“People were flippant and dismissive”: The 2006 song Maynard James Keenan would never make again
With the way they play around with different time signatures, themes, concepts and lyrics, Tool really takes to the boundaryless nature of prog rock and highlights just how free-flowing the genre can be.
Constantly pushing the creative envelope, they always keep their fans guessing, which is perhaps why people got so frustrated waiting for their 2006 album, 10,000 Days. The band’s most recent release prior to it was Lateralus in 2001, and eventually, when Tool confirmed that they would be putting out the new record in 2006, people heard the name 10,000 Days and thought that it was a joke about how long they had been waiting for this new LP.
While this theory made sense somewhat, the timing didn’t remotely line up; fans had been waiting for five years, but 10,000 days adds up to around 27. Thus, the lack of alignment led to theories being thrown around about the context behind the title. People turned to the title track for help, ‘10,000 Days (Wings, Pt 2)’ and eventually whittled it down to one of two meanings.
The first was that it was a reference to how long it takes for Saturn to revolve around the sun. This isn’t just an astronomical event, but Maynard James Keenan also said that it was a period which represented a moment when people could move to turn their lives around.
“That’s the time in your 28th, 29th year when you are presented the opportunity to transform from whatever your hang-ups were before to let the light of knowledge and experience lighten your load,” said Keenan, “So to speak, and let go of old patterns and embrace a new life.”
Keenan highlighted how cruel life can be that a lot of people don’t make it to this period of reflection. He spoke about music legends who are a part of the 27 Club, like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, each of whom passed away before these 10,000 days could pass.
“For me, starting to recognise those patterns, it was very important to start constructing songs that chronicled that process,” he said, “Hoping that my gift back would be to share that path and hope that I could help somebody get past that spot.”
There was another, more emotional meaning as well, as Maynard James Keenan explained in an interview that his mother had suffered a stroke in 1976 that partially paralysed her, finally passing away roughly 27 years later. Hence, many thought that the meaning behind the song was Keenan trying to chronicle the period in her life when she was paralysed, but regardless of what the actual meaning behind the track was, he said he never wanted to write a draining song like it again.
“I’ll never make that mistake again,” he declared, “It just took too much out of me, too much emotionally, mentally, physically, all those manifestations. Those songs were exploited and misconstrued; people were flippant and dismissive. I won’t be doing that anymore.”
