By The Numbers

How a mathematical sequence got Tool’s creative juices flowing.

Even a casual listen to Lateralus reveals a song of meticulous construction, but closer inspection reveals how the title track references the Fibonacci Sequence. This is the series of numbers where each new number after the first two is the sum of its two predecessors: 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8 etc. The chorus riff of Lateralus is a sequence that cycles through measures of nine, eight and seven beats per bar – 987 is the 16th number of the Fibonacci Sequence. Inspired by this, Keenan wrote his lyrics for the verses so that each line has a number of syllables that corresponds to the Fibonacci Sequence, first ascending then descending. This produces a pattern of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3; then the pre-chorus counts down the sequence, 13, 8, 5, 3. See, maths can be fun!