Sober ( Tool song ) - wikipedia Sober ( Tool song ) `` Sober '' Single by Tool from the album Undertow Released May 1993 Format Compact disc, vinyl Recorded Genre Alternative metal Length 5 : 05 Label Zoo Entertainment Songwriter ( s ) Danny Carey, Paul D'Amour, Adam Jones, Maynard James Keenan Producer ( s ) Sylvia Massy, Tool Tool singles chronology `` Hush '' ( 1993 ) `` Sober '' ( 1993 ) `` Prison Sex '' ( 1994 ) `` Hush '' ( 1993 ) `` Sober '' ( 1993 ) `` Prison Sex '' ( 1994 ) Alternative cover Cover for the promotional single. Wikiquote has quotations related to : Sober ( Tool song ) Sober is a song by US rock band, Tool. The song was released as the first single from their debut studio album, Undertow. Tool guitarist Adam Jones has stated in an interview that the song is about a friend of the band whose artistic expression only comes out when he is under the influence. `` A lot of people give him shit for that, '' Jones explains. `` If you become addicted and a junkie, well, that 's your fault. '' Contents 1 Writing 2 Music video 3 Formats and track listings 4 Personnel 5 Release history 6 Notable performances and covers 7 In media 8 Chart performance 9 References Writing `` Sober '' is one of the earliest songs composed by Maynard James Keenan, with roots dating back to a 1987 live performance ( released as Peace Day with his first band, Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty ) in which the song was called `` Burn About Out ''. The song contains some lyrics from the first verse of `` Sober '', with the same basic melody, although the melody is considerably faster and has an instrumental chorus. The song was recorded by MJK with Tool for the first time in mid-1991 on a demo tape titled 72826. Music video Screenshot of the Sober music video depicting the humanoid being. A video for `` Sober '' was made in 1993. It debuted in May of that same year and was directed by Fred Stuhr. It was filmed using stop - motion animation, with the characters ' models designed by Adam Jones. It was the first of Tool 's videos to be made in stop motion, the earlier promo video for `` Hush '' being live action. Whereas all four band members could be seen at all times during the previous clip, naked and without instruments, `` Sober '' shows only brief flashes of them, clothed and playing. A live - action clay figure is shown twitching and vibrating violently. The video 's protagonist is a small, humanoid being, who lives and sleeps in an abandoned mansion, in a rusty room sparsely decorated with a table, a chair, and a bed with no mattress and a curtain as a blanket. He happens to stumble upon a wooden box, which he opens near the beginning. Its contents are kept hidden for the majority of the video 's duration, but it seems whatever it is has had adverse mind altering effects -- there are repeated shots of the humanoid levitating in his chair, and his head and arm vibrating wildly. While experiencing these effects, the figure ventures through his living quarters and its many corridors. The climax provides a barrage of imagery and revelations : a figure attached to a wall behind a translucent screen, a sentry of sorts wielding a mobile, robotic cannon and an organic substance flowing through a pipe found in the house. At the end, the box is empty, leaving the viewer to determine its meaning. Formats and track listings U.S. Single No. Title Length 1. `` Sober '' ( album version ) 5 : 06 Australian / German Single No. Title Length 1. `` Sober '' ( album version ) 5 : 06 2. `` Bottom '' ( live ) 6 : 24 3. `` Intolerance '' ( live ) 4 : 43 UK 12 '' Single No. Title Length 1. `` Sober '' ( album version ) 5 : 06 2. `` Prison Sex '' ( album version ) 4 : 55 3. `` Intolerance '' ( album version ) 4 : 34 Sober -- Tales from the Darkside No. Title Length 1. `` Sober '' ( album version ) 5 : 06 2. `` Undertow '' ( live at Lollapalooza ' 93 -- 8 / 6 / 93 ) 5 : 42 3. `` Sober '' ( live at Lollapalooza ' 93 -- 8 / 6 / 93 ) 5 : 10 4. `` Opiate '' ( live at Lollapalooza ' 93 -- 8 / 6 / 93 ) 6 : 17 5. `` Flood '' ( live at Lollapalooza ' 93 -- 8 / 6 / 93 ) 3 : 40 6. `` Prison Sex '' ( live at Lollapalooza ' 93 -- 8 / 6 / 93 ) 4 : 50 7. `` Jerk - Off '' ( live at Lollapalooza ' 93 -- 8 / 6 / 93 ) 4 : 18 8. `` Prison Sex '' ( live at Lowland Paradise Festival, Dronten, The Netherlands -- 8 / 29 / 93 ) 5 : 01 9. `` Bottom '' ( live at Lowland Paradise Festival, Dronten, The Netherlands -- 8 / 29 / 93 ) 6 : 24 Personnel Tool Maynard James Keenan -- vocals Adam Jones -- guitar Paul D'Amour -- bass Danny Carey -- drums Release history Region Date Label Format Catalog Germany Zoo Entertainment CD 74321 - 21849 - 2 Australia CD 74321 - 21849 - 2 UK Vinyl picture disc 74321 - 22043 - 1 Promo vinyl TOOL 001 U.S. Promo CD ZP17121 - 2 Netherlands CD 74321 22604 2 Notable performances and covers In August 2006, Kirk Hammett, lead guitarist of Metallica, joined Tool on stage while performing and jammed together with the band at a show in Hawaii. In January 2007, at the Big Day Out music festival in Auckland, New Zealand, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian collaborated with Tool for an improvisational version of the song. Staind released a live acoustic cover version of the song on their 2006 compilation The Singles : 1996 -- 2006. In media In an episode of Beavis and Butt - head, the eponymous duo provide commentary on the video. They mock the band 's name, but give an otherwise positive review of the video. British electronica duo Orbital sampled the song in `` Tootled '', from their DVD album The Altogether. Chart performance Chart ( 1993 - 94 ) Peak position US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) 13 References Jump up ^ Grierson, Tim. `` Top 10 Essential Alt - Metal Songs ''. About.com. Retrieved February 5, 2013. Jump up ^ citing Guitar School, March 1994 Jump up ^ http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=28107 Jump up ^ Blackie, Andrew ( November 16, 2006 ). `` Staind : The Singles 1996 -- 2006 ''. Popmatters.com. Retrieved April 10, 2015. An unplugged replica of Tool 's `` Sober '' manages to conjure a sense of brooding even more evident than in the original, and amplify Adam Jones ' discordant riffage. Jump up ^ `` Tool Chart History ( Mainstream Rock ) ''. Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2017. Tool Maynard James Keenan Adam Jones Danny Carey Justin Chancellor Paul D'Amour Studio albums Undertow Ænima Lateralus 10,000 Days EPs 72826 Opiate Box sets Salival Singles `` Hush '' `` Sober '' `` Prison Sex '' `` Stinkfist '' `` H. '' `` Ænema '' `` Forty Six & 2 '' `` Schism '' `` Parabola '' `` Lateralus '' `` Vicarious '' `` The Pot '' `` Jambi '' Other songs `` Opiate '' `` Hooker with a Penis '' `` Rosetta Stoned '' Tours 2011 Winter 2012 2013 Related articles Discography List of tours Alex Grey Volcano Entertainment Caduceus Cellars Lobal Orning Zoo Entertainment Bill Hicks Chet Zar Cam de Leon The Crybaby Related bands A Perfect Circle Puscifer Green Jellÿ Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty Pigmy Love Circus Peach Zaum Tapeworm Volto ! Book Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sober_(Tool_song)&oldid=840937467 '' Categories : 1993 singles Tool ( band ) songs Songs about drugs Songs written by Maynard James Keenan Songs written by Danny Carey Songs written by Paul D'Amour Songs written by Adam Jones ( musician ) 1993 songs Zoo Entertainment ( record label ) singles Hidden categories : Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Articles with hAudio microformats Singlechart usages for Billboardmainstreamrock Singlechart called without song Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Français Galego Italiano Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 13 May 2018, at 01 : 29. About Wikipedia

Question: what do the lyrics to sober by tool mean
Answer: a friend of the band whose artistic expression only comes out when he is under the influence