Legion Inoculant
by Tool

Album: Fear Inoculum (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is one of Fear Inoculum's four interludes: brief songs bridging the (much) longer ones. The song is all distorted vocal effects and synthesizer sounds. There are faint words, but it's almost impossible to understand what they're saying (if anything).

    The word "legion" was originally used for the major units of the Roman army, having up to 6,000 infantrymen and 200 cavalry. It has since become a common term for a large number of people in pretty much any context or capacity.

    The word "inoculant" refers to the active material used in an inoculation, with inoculation meaning "the introduction of a pathogen or antigen into a living organism to stimulate the production of antibodies."

    What Tool means by combining the two words is unclear, but it's probably something like "making the individual resistant to the masses" or maybe "making the individual resistant to the lure of joining the masses."
  • Legion is also the name claimed by a figure in the Bible. Mark 5:1-18 tells the story of a man living in the tombs and possessed by a demon. When Jesus, who is preparing to cast the demons out, asks the demon its name, it replies, "My name is Legion, for we are many."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Oliver Leiber

Oliver LeiberSongwriter Interviews

Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.

Harry Shearer

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell NdegeocelloSongwriter Interviews

Meshell Ndegeocello talks about recording "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp, and explains why she shied away from the spotlight.