Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused.
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they're all confused.
This part is pretty straightforward; it's saying angels watch humans ambivalently, without any interference (since they're 'amused', we can assume they don't particularly care). Father in this context is, of course, God, but I think it's a little weird that angels would be confused about humans having free will when I'm pretty sure they do (according to the Christian religion, which I'm just assuming this is based around). I mean, Satan and his angel buddies chose to rebel against God, so angles also have free will and are capable of making poor decisions. Maybe they think they're above humans, an idea that is supported later in the song.
Don't these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly old monkeys,
Where there's one you're bound to divide it
Right in two
Calling humans monkeys is quite strange when this song takes a Christian perspective (though I don't think tool is particularly religious, based on some of their other songs), since it implies evolution is correct in a way (I don't think Christians like being told they're related to monkeys or possibly on the same level as them?)Calling humans "monkeys" is technically inaccurate, but I think it's just meant to be insulting. It's probably all making a jab at Christianity. The part about Eden is talking about how selfish humans are, how even if there's more than enough stuff, we still feel the need to split things in two. Maybe it's suggesting we destroy things by trying to divide up everything into individual possessions.
Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused.
Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose.
(and this is what they choose)
Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They forge a blade,
And when there's one they're bound to divide it,
Right in two.
Right in two.
"Pieces of the ground" is, of course, referring to the Western notion of land ownership, which the author of the lyrics (through the perspective of angels) is criticizing. By calling it pieces of ground rather than land or property, the author is trying to force listeners to look at the concept from a new, more literal perspective and see how absurd it is. The part about forging a blade is again saying that when we're given an opportunity (thumbs allow us to do a lot of stuff), we abuse it to violent ends.
Monkey, killing monkey, killing monkey
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They make a club
And beat their brother... down.
How they survived so misguided is a mystery.
Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability
to lift an eye to heaven conscious of his fleeting time here
I'm not sure what the last few lines are saying, honestly. I guess the angels feel like humans have wasted their ability to choose to be "good" or "bad" and be forgiven. And...humans don't appreciate their mortality? Maybe the angels are jealous and wish they had a chance to live on Earth. The song refers to humans as being in Eden, after all, not really...the rest...or whatever.
Gotta divide it all right in two (x4)
They fight, till they die
Over earth, over sky
They fight, over life,
Over brawn, over air and light,
Over love, over sun. Over blood
They fight till they die over words, polarizing.
This verse juxtaposes our violence with the inherent peace and beauty of the things we're fighting over: the Earth, life, love, the sun. It makes fighting seem strange, like, how could we become violent from something peaceful?
Angels on the sideline again
Benched along with patience and reason
Angels on the sideline again
Wondering when this tug of war will end
Gotta divide it all right in two (x3)
Right in two
Right in two...
This is just blatantly saying that humans don't have any patience or reason.
Overall, I think the song is criticizing Christians, saying that from the standpoint of their religion, humans are silly and violent. It criticizes the rest of humanity through some of its arguments that are valid outside the scope of angels' opinions, like how we try to own land, fight over things, etc and that's probably the more important of the two perspectives. I think looking at things as though one were an angel is more of a mechanism of evaluating humanity from an "outside" perspective (though of course that isn't really possible).
