I love irony of how the lyrics criticize over thinking and over analyzing rather than just living and feeling the experience while this song is one of the most over analyzed and thought about songs out there.
That's part of the point of the song. There's a juxtaposition between the meaning of the lyrics of the verses vs. the lyrics of the chorus. The music is telling the same story.
It's like the line from Alice in Chains (which still grinds my gears because I had put it in a poem a couple years before their song, but I digress...🤣) "I think I think too much." It's in the overthinking that we discover our own thoughts but in doing so, we also discover that our thoughts are what keeps us from discovering our true self. It also can be tied into a phrase I use a lot - the more I learn, the more I realize know nothing.
I thought it was hilarious that Stevie said “I’m gonna listen to whole chunks and…” then RIGHT AFTER was Maynard talking about feeling instead of over analyzing. Just rollllll with it.
The song is pronounced “latter-al-us” and just like all their other songs, the band makes the music first, then sends it to Maynard who writes the lyrics to complete the songs. To me, Tool is its own genre and they are indeed an experience. They also have one of, if not, the best drummer alive in Danny Carey. You should check out his drum cam video of Pneuma to see how amazing Danny is at the drums. Tool is a trip.
This song is a fu**ing masterpiece in every single aspect. Tool, every single one of them are masters, absolute geniuses in their craft. I love this band ❤
Tool and Pink Floyd are my top two favorite bands of all time. Saw Tool in the mid 2000's and it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. They performed Lateralus and it was fantastic. Seeing Danny Carey play in person is a hell of an experience.
Same. I have a gentleman that delivers my mother-in-law's meals-on-wheels every day and he is a huge Pink Floyd fan from back in the day (must be in his early 70s). I turned him on to Tool and told him they are the Pink Floyd of metal. Every now and then he shows up with Tool blasting from the car!
This video made me subscribe. I always enjoyed your hip hop reactions, but this right here is my favorite band of all time. This made my respect for you go even higher than it already was.
I interpret this as him singing about the importance of human curiosity. We always want an answer to things unknown(ie. New experiences). Instead of going in blind with curiosity(the innate urge to push the envelope, cross the line) and use our intuition to understand a new experience, we tend to overthink and overanalyze things with logic beforehand. If we only thought and analyzed everything new to us, we wouldn't have curiosity. Without curiosity, we would miss out on new and random experiences. Without experiencing new and random things, we won't have a developed intuition to help us make sense of new things. If we don't have the ability to make sense of new things, we would always fear the unknown. With fear blocking us from approaching the unknown, humanity would no longer advance. Embrace the random. Ride the spiral of your curiosity into the unknown, and keep riding it to the end. Maintain a healthy balance between curiosity and logic. Too much curiosity is a danger to the body. Too much logic is a danger to the soul. What's great is that there is no wrong interpretation to this song. However this song is taken, it is open for all of us to interpret through our own lenses...
The whole spiral concept is crazy, not only with the syllable play on the Fibonacci sequence but also just the concept of life and nature vs the unknown and infinity. This lyrics have a bunch of key details that reference life and birth, question your life till you reach the end in this infinite universe. Also this is my first time hearing Tool I didn't expect to have this wild trip but it was dope, I need to check their albums.
I would argue 10 000 days and lateralus are the two easiest albums to listen through if you're looking for a place to start. Other folks might argue that aenima is the easiest album to listen through.
The song is about seeking curiosity, about following your curiosity and discovering beyond the mundane, beyond what the living world has given us to follow. Its a philosophy that guides the mind to the wondrous. Beyond the fringes of what we know, to find our higher selves.
Let it in... Don't try to get there, since it isn't a "there" but inside you... and everything. Our tiny language can't compare to the real beauty of the center. The center is consciousness, seeing all time and all possibilities. Mushrooms can lead you to a window to watch the truth. You can only be a part of it if you let go of this world and embrace consciousness... Togetherness. One. Much love my brother. We will come back to the center. Let it in.
Right in two would be a good one to do… a bit more grounded lyrically and not so abstract as this one. This one is entrenched in new age/Eastern philosophy. Vicarious would also be an excellent one… very relatable to everyone, especially these days.
Saw this live. I remember turning to my older sister at the beginning on the instruments and saying "it's Lateralus" and her asking how I knew and I said "it's my favorite fucking song!" I'm getting chills just typing this.
The Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical sequence. It starts from one, the next number is one, and the next number being two, creates the 2+1 which is three, continuing in this mathematical progression. That's how they found the chord progression. It began linking up to the Fibonacci sequence." The syllables Maynard sings in the first verse follow the first six numbers in the pattern, ascending and descending in the sequence 1-1-2-3-5-8-5-3. "Black (1), then (1), white are (2), all I see (3), in my infancy (5). 🤘🏼"Spiral 😵💫 Out"🤘🏼
Maaaan this why I respect the hell out of the way Stevie thinks! Stevie... have you ever done acid?? Now, have you ever done acid... ON TOOL??? Lol FR tho.
I would suggest going back and reacting to this song through a good pair of headphones. The sounds you will pick up will take this to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!🌀🌀🌀
Fibonacci code is visualized as spirals. I think it's even called a golden spiral. I believe swinging on a spiral of our divinity is a poetic reference to that.
Never attempted to interprate this lyrics consciously but I believe this is about growth and expanding your experience of life. Your growth is not linear it's an expanding spiral that widens your perspective . Lateral thinking is all about looking for something we missed before to find new ways to solve problems or deepen our understanding.
I was blessed enough to see Tool on their first Lateralus tour in 2001. Shit changed my life for the better immediately, and still does to this day. One lesson I learned from it only years later - "overanalyzing separates the body from the mind, withering my intuition, missing opportunities" ... as an over-thinker this really taught me that I had lost connection to my physical body, and how that simple thing was in fact ruining my life. Body and mind are not in fact separate, they are parts of one whole manifested experience. Divinity made flesh for us all. And it's a BEAUTIFUL THING.
Yiu mentioned TOOL is an experience. You need to see them live, it’s like a religious experience and seeing god. Their shows will blow your mind, they are that good.
Stevie deserves a lot of credit for this reaction...it felt like he was teaching me about this song and I have listened to it countless times over the years. Great job 👍
Yes!! Been waiting for you to do this song. Loved hearing your interpretation. Definitely about our human experience and meshing with the spiritual world. Realizing the infinite, pushing boundaries, beyond the lines of reason to see what else we can find, appreciating the beauty of this world. The power and connection of it all! Whew!! This song gives me chills every single time. Spiral out, keep going Stevie!
La ter alus. Lol Check out reflection. The last 4 minutes is gold. The new Opiate break is gemz as well. This song Lateralus is written in 9/8 using a hemiola poly rhythm in the key of D.
It's about being so lucky to be alive, human, and in a position where we can become aware enough to perceive the universe and our connection to it. It's a love song to consciousness.
FINALLY.... been waiting for your Tool journey to actually keep rolling! Each song will reveal something new each time you listen to it, it's almost impossible to catch everything on your first go. like 99%.. so take your time bro. I'd say listen to the instruments first, then lyrics, then put the clues together. you're going to miss out on the drummer's work (Danny) :)
There are many great explanations/interpretations/takes on this song by Stevie and the comments. I see it this way. If you just listen to the song and music (don't think about it) and "feel" it you will have one experience. A "vibe" if you will. Just turn off your brain and let that vibe carry you. If you listen to it for meaning. Analyze it. Think about what the words mean. You will have a different experience. More in your thoughts. Less of a feeling more of a "reaching" for understanding. Now I think about a situation viewed through the eyes of a child vs the eyes of an adult. Take playing at a park. Kids will think less while playing. Climb a tree, walk on frozen lake, lay in the grass, listen to the birds, look for bugs....they are feeling the park and their experience is different. As we age we tend to think more than feel. At that same park we wouldn't climb a tree because we think of getting hurt, arrested, looking crazy...so in our heads we don't hear the birds, spray ourselves to keep bugs away, constantly analyzing our next move. We are missing out on things because our over analyzing won't let us feel. IMO he is striving to feed his ability to feel the music more than write it. Because if he focuses solely on writing (the red and yellow pulling at him) then his music might miss the opportunity to also create the vibe or feeling of birds in a park.
Great breakdown mate. Credit to you that you can recognise and relate. Not everyone is that humble to see outside of what is staring them in the face.❤️🔥👏🤘
Music in general, but absolutely with TOOL, is best listened to with quality headphones. So many nuances missed without them. Also the spiral referred to in the song can be visualized in a graph of the Fibonacci sequence that actually is a spiral shape. It is represented not only in nature in many forms (think of a conch shell) but also metaphorically as you interpreted as journeying spiritually as you grow… SPIRAL OUT, KEEP GOING!!! 🤘🏻
Lateralus, using the Fibonacci Sequence is Pure Genius, just like the Early Orchestral Musicians that used it, Masters like Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy and in Modern times Tool! Stevie, where are your Headphones?
Man I enjoy watching people discover Tool both lyrically and musically. I'm seeing them live for the third time next week. This is getting me so hyped up. Thanks buddy! Subscribed!
Maynard has his hands in 2 other bands as well. A Perfect Circle and Pusifer. I have been to two of Tools concerts in a 6mth time frame. They are an experience that evrrryone should witness atleast once. Their shows are great! Enjoy the journey!
What I hope FOR YOU is that you lay in the dark with your best headphones, by yourself, away from the cameras, and listen to the songs after your reactions. Just for you. Cuz you are someone who I think will really feel it. It’ll take you somewhere. Fo. Sho. Like you said, you can’t be an idiot and appreciate Tool. And there are so many nuances, so many things you’ll catch every single time you listen. I’ve listened to Tool for 30+ years and still find new amazing things. Every time. Spiral out! Keep going!!!!
The first Tool song I heard was Jimmy. I was working on a dive boat off the coast of Alaska, and crashing through the swells with Tool blasting through the speakers is an experience that can't be measured!
I've listened to Tool for about 20 years and hadn't really analysed these lyrics until I found this video. I definitely follow your line, I think part of it is about approaching life, whether it's the tangible (this world) or intangible (spiritual world), balancing between your emotional and rational way of thinking. I myself have become far too rational and thereby cynical as I've grown older, and try to get back to a more balanced (and therefore less cynical) way of seeing things. Anyway, might not make sense to others but that kinda resonated with me at this point in time, maybe I'll see it differently later in life. Thanks for bringing great content, really enjoyed this and other Tool videos you've posted!
The album is an entire trip, in THE GRUDGE it talks about saturn, being the god of all metrial things in the world, you have to pass through it to become a material being, here in LATERALUS red and yellow are mentioned as they are the first chakras in the body (orange is not mentioned), being the material ones, you need to develop the spiritual ones from the heart (green) to the top (third eye purple)
It’s soooo damn kool to see you dig into these songs. It’s nice to see someone recognize what they do. They really are just different. Definitely a favorite band of mind so I love to see this!
Interesting little take on this song. I think it references alchemy and the hermetic idea “as above so below” referring to the fractal nature spiraling all of creation from its main pattern. Also, the beginning from black (the void) to white (the light/stars) and then if it is also alchemy he is referring to or other esoteric ideas… they say air and fire were the first two elements to appear (air is usually seen as yellow, fire is usually seen as red).
I hope you got to listen to this whole album again with headphones on. Lots of little tricks and intricacies that are REALLY apparent when wearing headphones.
I've been listening to Tool since I was in elementary school, and can still take away new potential meanings to songs I've memorized. And that's what makes them brilliant and makes their shit age well.
@Stevie Knight- Your instincts are spot on. So, the Fibonacci Sequence speaks to the Golden Ratio, and as you implied, everything in the Natural World is based on it. TOOL are advanced Music Theorists and therefore hyperaware of the significance of mathematical truths, in ALL things. It's often portrayed as an infinite spiral, or a conch 🐚 shell in many works of art. That said, Maynard usually employs a lot of double, triple and even quadruple meanings in his lyrics. There's the literal, metaphorical, figurative, and esoteric- that are almost always present, thematically. And often we get the satirical as well. Which is a delightful bonus. That said- TOOL are hardcore fans of the late Aleister Crowley, a famous occultist and Freemason who founded an Order of the same (secret society) called 'Thelema'. He is best known for his proclamation in said Thelemite Order that espouses- "Do As Thou Whilt- Shall Be the Whole of the Law". Much of Maynards' lyricism is written from the perspective of the Corpus Hermeticum with a bit of Gnosticism thrown in. That psychedelic picture that was on screen behind the lyrics, and the similar ones that pervade much of TOOLs' artwork, (w/the exception of A. Greys' claymation in many of their videos) depict Egyptian gods. Or Pagan gods, if you will. Maynard himself appears to be into Eastern Mysticism- but that's just a mixture of previously documented belief systems and gods. In the Corpus Hermeticum (what's left of it) and the gnostic scrolls. Basically it's the belief that humans and nature ARE 'god(s)' and we are really of one higher consciousness, it's just that most aren't aware of it. Epistomology, Ontology and Axiomology (as we understand them) are all subjective, a construct imposed by 'the powers that be'. If you conceptualize Maynards' lyrics through a Hermetic/gnostic lens, and remember his adoration of Crowley and the brilliant social theorist and psychologist Carl Jung- it will bring an all new understanding to the brilliance that is Maynard James Keenan and his abilities as a lyricist. Whilst giving you the often unknown or overlooked perspective he writes from. Btw- Carl Jung was also a highly acclaimed occultist- although he was less obvious about it. Clearly due to his not wanting it to affect his professional credibility in his fields of expertise, psychology, behavior and cognitive studies/analytics. His being a practicing occultist would clearly have lent an air of illegitimacy to his work. Especially in the times he lived in. So- his discretion paid off, as his body of work is to this day, arguably, among the most influencial in the Psychological Fields. I say this not as a mere observer- but as a practicing Clinician and psychoanalyst of 30+ years, myself. The TOOL song 46 and 2 is directly about a Jungian practice, referred to as 'Shadow Work' in psychological science. It's basically about incorporating your 'shadow' or dark side and impulses into your conscious being, so that you can process, or harness it and therefore redirect it into something you can utilize for the good. To better yourself. Lest it remains part of your unconscious self and is free to manifest in negative ways, such as projection, resentment, contempt etc. Jungs' theory was that everyone has a 'shadow' and that ignoring it leads people to all manner of negative and even pathological behavior. The consensus amongst clinicians is that he was absolutely correct- even if the language around the Jungian school of thought has changed over time. Anyway- my apologies for the unsolicited diatribe. You're an intelligent and extremely intuitive young man @Stevie. Thought you just might find this interesting. Btw- IF you keep featuring tracks by any of MJKs' 3 bands- ('TOOL', ' A Perfect Circle', & 'Puscifer') the #TOOLARMY WILL show up. And WE ARE MANY..! 🤘👁 😈 🌬🌀✡🌀💨
The first part, about vision and colors as an infant, is describing his viewpoints as a simpler mind, but then as he grows, his vision becomes more complex, until he's able to see a far larger and more complex universe than he ever knew, and he knows that if he keeps pushing his perception out, spiraling outward, he will become more and more aware of the true nature of the universe, and himself.
The realest reaction channel by far tells it like it is weather you lovehim or hate him ill take honesty over falsehood any day this guy absolutely loves music and i can appreciate that!!
Also black and white thinking. Red and Yellow "context" and "nuance" babies only think in black and white (hungry, tired, scared) later, the who, what, where, and why.
WHO EVER WRITES THESE RECORDS IS INSANE! TOOL IS JUST DIFFERENT, DEFINITELY MY FAV ROCK GROUP SO FAR!
Have you done The Pot???
I think so@@-Manda_SKnight_BeastMoD
It maynard!! Pretty much all!!
@stevie.knight you haven't done the pot. PLEASE do it. It's amazing.
They write the music first and Maynard then writes the lyrics.
I love irony of how the lyrics criticize over thinking and over analyzing rather than just living and feeling the experience while this song is one of the most over analyzed and thought about songs out there.
😆👍🤘
That's part of the point of the song. There's a juxtaposition between the meaning of the lyrics of the verses vs. the lyrics of the chorus. The music is telling the same story.
🎯
It's like the line from Alice in Chains (which still grinds my gears because I had put it in a poem a couple years before their song, but I digress...🤣) "I think I think too much." It's in the overthinking that we discover our own thoughts but in doing so, we also discover that our thoughts are what keeps us from discovering our true self.
It also can be tied into a phrase I use a lot - the more I learn, the more I realize know nothing.
I thought it was hilarious that Stevie said “I’m gonna listen to whole chunks and…” then RIGHT AFTER was Maynard talking about feeling instead of over analyzing. Just rollllll with it.
"You can't be a dumbass listening to tool" made me laugh so hard lol
I've been proving that wrong for 30 years now.
@@normie2716 me too i'm pratically ret*rded and love listening to tool ;p
We are not Human beings having a spiritual experience. We are Spiritual beings having a human experience
Tool is absolutely cerebral in both lyricism and musicianship. By far one of my favorite bands... Period
best show i've ever seen live and I've seen alot of shows
11:40 "separates the body from the mind" - intuition comes first through the body and if you get too mind-focused you lose touch with the felt senses.
The song is pronounced “latter-al-us” and just like all their other songs, the band makes the music first, then sends it to Maynard who writes the lyrics to complete the songs. To me, Tool is its own genre and they are indeed an experience. They also have one of, if not, the best drummer alive in Danny Carey. You should check out his drum cam video of Pneuma to see how amazing Danny is at the drums. Tool is a trip.
Or if you drink tea with your pinky finger in the air: Latter-ah-lus
For me, Kai hatho is the best drummer alive
different band but same kinda appeal for me is Dream Theatre - Panic Attack
This is facts. Even the way they make their music is weird. It's what makes them one of the best progressive metal bands I've ever heard of.
@@avgriffin Mike Portnoy is in my top 5 drummers
This song is a fu**ing masterpiece in every single aspect. Tool, every single one of them are masters, absolute geniuses in their craft. I love this band ❤
It's the greatest song ever written both musically and lyrically. 🤘
My homie!! 😅
Vicarious is a great one to analyze the lyrics....rings true today...
Tool and Pink Floyd are my top two favorite bands of all time. Saw Tool in the mid 2000's and it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. They performed Lateralus and it was fantastic. Seeing Danny Carey play in person is a hell of an experience.
Danny Carey is a BEAST
Same here they are the only bands I've heard that I question if they're from planet earth lol
My two favorites as well.
69 years old and am going to my first tool concert! So excited!
Same. I have a gentleman that delivers my mother-in-law's meals-on-wheels every day and he is a huge Pink Floyd fan from back in the day (must be in his early 70s). I turned him on to Tool and told him they are the Pink Floyd of metal. Every now and then he shows up with Tool blasting from the car!
This video made me subscribe. I always enjoyed your hip hop reactions, but this right here is my favorite band of all time. This made my respect for you go even higher than it already was.
"Right in 2" will not disappoint.
I interpret this as him singing about the importance of human curiosity. We always want an answer to things unknown(ie. New experiences). Instead of going in blind with curiosity(the innate urge to push the envelope, cross the line) and use our intuition to understand a new experience, we tend to overthink and overanalyze things with logic beforehand.
If we only thought and analyzed everything new to us, we wouldn't have curiosity. Without curiosity, we would miss out on new and random experiences. Without experiencing new and random things, we won't have a developed intuition to help us make sense of new things. If we don't have the ability to make sense of new things, we would always fear the unknown. With fear blocking us from approaching the unknown, humanity would no longer advance.
Embrace the random. Ride the spiral of your curiosity into the unknown, and keep riding it to the end.
Maintain a healthy balance between curiosity and logic. Too much curiosity is a danger to the body. Too much logic is a danger to the soul.
What's great is that there is no wrong interpretation to this song. However this song is taken, it is open for all of us to interpret through our own lenses...
Great take. I think you nailed it.
You gotta put headphones in when listening to TOOL even more of an experience trust us
The whole spiral concept is crazy, not only with the syllable play on the Fibonacci sequence but also just the concept of life and nature vs the unknown and infinity. This lyrics have a bunch of key details that reference life and birth, question your life till you reach the end in this infinite universe.
Also this is my first time hearing Tool I didn't expect to have this wild trip but it was dope, I need to check their albums.
Tip. The newer stuff is more cerebral...the further one goes back in their catalogue, the darker it gets imo .
I would suggest 46&2 next
I would argue 10 000 days and lateralus are the two easiest albums to listen through if you're looking for a place to start. Other folks might argue that aenima is the easiest album to listen through.
The song is about seeking curiosity, about following your curiosity and discovering beyond the mundane, beyond what the living world has given us to follow. Its a philosophy that guides the mind to the wondrous. Beyond the fringes of what we know, to find our higher selves.
Let it in... Don't try to get there, since it isn't a "there" but inside you... and everything. Our tiny language can't compare to the real beauty of the center. The center is consciousness, seeing all time and all possibilities. Mushrooms can lead you to a window to watch the truth. You can only be a part of it if you let go of this world and embrace consciousness... Togetherness. One. Much love my brother. We will come back to the center. Let it in.
Right in two would be a good one to do… a bit more grounded lyrically and not so abstract as this one. This one is entrenched in new age/Eastern philosophy. Vicarious would also be an excellent one… very relatable to everyone, especially these days.
💥⚡️🔥”RIGHT IN TWO”💥☄️🔥
the spiraling he talks about is referencing the Fibonacci sequence as in spiraling out of control but also confined to the limits of the spiraling.
@Dm.Stevieknight I
do too! its my semen... would you like a load????
Once again Stevie nails Tool 🔥 Perfect matchup
Love where the channel is now but happy to see you still wanting to check out some tunes. Check Tool Pneuma next with lyrics
Saw this live. I remember turning to my older sister at the beginning on the instruments and saying "it's Lateralus" and her asking how I knew and I said "it's my favorite fucking song!" I'm getting chills just typing this.
A very awesome song to basically say - trust your gut
These dudes are the truth! There’s no two ways around it. ✌️
The Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical sequence. It starts from one, the next number is one, and the next number being two, creates the 2+1 which is three, continuing in this mathematical progression. That's how they found the chord progression.
It began linking up to the Fibonacci sequence." The syllables Maynard sings in the first verse follow the first six numbers in the pattern, ascending and descending in the sequence 1-1-2-3-5-8-5-3. "Black (1), then (1), white are (2), all I see (3), in my infancy (5).
🤘🏼"Spiral
😵💫
Out"🤘🏼
Tool and Alice in Chains just make for a great day!
You have definitely got the right mindset to understand their music
If you think listening to TOOL is an experience you should see them in concert! They are about to go on tour! Spiral out!
Maaaan this why I respect the hell out of the way Stevie thinks! Stevie... have you ever done acid?? Now, have you ever done acid... ON TOOL??? Lol FR tho.
Lateralus is my psychedelic anthem! Spiral out, keep going. 👊🏻
The Fibonacci sequence is also a spiral ...
I would suggest going back and reacting to this song through a good pair of headphones. The sounds you will pick up will take this to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!🌀🌀🌀
Whether you are right or wrong. You had to think about it in an open way. Tool always has been on some deep shit. Love that band.
who are you to wave your finger? jk hahahah just memin lol
I just wanna add that you really should use headphones for Tool as it really enhances what you rightfully called 'experience', Tool's a wild journey!
Ladder-Alice
Fibonacci code is visualized as spirals. I think it's even called a golden spiral. I believe swinging on a spiral of our divinity is a poetic reference to that.
Never attempted to interprate this lyrics consciously but I believe this is about growth and expanding your experience of life. Your growth is not linear it's an expanding spiral that widens your perspective . Lateral thinking is all about looking for something we missed before to find new ways to solve problems or deepen our understanding.
Hi Stevie 👍🏻 hope all is well with you and yours bro ❤
I was blessed enough to see Tool on their first Lateralus tour in 2001. Shit changed my life for the better immediately, and still does to this day.
One lesson I learned from it only years later - "overanalyzing separates the body from the mind, withering my intuition, missing opportunities" ... as an over-thinker this really taught me that I had lost connection to my physical body, and how that simple thing was in fact ruining my life.
Body and mind are not in fact separate, they are parts of one whole manifested experience. Divinity made flesh for us all. And it's a BEAUTIFUL THING.
I know every word, ive seen Tool and A Perfect Circle, I fucking love this shit!
To me, this song is about the process an artist or creator goes through while producing their body of work.
Yiu mentioned TOOL is an experience.
You need to see them live, it’s like a religious experience and seeing god. Their shows will blow your mind, they are that good.
I've been waiting for you to dive in on this band. Lyrics and talent over 9000
Every TOOL song is a masterpiece.
While I agree with your comment I must say.... SHIT, BLOOD, AND CUM ON MY HANDS!
Stevie deserves a lot of credit for this reaction...it felt like he was teaching me about this song and I have listened to it countless times over the years. Great job 👍
It’s poetry and meant to be subjective… just enjoy the wonder and art
Yes!! Been waiting for you to do this song. Loved hearing your interpretation. Definitely about our human experience and meshing with the spiritual world. Realizing the infinite, pushing boundaries, beyond the lines of reason to see what else we can find, appreciating the beauty of this world. The power and connection of it all! Whew!! This song gives me chills every single time. Spiral out, keep going Stevie!
La ter alus. Lol
Check out reflection. The last 4 minutes is gold.
The new Opiate break is gemz as well.
This song Lateralus is written in 9/8 using a hemiola poly rhythm in the key of D.
It's about being so lucky to be alive, human, and in a position where we can become aware enough to perceive the universe and our connection to it. It's a love song to consciousness.
FINALLY.... been waiting for your Tool journey to actually keep rolling! Each song will reveal something new each time you listen to it, it's almost impossible to catch everything on your first go. like 99%.. so take your time bro. I'd say listen to the instruments first, then lyrics, then put the clues together. you're going to miss out on the drummer's work (Danny) :)
Don’t overthink and overanalyze the lyrics. Just listen and feel the music.
That’s man! Love your tool breakdowns!
Really need the headphones to fully appreciate Tool and all the power that they are.
There are many great explanations/interpretations/takes on this song by Stevie and the comments. I see it this way.
If you just listen to the song and music (don't think about it) and "feel" it you will have one experience. A "vibe" if you will. Just turn off your brain and let that vibe carry you.
If you listen to it for meaning. Analyze it. Think about what the words mean. You will have a different experience. More in your thoughts. Less of a feeling more of a "reaching" for understanding.
Now I think about a situation viewed through the eyes of a child vs the eyes of an adult. Take playing at a park. Kids will think less while playing. Climb a tree, walk on frozen lake, lay in the grass, listen to the birds, look for bugs....they are feeling the park and their experience is different. As we age we tend to think more than feel. At that same park we wouldn't climb a tree because we think of getting hurt, arrested, looking crazy...so in our heads we don't hear the birds, spray ourselves to keep bugs away, constantly analyzing our next move. We are missing out on things because our over analyzing won't let us feel. IMO he is striving to feed his ability to feel the music more than write it. Because if he focuses solely on writing (the red and yellow pulling at him) then his music might miss the opportunity to also create the vibe or feeling of birds in a park.
Fibonacci sequence or the rule of Thirds ...can't loose ... Yelawolf told me - " ...there's good money in a Pyrex measuring cup ..." 😂
Great breakdown mate. Credit to you that you can recognise and relate. Not everyone is that humble to see outside of what is staring them in the face.❤️🔥👏🤘
Thanks for being someone a kid can look up to. You hold no grudges no biases and respectful to all people.
Music in general, but absolutely with TOOL, is best listened to with quality headphones. So many nuances missed without them. Also the spiral referred to in the song can be visualized in a graph of the Fibonacci sequence that actually is a spiral shape. It is represented not only in nature in many forms (think of a conch shell) but also metaphorically as you interpreted as journeying spiritually as you grow…
SPIRAL OUT, KEEP GOING!!! 🤘🏻
Realizing that Tools song Jambi was from Pee Wee's playhouse is forever one of the most mind blowing / wtf moments I've had.
Where's your headphones 🎧... tool songs are made for headphones so you can hear all the stuff lol.👍😎🔥
Lateralus, using the Fibonacci Sequence is Pure Genius, just like the Early Orchestral Musicians that used it, Masters like Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy and in Modern times Tool! Stevie, where are your Headphones?
Glad you discovered this song. TOOL just taps into something greater. See them when you can. Fuckin incredible.
Man I enjoy watching people discover Tool both lyrically and musically. I'm seeing them live for the third time next week. This is getting me so hyped up. Thanks buddy! Subscribed!
Maynard has his hands in 2 other bands as well. A Perfect Circle and Pusifer. I have been to two of Tools concerts in a 6mth time frame. They are an experience that evrrryone should witness atleast once. Their shows are great! Enjoy the journey!
Maynard is a genius!
What I hope FOR YOU is that you lay in the dark with your best headphones, by yourself, away from the cameras, and listen to the songs after your reactions. Just for you. Cuz you are someone who I think will really feel it. It’ll take you somewhere. Fo. Sho. Like you said, you can’t be an idiot and appreciate Tool. And there are so many nuances, so many things you’ll catch every single time you listen. I’ve listened to Tool for 30+ years and still find new amazing things. Every time.
Spiral out! Keep going!!!!
The first Tool song I heard was Jimmy. I was working on a dive boat off the coast of Alaska, and crashing through the swells with Tool blasting through the speakers is an experience that can't be measured!
TOOL is not a song, an album, a group, they're an experience
An experience they are, and the end of this song is one of the most mind-blowing musical experiences you can have.
YEEES! Love tool, love seeing new people who aren’t really “into” rock be introduced to them.
I've listened to Tool for about 20 years and hadn't really analysed these lyrics until I found this video. I definitely follow your line, I think part of it is about approaching life, whether it's the tangible (this world) or intangible (spiritual world), balancing between your emotional and rational way of thinking. I myself have become far too rational and thereby cynical as I've grown older, and try to get back to a more balanced (and therefore less cynical) way of seeing things. Anyway, might not make sense to others but that kinda resonated with me at this point in time, maybe I'll see it differently later in life.
Thanks for bringing great content, really enjoyed this and other Tool videos you've posted!
Samson - "Sincerely, A Tax Payer" get on it!
Ummm…. WOW! In my opinion, you absolutely nailed this! I’m kinda dumbfounded… it felt like you were speaking my words! Yeah, SPOT ON!!! 💯
The album is an entire trip, in THE GRUDGE it talks about saturn, being the god of all metrial things in the world, you have to pass through it to become a material being, here in LATERALUS red and yellow are mentioned as they are the first chakras in the body (orange is not mentioned), being the material ones, you need to develop the spiritual ones from the heart (green) to the top (third eye purple)
One of my favorite bands Tool!!!!!Great break down
Oh what's so fun is that it's still following the PERFECT fibonacci sequence in lyrics and timing...
Right in Two and The Pot....bars! I've been following your Tool journey, and those are amazing songs that you should listen and react to.
Ayoooo Samson dropped get going on it fam!!!
It’s soooo damn kool to see you dig into these songs. It’s nice to see someone recognize what they do. They really are just different. Definitely a favorite band of mind so I love to see this!
Thats dope u doin a reaction to Tool!! Love it!
Love the Tool lyric breakdowns. You definitely gotta do the Pot. Doubles for days.
Happy Wednesday, Stevie!!! Hope you are your's are doing well! Great reaction!
Dude, love how you used your own mind to figure things out. Tool will make you do that to yourself. Great job Steve!
“As below, so Above” . . . This shit goes deeper if you want it to.
Interesting little take on this song. I think it references alchemy and the hermetic idea “as above so below” referring to the fractal nature spiraling all of creation from its main pattern.
Also, the beginning from black (the void) to white (the light/stars) and then if it is also alchemy he is referring to or other esoteric ideas… they say air and fire were the first two elements to appear (air is usually seen as yellow, fire is usually seen as red).
Good to see you on the Spiral. TOOL Army since ‘91.
I hope you got to listen to this whole album again with headphones on. Lots of little tricks and intricacies that are REALLY apparent when wearing headphones.
Nice man, been waiting for you to get back to Tool
My very first concert was Tool at SDSU. They were incredible.
Clicked so fast! In a weird way, Eminem and Tool are similar. Two of my favorite artists for sure.
Glad you're checking this out!
Got to react to "Right in two" next....great song by Tool !
I've been listening to Tool since I was in elementary school, and can still take away new potential meanings to songs I've memorized. And that's what makes them brilliant and makes their shit age well.
@Stevie Knight- Your instincts are spot on. So, the Fibonacci Sequence speaks to the Golden Ratio, and as you implied, everything in the Natural World is based on it. TOOL are advanced Music Theorists and therefore hyperaware of the significance of mathematical truths, in ALL things. It's often portrayed as an infinite spiral, or a conch 🐚 shell in many works of art. That said, Maynard usually employs a lot of double, triple and even quadruple meanings in his lyrics. There's the literal, metaphorical, figurative, and esoteric- that are almost always present, thematically. And often we get the satirical as well. Which is a delightful bonus. That said- TOOL are hardcore fans of the late Aleister Crowley, a famous occultist and Freemason who founded an Order of the same (secret society) called 'Thelema'. He is best known for his proclamation in said Thelemite Order that espouses- "Do As Thou Whilt- Shall Be the Whole of the Law". Much of Maynards' lyricism is written from the perspective of the Corpus Hermeticum with a bit of Gnosticism thrown in. That psychedelic picture that was on screen behind the lyrics, and the similar ones that pervade much of TOOLs' artwork, (w/the exception of A. Greys' claymation in many of their videos) depict Egyptian gods. Or Pagan gods, if you will. Maynard himself appears to be into Eastern Mysticism- but that's just a mixture of previously documented belief systems and gods. In the Corpus Hermeticum (what's left of it) and the gnostic scrolls. Basically it's the belief that humans and nature ARE 'god(s)' and we are really of one higher consciousness, it's just that most aren't aware of it. Epistomology, Ontology and Axiomology (as we understand them) are all subjective, a construct imposed by 'the powers that be'. If you conceptualize Maynards' lyrics through a Hermetic/gnostic lens, and remember his adoration of Crowley and the brilliant social theorist and psychologist Carl Jung- it will bring an all new understanding to the brilliance that is Maynard James Keenan and his abilities as a lyricist. Whilst giving you the often unknown or overlooked perspective he writes from. Btw- Carl Jung was also a highly acclaimed occultist- although he was less obvious about it. Clearly due to his not wanting it to affect his professional credibility in his fields of expertise, psychology, behavior and cognitive studies/analytics. His being a practicing occultist would clearly have lent an air of illegitimacy to his work. Especially in the times he lived in. So- his discretion paid off, as his body of work is to this day, arguably, among the most influencial in the Psychological Fields.
I say this not as a mere observer- but as a practicing Clinician and psychoanalyst of 30+ years, myself. The TOOL song 46 and 2 is directly about a Jungian practice, referred to as 'Shadow Work' in psychological science. It's basically about incorporating your 'shadow' or dark side and impulses into your conscious being, so that you can process, or harness it and therefore redirect it into something you can utilize for the good. To better yourself. Lest it remains part of your unconscious self and is free to manifest in negative ways, such as projection, resentment, contempt etc. Jungs' theory was that everyone has a 'shadow' and that ignoring it leads people to all manner of negative and even pathological behavior. The consensus amongst clinicians is that he was absolutely correct- even if the language around the Jungian school of thought has changed over time.
Anyway- my apologies for the unsolicited diatribe. You're an intelligent and extremely intuitive young man @Stevie. Thought you just might find this interesting. Btw- IF you keep featuring tracks by any of MJKs' 3 bands- ('TOOL', ' A Perfect Circle', & 'Puscifer') the #TOOLARMY WILL show up. And WE ARE MANY..! 🤘👁 😈
🌬🌀✡🌀💨
As the great teacher Yeshua spoke about, the path is narrow.
The first part, about vision and colors as an infant, is describing his viewpoints as a simpler mind, but then as he grows, his vision becomes more complex, until he's able to see a far larger and more complex universe than he ever knew, and he knows that if he keeps pushing his perception out, spiraling outward, he will become more and more aware of the true nature of the universe, and himself.
The Fibonacci sequence IS the spiral 🌀
My favorite tool track on my favorite tool album.
The realest reaction channel by far tells it like it is weather you lovehim or hate him ill take honesty over falsehood any day this guy absolutely loves music and i can appreciate that!!
Also black and white thinking. Red and Yellow "context" and "nuance" babies only think in black and white (hungry, tired, scared) later, the who, what, where, and why.
Glad to see you doing tool..
Tool is the shit!! This is my favorite song by them