Lateralus (song)

"Lateralus"
Song

"Lateralus" is a song by American rock band Tool. The song is the third single and title track of their third studio album Lateralus.

Overview and background

The song is known for its distinct time signatures and corresponding lyrical patterns. The time signatures of the chorus of the song 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 number of the Fibonacci sequence. So that was cool." It is also apparent that the lyrics are arranged in ascending then descending order of the Fibonacci sequence, which is 1,1,2,3,5,8, based on their syllables. For instance, the first line is "Black. And. White are. All I see. In my infancy. Red and Yellow then came to be. Reaching out to me. Lets me see." and further examples below.

The song could also be about the order of colors seen while under the influence of LSD. Alex Grey (the spiritualistic artist who did the album artwork for Lateralus) stated that when he closed his eyes on an LSD trip, he saw a black and white spiral, and when he tried it a few more times it became a red and yellow spiral.

Interpretation

In a 2001 interview, bandleader Maynard James 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."

The line "As below so above and beyond, I imagine" is a quote from one of the Seven Aphorisms of Summum and is also a direct reference to Hermeticism and the Emerald Tablet.

An interesting side note, in alchemy "The Great Work" begins with the Nigredo (black), then moves to the Albedo (white), then the Citrinitas (yellow), then the Rubedo (Red). actualy this is all wrong this song is about DMT the spirit molocule look up DMT (dymethletryptamine) and learn my new religion

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 outside 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. In fact, the syllables length itself spirals-in and spirals-out on the sequence: ‎1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 8, 5, 3.

Additionally, Keenan begins singing at 1:37 into the song. 1 minute 37 seconds, or 97 seconds, is approximately 1.618 of a full minute. This happens to be the golden ratio, which is closely related to the Fibonacci sequence.