happen if he goes through the mirror, or does he ignore the snake and step forward as his blood is begging him to do? It feels like a storm because the reflection in the water is telling him that's it's inevitable and that he must step forward.
Considerately.
I put this seperate from the other line, not only because he pauses in the song and says it seperately, but because it means something entire different from the rest. This one word ties into the first line of the song. Yes, "What's coming through is alive" and it is real and can inflict change, but it is all considerate. It is all in the mind. It has him and him alone in mind. It is to be taken under consideration, as all decisions should.
Venomous voice tempts me
Bleeds me, leaves me
Cracked and empty
Drags me down like some sweet gravity.
This is classically describing depression. The snake behind him whispering at him is telling him about all the bad shit that can happen if he steps through the mirror. He is asking him not to step through. but to stay. But if he stays, he is in limbo constantly caught in this conflict.
The snake behind me hisses
What my damage could have been.
My blood before me begs me "Open up my heart again."
And I feel this coming over like a storm again now.
He is stating again, after contemplating the depression and staying here in limbo, his delima and the rage he is feeling.
I am too connected to you
To slip away, fade away
Days away I still feel you.
Touching me, changing me.
Considerately killing me.
This part is describing the consistency in which this situation has happened. There is not only one snake and one mirror, but there have been many. Each documents his life, though they are unseen, and each he can still feel. Every decision that he has made has brought him further down this track and the cycle is overbearing.
Without the skin here
Beneath the storm
Under these tears
The storm came down
He has decided despite past occurances, that he will move forward. Naked and shedding off his old pain and regret, the storm peeks and he not only steps THROUGH the reflection, but becomes it.
As the snake was drown.
This is saying that the one thing telling him to hold back is now gone.
There's a look in his eyes
My fear begins to fade recalling all of the times
I could have cried then I should have cried then.
He realizes that everytime he makes a situation like this, to move forward, that a part of him has died, whether it be a good part or bad, but part of him none the less
As the walls come down
The "walls" are the snake behind him and the mirror in front of him
There's a look in your eyes.
My fear begins to fade recalling all the times
I have died, I will die, it's alright, I don't mind.
This decision making process has occurred over and over, he's used to it at this point and doesn't mind(think about) it. A part of him is constantly dying
I am too connected to you
To slip away, fade away.
Days away I still feel you
Touching me change me
Considerately killing me.

So as far as a music video for this interpretation would be, it would be simple. As I said before, a man is sitting on a single one seated cart on a train track. In front of him, attached to the cart is a large mirror which he is facing. Behind him is a large snake that is standing on end. The mirror and snake make the sides of the H and the man in the middle is connected by the two perpendicular lines to make the horizontal. The make cannot going forward on on the track because the mirror is in his way.

At the end of the video, the snake would wither and die, and the mirror would drop down, allowing him to move forward on the train track that he is on. It doesn't move far though, maybe a few feet. Then another snake pops up behind him(representing the mirror he just passed through) and another delima and mirror have popped up in front of him.

The decisions and regrets are endless. H is the symbol used by Max Planck, 1858–1947, German physicist, and Nobel winner as the fundamental constant relating to the energy of anelectromagnetic waves to their frequency.

To me, the song is about how we constantly have to compare our past to our future and we're caught between the two. I could go farther into Planck's constant and how it truly represents it all, but that'd just be confusing.


I hope this interpretation wasn't too difficult to understand.

Maynards songs dont make any sense you hippie, just good to listen to.

yes they do stoner.