Top Rated Interpretation
2005-12-01 02:50:32
Wow, I'm really surprised about the tiny number of people who have submitted an interpretion of Lateralus. 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.
Anyway, I could continue this ramble about Lateralus for days, and I'm not going to bother spell-checking this beast of a submission, as I'm pretty tired from all the typing involved.
anonymous
2008-04-17 16:23:15
Tool IS the best Band and Group that was ever made/joined together..
This is just a Assignment I had to do in school and I really admire their hard work and words of wisdom, well maybe not..TOTAL WISDOM.
Lateralus
Words by: Maynard James Keenan
Black then white are, all I see in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
Lets me see.
(Meaning: I think it means that when your young, your perspective on life is simple, you don’t HAVE to worry about things that are advance, not yet anyways. “black then white are, all I see in my infancy: this means, like I said before, simple (black and white) and then “red and yellow came to be, REACHING out to me”: this part means, speaking in a metaphorically way, the ‘red and yellow’ are all the problems, and the thing you don’t have to worry about when your young, but when you grow to be older, they come out like hands. REACHING OUT TO YOU. ‘lets me see’ : this is simple, thinking “outside the box” will send your mind to places you haven’t “seen” or noticed before, it lets you “see”.)
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
(picture this, there’s a borderline right?, and then you start thinking beyond that line, so you start to realize and explore things most people haven’t seen or thought about, “Push the envelope.” Is sort of a saying meaning to do things your not really supposed to do, being a rebel when it comes to thinking and finding things out for yourself. And to ‘Watch it bend’ means to see how far you can go before the consequences arrive and start happening.)
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.
(Whole stanza: To over think and over analyze on things, that you might say you need to work on or what to accomplish in life, and by OVER thinking about it, keeps you from taking those chances…instead you’d be stuck there “thinking about it” rather than acting on them.)
Black then white are, all I see in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
Lets me see
there is so much more and beckons me
to look thru to these infinite possibilities.
(Now that ‘he’ thinks out side the ‘lines’ its ‘beckoning’ him to look thru those possibilities.)
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
(Now he’s out there, pushing the limit, seeing how far he can go.)
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind.
Feed my will to feel this moment, urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.
(he wants to live life to its fullest, and have it not pretty and perfect, ‘random’, experience ‘whatever may come’)
(I embrace myyy
desire to 2x)
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, to
swing on the spiral, to
(this whole stanza says that he wants to experience those things, and feel or react to them, cause that’s how you find yourself, through moments in time, the things that you go through, the bad…the good, it makes who You are…and in some of them, you learn…make decisions, decisions that could make you or break you.)
Swing on the spiral of
our divinity and
still be a humannnnnnnnn
(A metaphor to how we humans work, how our ‘divinity’ works. what makes us so special)
With my feet upon the ground I move myself between the sounds and open
wide to suck it in.
(You could probably guess what this means yourself, but we humans are bound to want to have someone else to do it for us.<< what I JUST said was not the meaning of the song/poem but a test for yourself, to make your mind think alittle << This part of the song means: ”with his feet upon the ground” he’s accepting the things that come to him, he’s reacting to them…and learning from them by listening. Like Jimmy Hendrix once said “intelligence speaks, wisdom listens”… (You can find this quote in Ms. Trebings room above the chalkboard.))
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out. I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
What ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.
(Spiral out. Keep going. 4x)
(Means: if you accept those things that you come across in life you may just go “where no one’s been”)
