Old Project Avalon Forum (ARCHIVE) - View Single Post - The power of music to awaken us / Tool the band?

Orion Morris · 09-10-2008, 11:20 PM

The Song Lateralus for instence

This is a song I don't think anyone can interpret to its full extent. I do agree, however, that it is about feeling and exploring the supernatures of life. It is easily one of Tool's best musical experiences (who can really go ahead and call it a song?). It has so many layers, through its musical complexity and concepts.

The drummer and Maynard use fibonacci number sequences within their playing/singing throughout Lateralus. My own interpretation of Lateralus, is about searching for the next level of living and consciousness, through spirituality and other planes (ie the ASTRAL plane, which I strongly believe is a theme within songs such as parabol/parabola).

Many lines within the song are quite obvious as to what they are about once you have an understanding of what [I think] the great Maynard James Keenan is expressing. For example, "...to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human" is about the number phi appearing throughout life and throughout the Universe, which is also known as the golden ratio, and is believed by some (obviously Maynard) that it has spiritual and eternal meaning, and the aforementioned line is talking about entering a new plane or becoming one with the inter-connection of all Universes, while still walking the Earth as a human. In general, this song is about searching for a gateway to this divine place within our life and the evolution of humanity.

Everything is explained and backed up in the music as well, which is a reason Tool are so amazing. For example when Maynard's voice disolves into the guitar solo/EXTENTION OF THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE in the line, "..to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human", and the lines that lead up to "we'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been", when the bass is sliding up, as if animating the rest of the piece, provoking thoughts of reaching a new level of being.

09-10-2008, 11:20 PM	#5
Orion Morris Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 416	Re: The power of music to awaken us / Tool the band? The Song Lateralus for instence This is a song I don't think anyone can interpret to its full extent. I do agree, however, that it is about feeling and exploring the supernatures of life. It is easily one of Tool's best musical experiences (who can really go ahead and call it a song?). It has so many layers, through its musical complexity and concepts. The drummer and Maynard use fibonacci number sequences within their playing/singing throughout Lateralus. My own interpretation of Lateralus, is about searching for the next level of living and consciousness, through spirituality and other planes (ie the ASTRAL plane, which I strongly believe is a theme within songs such as parabol/parabola). Many lines within the song are quite obvious as to what they are about once you have an understanding of what [I think] the great Maynard James Keenan is expressing. For example, "...to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human" is about the number phi appearing throughout life and throughout the Universe, which is also known as the golden ratio, and is believed by some (obviously Maynard) that it has spiritual and eternal meaning, and the aforementioned line is talking about entering a new plane or becoming one with the inter-connection of all Universes, while still walking the Earth as a human. In general, this song is about searching for a gateway to this divine place within our life and the evolution of humanity. Everything is explained and backed up in the music as well, which is a reason Tool are so amazing. For example when Maynard's voice disolves into the guitar solo/EXTENTION OF THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE in the line, "..to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human", and the lines that lead up to "we'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been", when the bass is sliding up, as if animating the rest of the piece, provoking thoughts of reaching a new level of being.