"3 Libras" is a song by alternative rock band A Perfect Circle, and it stands the test of time. The song was the second single from their debut album Mer de Noms. The song builds up in a beautiful way.
Musically speaking, it is without a doubt the most beautiful and harmonious track on the album. "3 Libras" is one of those rare songs that seems to paint a vivid picture composed of swirling mellow colors of blue that paint a pleasant picture in your mind of an age long passed such as the classical Victorian era. I love this song, the way it builds up.
For a long time it was absolutely my favorite song of the album with little to no debate. I remember coming home from high school and putting in the C.D. right away I’d set the track on repeat and just let the soothing song whisk away any negativity from my mind. “Through the obvious . . .” he sweetly croons into the first verse with his soft unmistakable voice. I've never met anyone who knows the song and doesn't absolutely love it and that’s something I can’t say about any other song I can think of.
Two official remixed versions of the song have been made; the "Feel My Ice Dub Mix" by band member Danny Lohner, and the "All Main Courses Mix" by Robert "3D" Del Naja of Massive Attack. Several alternate versions the song have very different compositions.
The song was generally well received, commercially and critically. The song received significant radio airplay, charting at number 12 on both the US Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.
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Maynard James Keenan's Interpretation
Maynard James Keenan, in the A Perfect Circle EPK stated regarding this song, "It's about being overlooked." In the liner notes to the single, Keenan said:
“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.
Keenan shed some more light on this song in their aMotion DVD, where he explained that this is a song about parasitic-like people seeing something different or special about a person. Instead of nurturing that quality or helping that person grow, the "3 Libras" feed off of the energy in a bad way instead of using it for good.
On aMotion, Keenan also mentioned that he wrote the song for about 9 or so people in his life that have birthdays around the same time, hence the name "3 Libras." He titled it so the people with the Libran birthdays could battle it out to figure who he wrote the song about.
I consider myself a handicap person in that I used to believe that everyone’s intention in the world was to seek out truth, to learn more, to do better. The older I get the more I realize that’s not the truth with most people, they’re actually pretty content with the way things are and just live day by day.
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This song is about people recognize that other people recognize that there is something going on with another person, an individual, or a situation and they kind of like the clingers on like barnacles or parasites that recognize that there is force or an energy going on but they rather feed on it rather than add-on to it or grow from it. It just so happened that I had several Individuals in my life who all fit that description who really didn’t recognize what myself and my friends truly had to offer and were just parasitic in a way.
It just so happened that there were about nine different people who fit that description right around the same time so I called this song “3 Libras” and let all nine of them fight it out to figure out who the three were when actually there was about nine. That’s my little vindictive stab at them.
This is one of my favorite songs off Mer De Noms because it came together in a special way, and having violins on it [Paz L.] was the first time I actually used strings like that on a song. It was kind of new thing for me . . . I must admit before I heard his intention with these truly remarkable, beautiful lyrics, I never thought was about that. However, now that I do know the artists original intention for the track, I can kind of see exactly how his lyrics relate to what he described.
It rings so true to me and probably to anyone who is an honest, die-hard TOOL fan (Maynard’s other more successful band) because TOOL is that amazing, meaningful, talented “Energy” that so many less intelligent people (the barnacles and parasites) He refers to who see and sense that there is a very grand, very different tour de force Musical Genius in front of them that so many others are truly appreciating, learning from, and growing by while they simply latch on to it for far lesser reasons; be it a desire to fit in, or just recognize something they view as merely trendy and want to hop on the band wagon so to speak with much more interesting, intelligent people. TOOL is just one example of this and I only mention it because any true fan reading this who has been inspired by this truly one of a kind band are all too aware of the morons who buy the t-shirts, stand in line for concert tickets, and maybe know the one or two radio singles from an album they never bothered to purchase.
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