I'm sure this has been brought up many times before, but most threads on this board are by nature redundancies (ie, what's your favourite AIC song, video, where can I find X song/video, etc)... but I came up with what I think is a pretty cool idea about the video for Get Born Again, about a week ago.

I don't know how involved the band was with the making of the video, clearly new footage of them does NOT appear in it, and I don't even know who directed it, or how clever they were and how much they knew about AIC's music. Never the less, this is my current interpretation of it:

The video, based on the message of the song, is about an internal conflict in the mind of someone who is considering changing their life by "getting born again." We all know how plenty of people exchange drugs for Jesus, even George Bush jr if you listen to some rumours. Well, I think this is Layne Staley's idea of such a conversion. The new life is the baby, created by the decaying man who is clearly worn down by life and abuse. The woman is the person's conscience, who is disgusted by this artificial, perverted Frankenstein-style creation, this "getting born again," and who eventually, quite literally, aborts it. The old guy watching over the whole procedure is the mind of the man as a whole, observing these thoughts battle each other. The woman's destruction of the baby is the last straw for the decaying man, who had pinned his hopes on this new life, and the old guy himself - the whole mind - is affected with angst and destruction.

On the youtube video clip for the song, someone wrote "People don't change so easily is the message I got from this song," at least implying they were getting a similar vibe. I like the idea that in order to "get born again" you have to lie to yourself and sacrifice your principles, and that in a person with a real conscience, that conscience would overcome hypocrisy even at the cost of hope and even life itself. "Just repeat a couple lies."

 

Interesting concept.

I think you hit some nails on the head here!

Amazing!

What I'm interested in is the particulars as to the making of that video. For instance, there are people on Youtube and other sites who write as if they have first-hand knowledge of its production, and state that Layneis the old man in the video, buried under layers of make-up, but I've read elsewhere that none of the band members were involved with the video, so what gives?

I always thought it was a reference to the protestant Christian process of conversion... especially because of the "Get born again, just repeat a couple lies". God's unwillingness to help or listen is a recurrent theme in Layne's lyrics...

This thread reminds me of Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden.  Once apon a time, according to Chris Cornell, the song has no actual meaning behind it.  Everyone thought the song was so profound.  People always try to look deeper into something that just isnt there.  Leave desiphering lyrics to the actual song writers. 

I don't think the old guy is Layne.

---

~ Yeah I believe in inner peace ~

http://laynestaley.forumotion.com

I like the video. It's a shame that the band didn't record themselves, maybe Layne was right to be excused but why not the rest of the band? Meh, still an excellent song, and a very interesting video for it too.

---

"Whats my motivation here?" - Layne Thomas Staley, April 10, 1996

http://www.freewebs.com/jakethegamereviewer/index.htm

Re: layneandwasp

Well, Layne Staley actually said in a radio interview that it was about "religious hypocrisy," so there's some evidence for what I'm saying. I have no idea what Black Hole Sun is about, the lyrics have never made sense to me. I also understand that AIC, as with every popular band, has a lot of anti-intellectual fans (although you'd think the Tool overlap would help). I think the lyrics aren't just random, that the songs are about something, and that it's legitimate to figure out what they mean, even though a lot of it is subjective (as the band themselves recognize). This isn't Kyuss where the lyrics are just whatever goes with the mood of the song (awesome as that is), there is a message. Not that it should matter but I have some education in literature.

In my opinion this is their best video even though they don't appear, followed closely by What the Hell Have I, and maybe Them Bones. Angry Chair and Grind were kind of cool, but they didn't have the quite same level of corruption and distortion. I'm really damned interested to see what their new sound is going to be like, and if they make a video what the style of it will be. We need a return to real rock in these dark days of disposable garbage.

Tronyn:

Re: layneandwasp

Well, Layne Staley actually said in a radio interview that it was about "religious hypocrisy," so there's some evidence for what I'm saying. I have no idea what Black Hole Sun is about, the lyrics have never made sense to me. I also understand that AIC, as with every popular band, has a lot of anti-intellectual fans (although you'd think the Tool overlap would help). I think the lyrics aren't just random, that the songs are about something, and that it's legitimate to figure out what they mean, even though a lot of it is subjective (as the band themselves recognize). This isn't Kyuss where the lyrics are just whatever goes with the mood of the song (awesome as that is), there is a message. Not that it should matter but I have some education in literature.

In my opinion this is their best video even though they don't appear, followed closely by What the Hell Have I, and maybe Them Bones. Angry Chair and Grind were kind of cool, but they didn't have the quite same level of corruption and distortion. I'm really damned interested to see what their new sound is going to be like, and if they make a video what the style of it will be. We need a return to real rock in these dark days of disposable garbage.

I knew I remembered you from somewhere!

HEE~  You are Good... And funny!

In an "intellectual" sort of way of course! ; )

Keep your game face on!

Personally, the Only "TOOL" I like is a nutcracker!