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  1. Tracks
  2. Tool
  3. Sober - Tales from the Darkside
  4. Sober (Live)

TRACK

Tool

Sober (Live)

Release date: 1994

From Sober - Tales from the Darkside
Spotify

About This Track

A live rendition of the original single from Tool's debut studio album, this version captures the song's raw intensity in performance. The track builds from introspection to something more confrontational, with the narrator wrestling with self-loathing and the desire to escape through substance and forgetting. "Why can't we not be sober? I just want to start this over" becomes a refrain that oscillates between plea and accusation, the repetition wearing grooves into the listener's attention. What emerges across the performance is a portrait of someone caught between self-awareness and self-destruction, unable to trust their own voice even as they demand to be trusted. The lyrics circle obsessively around complicity and damage, the speaker positioning themselves as both perpetrator and victim. By the final section, desire itself becomes the only coherent statement: "I want what I want", stripped of context or justification, repeated until it hollows into pure need.

"Sober (Live)" is a track by Tool, from the album Sober - Tales from the Darkside, released 1994. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 1 article about Tool.

About the Artist

Tool

Tool

Lyrics

Sober (Live)

There's a shadow just behind me

Shrouding every step I take

Making every promise empty

Pointing every finger at me

Waiting like a stalking butler

Who upon the finger rests

Murder now the path called "must we"

Just before the son has come

Jesus won't you whistle

Something but the past and done?

Jesus won't you whistle

Something but the past and done?

Why can't we not be sober?

I just want to start this over

Why can't we drink forever

I just want to start things over

I am just a worthless liar

I am just an imbecile

I will only complicate you

Trust in me and fall as well

I will find a center in you

I will chew it up and leave

I will work to elevate you

Just enough to bring you down

Mother Mary won't you whisper

Something but what's past and done

Mother Mary won't you whisper

Something but what's past and done

Why can't we not be sober?

I just want to start this over

Why can't we drink forever

I just want to start things over

I am just a worthless liar

I am just an imbecile

I will only complicate you

Trust in me and fall as well

I will find a center in you

I will chew it up and leave

Trust me, Trust me, Trust me, Trust me, Trust me

Why can't we not be sober?

I just want to start this over

Why can't we drink forever

I just want to start things over

I want

I want what I want

I want what I want

I want what I want

I want what I want

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Sober - Tales from the Darkside

1994
Listen
Album
Sober - Tales from the Darkside
Sober - Tales from the Darkside
Tool
Release year
1994

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