"Flood" - Undertow

I agree with you that the lyrics are amazing; Maynard is quite the lyricist. But, the 4 minute introduction is what makes the song so powerful. Let me ask you this... how many floods have a short, sweet introduction? The song has two parts. In the first part, Tool makes the music sound like an actual flood. Notice how it gradually, slowly yes, but a constant build-up that is meant to sound like heavy rain, lightning, the gusts of wind. The second part is the aftermath; the lyrics come. I believe that if the song didn't have the long introduction, it would not have to same feeling to it.

You make a good point, I had never really thought of the musical structure as also related to the metaphor of the flood. I may have to listen to this intro again with this idea in mind before I give a final verdict on how I feel about the intro. I'm a musician and writer myself, and I do think that long introductions to songs can be fantastic, however, I view them as a chance to develop the song and foreshadow the main musical theme (think Eulogy, parabol) (don't know if you like indian music, but sort of like the alap section in a sitar solo), whereas I found the intro to flood to be kind of repetitious. I personally would prefer this song to be a little more of a "flash flood", but overall you can't argue with it being a great song, and I can't question Tool's songwriting ability, they have been one of my top inspirations since before I had ever picked up a guitar, when I would figure out ways to rip h. and jimmy on the piano.

That is all I'm asking. Thank you for being open-minded enough to hear what I had to say. :]