Lateralus (song)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lateralus
Tool
publication February 2002
length 9:24 (album version)
5:47 (radio edit)
Genre (s) Progressive metal
Author (s) Justin Chancellor
Label Volcano II , Tool Dissectional
album Lateralus

Lateralus is a song by American progressive metal - band Tool and the third single from the album Lateralus .

background

Lateralus is known for its extraordinary time signature . The chorus changes from 9/8 to 8/8 to 7/8 time. The working title was therefore 9-8-7. The band later discovered that 987 was the 16th number in the Fibonacci sequence . That's why the singing is partly based on Fibonacci numbers.

text

Occurring in the text white, black, red and yellow chose singer Maynard James Keenan , as these colors in the creation stories of indigenous people for generations over and over again in different creation stories occurred. However, the song can also be seen as a description of an LSD trip. Alex Gray , who designed the artwork for Lateralus , said that under the influence of LSD he would first see black and white spirals and later red and yellow.

The line “As below so above and beyond, I imagine” is a quote from one of the seven principles of the summum and also a direct reference to the Tabula Smaragdina of Hermetics .

Mathematical structure

The syllables of the verses in some parts of Lateralus are the length of Fibonacci numbers , the number increasing and then decreasing.

(1) Black,
(1) then,
(2) white are,
(3) all I see,
(5) in my in • fan • cy,
(8) red and yel • low then came to be,
(5) rea • ching out to me,
(3) lets me see.
(2) There is,
(1) so,
(1) much,
(2) more and
(3) Beck • ons me,
(5) to look through to these,
(8) in • fi • nite pos • si • bil • i • ties.
(13) As be • low so a • bove and be • yond I im • ag • ine,
(8) drawn be-yond the lines of rea • son.
(5) Push the en • ve • lope.
(3) Watch it bend.

The later mention of a spiral in the lyrics can be seen as an allusion to the golden spiral , which is closely related to the Fibonacci sequence.

reception

Loudwire listed Lateralus as # 1 in the Top 50 Metal Songs of the 21st Century .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norris, Chris: Hammer Of The Gods . 2001. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 25, 2007. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / toolshed.down.net
  2. ↑ a b Hartmann, Graham. "No. 1: Tool, 'Lateralus' - Top 21st Century Metal Songs" , Loudwire . Accessed September 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ a b diCarlo, Christopher: Interview with Maynard James Keenan . 2001. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 22, 2007. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cdicarlo.com
  4. ↑ Maititab: Lateralus Tab . Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  5. ^ Lewis Goldberg: Finnegans Shake . In: New Times Broward-Palm Beach , June 1, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2008.