Lateralus (song)

"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 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.

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.

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."

Notes