The Hidden Meaning

[progbuddy]

I've been looking around on info about Tool's album "Lateralus." It turns out Maynard is a genius.

The order of the songs isn't meant to be played one after the other. Instead, it was to be played in the order of a Fibonacci sequence (6,7,5,8,4,9,3,10,2,11,1,12,13). Each song continues on into the next, and the Fibonacci sequence fitting the pattern of a spiral (hence, Lateralus, and their use of spirals in graphic art, concert scenes, and patterns of guitar, drums, and bass using this sequence). The lyrics also continue on through each one of the songs fitting the sequence, hitting key points in between songs that give so much more meaning.

Just thought it was kinda neat :p.

-Kev.

[b4i7]

hmm..ill have to check that out

[.Maleficus.]

I just tried that out with a few songs, and I think you're right, it does work out that way. Pretty fricking awesome.

[xRyokenx]

I'm gonna do that in a sec.

EDIT: My bastard of a Pocket PC has the ability to change the order of the playlist but isn't letting me for some dang reason.
ANOTHER EDIT: I had it on shuffle, that would explain it, lol. This should be interesting.

[Crazy Buddhist]

EDIT: My bastard of a Pocket PC has the ability to change the order of the playlist but isn't letting me for some dang reason.
ANOTHER EDIT: I had it on shuffle, that would explain it, lol. This should be interesting.

Im laughing so much my head hurts a bit

CrazyB

[b4i7]

wow...it really does flow all together

[xRyokenx]

Im laughing so much my head hurts a bit

CrazyB

Yeah, I can be extremely intelligent when I want to be. Happens all the time, lol.

[lukeisthecoolest]

did u figure this out or did u read it on the internetz?

otherwise that is a pretty sick way of ordering songs!

[Slug Toy]

well its not a fibonacci sequence, i can tell you that. if it were fibonacci, it would be played 1,2,3,5,8,13,4,6,7,9,10,11,12. however, playing it in a fibonacci sequence does also get some interesting results.

as far as i can tell, the list 6,7,5,8,4,9,3,10,2,11,1,12,13 is just a decending, ascending pattern originating from the two most linked songs in the album, and i hazard a guess that when played in that order you should get an overall effect of a representation of a relationship and all its possible stages.

[jdbnsn]

You'll find this type of subtle treasures in all of Tool's albums, they are saturated with tiny enigmatic puzzles. 10,000 Days is one of the most amazing of all, several songs can be played on top of one another to reveal a new song, vigneti tres (23) holds a great deal of significance to many cult and superstitous groups (whom Tool constantly makes fun of). 10,000 days refers to the 27 years Maynard's mother Judith Marie Garrison lived with the crippling effects of a stroke before she passed into heaven (listen carefully to the lyrics of part one and two as the soul complains to God about the unfairness of punishing his true believers). Lateralus celebrates the style of lateral thinking of understanding patterns in life through mathematics and measurable phenomenon, hence the strong emphasis of mathematical patterns throughout the album. It also has a significant amount of mockery toward people who rely on any one way of knowing (science, religion, philosophy) without regard to the others. I have never personally bought the argument that the time signature (9-8-7) primary riff in Lateralus represents the 16th step in the fibonocci sequence, frankly it just doesn't make sense.