Pet

Maynard Keenan has always stressed paying more attention to the emotions the music brings out in you then what the lyrics actually say. The songs of A Perfect Circle are open for individual interpretations, which the band encourages.

This song could be a stab at the War on Terror. The first two lines seem to be from the point of view of the President of the US, the line "Go back to sleep," is very closely linked to a bit by comedian Bill Hicks, who lead singer Maynard Keenan is a fan of. It's basically saying, don't look at what's actually going on, just let the government tell you what's really happening. "Lay your head down child, I won't let the boogeyman come" - Seems a reference to how the media tries to keep us scared, with orange level terrorism alerts and whatnot, but that our government is somehow in control and can protect us at all times. "Pay no mind to the rabble" - Could be about war protesters or anyone in general who has spoken out against the Bush administration and been labeled traitors. The next bit could mean something about giving the government more power, letting them make choices for you to keep you safe and ignorant. Rather, to keep certain people safe from being impeached or thrown out of office. Next, we have him sort of repeating a few earlier ideas, about how we should just let this war go on while bodies pile up, just so long as we don't really figure out why we are at war in the first place. "Head down, go to sleep" - It seems this song is about the current administration keeping the ignorant masses unaware of what's really happening, much the same way they use reverse psychology to make the public think certain bills, laws and acts, like the clean air act, are doing any good at all, while doing irreparable harm to our environment or standing in the world's view. This ignorance has long been a topic that Maynard has sung about.

The song can be viewed as being about two bodies - a controlling, maybe obsessive body and a weaker body. It can be related to the relationships between god and the world, father and son, government and society, or drugs and the user. The relationship that seems to be the most relevant however seems to be drugs and the user - the whole album seems to be based around drug addiction.