Ænema
| "Ænema" | ||||||||
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| Single by Tool | ||||||||
| from the album Ænima | ||||||||
| Released | August 9, 1997 | |||||||
| Genre | Progressive metal, alternative metal | |||||||
| Length | 6:39 | |||||||
| Label | Zoo Entertainment | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, Adam Jones, Maynard James Keenan | |||||||
| Producer(s) | David Bottrill | |||||||
| Tool singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Ænema" is a song by rock band Tool, released as the third single from their third major-label release Ænima. Adam Jones made a video for the song using stop-motion animation that appears on Salival. The song reached number twenty-five on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in August 1997.
The song makes extensive use of hemiola, a musical technique in which the emphasis in a triple meter is changed to give the illusion that both a duple and a triple meter occur in the song.
The song is cast in terminally climactic form, in which two verse/chorus pairs give way to a climactic ending on new material.
Keenan incorporates into the lyrics part of comedian Bill Hicks' sketch "Arizona Bay" routine (from Hicks' comedy segment album of the same name) by stating the line "learn to swim, see you down in Arizona Bay." Hicks appears in the liner notes/sleeve as a doctor, and a lenticular image below the case tray illustrates a large portion of California disappearing leaving only the Pacific Ocean, as is mentioned in the song. California falling into the sea is a prediction made by Edgar Cayce, also known as "The Sleeping Prophet," about the end of days in which California and New York are to sink into the ocean among a plethora of other devastating weather changes.
In general the song is a diatribe against celebrity culture, particularly around Los Angeles. This includes everything from the Church of Scientology with the line "Fuck L. Ron Hubbard and fuck all his clones"; to possibly rappers ("gun-toting hip gangster wannabes"), to drug addicts, Hollywood executives and actresses whom Maynard views as scum and wishes would all be flushed down the proverbial toilet.
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