3 Libras: An Opinion Essay/Review

Here are some facts right off the bat: 3 Libras is a song by the supergroup A Perfect Circle off of their first album Mer de Noms (French for "Sea of Names") in 2000. It was released as a single in early 2001. If you're interested (which you probably are if you're bothering to read this), here's a link to said video.

3 Libras is my favorite "rock" song. I don't say favorite piece of music of all time, because the Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony No. 5 and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata are also up there. But in terms of popular music, 3 Libras is my favorite for a variety of reasons. There's things to be said about the instrumentation. I could go on about how Josh Freese's delicate ghost strokes on the snare and prominent accentuation of the snare with the crash cymbal hits give the song a sense of poise, how the viola and guitar intertwine to create a magnetic and calming atmosphere that while present, isn't overwhelming, and so on and so forth. This is not, on it's own, why I love the song so. Maynard James Keenan's vocals are this song's pièce de résistance.

Before I talk about the actual song's vocals and lyrics, let's have some background on Maynard. Maynard is probably mostly known for being the vocalist of the art rock/alternative/experimental metal group Tool. His vocals in the band range from inaudible whispers to outright yells, and the music is sometimes more "abrasive" than that of A Perfect Circle (which was founded by him and Tool's guitar tech Billy Howerdell). Maynard himself has said that Tool is his "masculine" side and A Perfect Circle is his "feminine" side. Weirdly enough, a youtube commenter by the name of thetooltornado summed it up nicely by saying "Tool is Maynard's intellect, A Perfect Circle is Maynard's emotion." Now I've liked Tool going back to middle school, and that's the Maynard I was used to. It wasn't until May 25th, 2009 that I purchased 3 Libras (according to my iTunes), and with it the entire Mer de Noms album. I was immediately struck by this different side of him, and I've come to appreciate it as much or even more-so than his "masculine" side in Tool.

The lyrics of 3 Libras are extraordinarily powerful. Though Maynard has stated the song is about "being overlooked", the lyrics speak for themselves for the most part. It talks about wanting to "see what occurs behind the eyes of a fallen angel", and about not being seen by this object of tragic beauty. Due to the odd structure of the song (Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Outro, all in a concise three minutes and forty seconds), the chorus comes only once. Perhaps the lack of repetition in the song is a draw to me; the chorus is powerful enough that it only needs to be presented once. Maynard's vocal delivery is one of the most honest I've ever heard in a song. There's nothing cheesy about the lyrics, there's nothing cliche about the performance. In short, it's personal and intimate. Maynard, in these moments, is not being deceitful. He forces us to cast aside all pretenses as he has, and overcomes the listener with a beautiful delivery of raw emotions. The song demands thought, as well as an emotional reaction. Plenty of "ballads" are weepy, sobby, sorry-I-did-this-and-such exercises in pseudo-introspection. 3 Libras, by this reckoning, should not even be called a ballad, despite it's musical qualities. Of course, "ballad" is an arbitrary label applied to slower-tempo songs, and I only mention it because Wikipedia has it tagged as a "ballad."

To me, 3 Libras is about the moment when you're looking into someone's eyes and you see them for who they are, and there's no need for questioning. It's then that you're struck by the cruel reality that they are oblivious to who you are. It's about the disconnect, the inequalities of perception and recognition. It's about that moment when you realize that there will always be a separation between you and them, and the ability to recognize that this may not be a bad thing. Though it's tragic, sometimes such beauty is best left untouched and merely admired and respected.

After all that, I recommend anyone who's persevered (and hopefully listened to the studio version of the song) watch this. Even live, Maynard manages to be stunningly vulnerable and honest with the audience. I'll leave everyone with what Maynard wrote in the liner notes to the single release.

"Up until the mid twentieth century the mountain gorilla was considered a myth. Oddly enough, a legend not unlike Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. The chance of actually seeing/experiencing this elusive shadow was as likely as finding one's soulmate. Rare. Precious. Even once discovered they seemed unapproachable. The only way to get close to this magnificent creature was to become empathetic. Abandon all pretense and preconceptions. To bare an open throat. To collapse into the arms of vulnerability. All but extinct, these beings/moments are threatened by the black hearted. The cold and oblivious. The empty eyed profit seekers that overlook these Rare. Precious."