"I was trying to make a butt sex joke and it was dumb." Maynard James Keenan regrets some of the lyrics he wrote on those early Tool records

Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan performing live in 1997.

(Image credit: Paul Bergen/Redferns)

Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan says he regrets some of the lyrics he wrote early in the band's career – so much so that he doesn't enjoy performing the tracks at all.

Keenan is known for his lyrical prowess, but he believes he got it wrong a number of times in the past.

In a wide-ranging interview on Steve-O's Wild Ride podcast, Keenan says: "There’s some old Tool songs that I don’t like playing them because I feel like I failed them.

"They’re popular songs, but I was trying to make a joke and it was a dumb joke, and I should’ve just moved on. I feel like the lyrics don’t hold up under scrutiny."

Talking about 4° from Tool's 1993 debut Undertow, he says: "The way I wrote it, I was trying to f***ing make a butt sex joke and it was dumb. The song’s beautiful, what those guys did musically is great and I think maybe the melody’s a good melody but the words are just dumb.

"I don’t know what the f*** I was thinking."

Keenan also reveals that working with co-vocalist Carina Round in his band Puscifer has taught him to make better use of his voice as he gets older.

He says: "I think I have figured out how to work with it better by arranging sets a certain way. Working with Carina and singing in Puscifer has helped me develop better longevity, vocal skills. That's helped quite a bit.

"I feel like I'm doing some things better as far as being able to sing tomorrow night and the next night and the next night.

"But at my age there's some songs that I can't even do no matter what I try, tuning down or whatever. They are just out of my range now."

The full interview can be viewed below.

Maynard James Keenan and Steve-O's Unlikely Bromance | Wild Ride #278 - YouTube

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.

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