Ænema

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"Ænema"

Single by Tool
Released	1996
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	6:39
Chart positions
#25 U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks

"Ænema" is a 1996 song by progressive rock band Tool on their album Ænima. It won a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Adam Jones made a video for this song using stop motion that appears on Salival.

Maynard James Keenan sings of southern California sinking into the Pacific Ocean after a series of "natural" disasters. The basic theme is one that is expressed often in Tool lyrics; frustration with all things absurd and void of substance, of which Los Angeles (LA) is full of examples. The presented solution is a purging of LA from the face of the earth.

"Ænema" may be considered the title track of Ænima. If "Ænima" is read as Anima (feminine inner personality), then "Ænema" may be read as enema (bowel cleansing).

1 Lyrical references
2 Charts
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Lyrical references

Keenan incorporates into the lyrics part of comedian Bill Hicks' "Arizona Bay" routine (from Hicks' CD album of the same name) by telling the listener to "learn to swim, see you down in Arizona Bay." Hicks appears in the liner notes/sleeve as a mad doctor and the notes also carry a 3-d turn card which shows the land mass spoken of in the song , falling into the sea, with the simple turn of the card.

The song also features the line "fuck L. Ron Hubbard and fuck all his clones," a poke at scientology akin to Tool's earlier use of lachrymology. It's the second time on the CD that Tool have spoken negatively about L. Ron Hubbard and his Church of Scientology. Many fans believe the second track "Eulogy" refers to Hubbard being the self proclaimed martyr subject of the song.