Lateralus chords by Tool

"Lateralus" is the title track of the 2001 album of the same name by the American progressive rock band Tool'. -Mathematical significance- Counting between pauses, the syllables in Maynard James Keenan's vocals during the verses form the first few Fibonacci numbers, ascending and descending: (1) Black, (1) then, (2) white are, (3) all I see, (5) in my infancy, (8) red and yellow then came to be, (5) reaching out to me, (3) lets me see. (2) There is, (1) so, (1) much, (2) more and (3) beckons me, (5) to look through to these, (8) infinite possibilities. (13) As below so above and beyond I imagine, (8) drawn beyond the lines of reason. (5) Push the envelope. (3) Watch it bend. The Fibonacci sequence shares a relationship with spirals, which are mentioned several times later in the lyrics. The time signatures of the chorus change from 9/8 to 8/8 to 7/8; as drummer Danny Carey says, "It was originally titled 9-8-7. For the time signatures. Then it turned out that 987 was the 17th step of the Fibonacci sequence. So that was cool." -Interpretation- In a 2001 interview, Keenan commented on the lyric mentioning black, white, red and yellow: "I use the archetype stories of North American aboriginals and the themes or colours which appear over and over again in the oral stories handed down through generations. Black, white, red, and yellow play very heavily in aboriginal stories of creation." Common Interpretations You might want to re-listen to the song while reading the line-breaks to make sure you agree that they are legit ahead of time. Otherwise, you may have a hard time believing this... This song has strong ties to the Fibonacci Sequence as can be seen in this version of the lyrics. The Fibonacci Sequence follows the same growth ratio (phi) as the Golden spiral which almost certainly has something to do with the repeated references to the spirals in this song. When he goes up the sequence, then starts down and up again, he may be thought to be swinging on the spiral. Listen along as Maynard sings, and you can hear the pattern in the number of syllables in each line (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8...). The Fibonacci Sequence is computed by starting with the two values "0" and "1", then each subsequent number is the sum of the two previous numbers (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21....). The timing in the chorus ("Over thinking, over analyzing...") also hints at the Fibonacci Sequence: The bars have 9, 8 and 7 beats respectively. 987 is a number in the Fibonacci sequence. The song was originally named "987" while it was being written. NOTE: Interpretation below isn't necessarily agreed upon by a vast majority since this song is so mysterious... As for the meaning of the words (not just their arrangement), it seems to be saying that organized religion and the clergy's exploitation of it, dampens the ability to perceive reality and its glory and appreciate it for what it is. ("Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind. Withering my intuition, missing opportunities"). Later he says "I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow to feel inspired to fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral [...] of our divinity and still be a human".In Maynard's words (not referring to this song specifically) "Life should be revered simply for the fact that we need to be thankful that we are currently able to consciously appreciate what we are going through right now." If you don't like this interpretation, you're not necessarily wrong: Maynard believes that their songs have many layers, and are about self-reflection and discovery. He feels that you can (within limits) interpret their songs in various ways to help you understand life and create a self-identity. More Interpretation: I don't think you have to apply the song to narrowly to just religion and such but just people and their minds in general how we tend to over think and worry about needless things out of our control in our culture. Instead of taking control of what we do have. Our body and minds which make up who we are. "Over thinking over analyzing separates the body from the mind" also applies to the golden spiral. If you use jimmy's formula of 1 + 1 = 1, our mind + our bodies = who we our. Bring them together you become who you are. You see this in a lot of tools songs the messages behind lyrics all vaguely reefer to same ideas and Lateralus the album is the accumulation of all those and the Title track is accumulation of the other tracks in the album when Tools brings it all together perfectly for a single moment in that 9:24 all stands still and then they go on swinging back around. Hopefully they keep playing with this idea. If so we should get another moment of perfection by the end of the decade. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.