There have been several times when I have listened to a song and my jaw dropped open. Bring Me To Life - Evanescence. Dolphin's Cry - Live. Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance. Muzzle - The Smashing Pumpkins. We're So Far Away - Mae. The power of these songs, every single time I hear them, to reach me in a way that no other song can makes these go down in my book as some of the best songs ever written. (And I know some people will say "Evanescence? My Chemical Romance? Those emo bands suck!"...Okay, say what you will, but I'm talking about the FIRST time I heard Bring Me To Life, back when there wasn't a dozen copies of the "hard band/female vocalist" out there, and Amy Lee wasn't copying herself over and over. I'm talking about the moment when I listened to it, and I had never heard anything like it before. Those moments are magic, and few and far between.)
But above these, there is one song that towers over the rest, and will live on in my soul as the greatest song I've ever heard. At least until something surpasses it, which I severely doubt will ever happen.
That song is "Lateralus", by Tool.
I remember when the album Lateralus came out. I was a sophomore in high school, and I was already a fan of Tool. But that record blew my mind and took me in a direction that was completely new. To this day, that album, and that song, continue to inspire me. The band itself, psychedelia and artistic pretension aside, is comprised of four astronomically skilled and talented people. Not only is the band one of my favorites, each member is my favorite instrumentalist of their kind. Adam Jones has, more than any other, influenced the direction I take with my own guitar playing. Justin Chancellor is the best bassist I've ever heard; likewise, I don't think I've heard anyone who can match Danny Carey on drums. And Maynard James Keenan, disagree though I might with many of his outlooks and opinions, uses his voice as an instrument itself, and his style of lyric writing, and his subject matter, have greatly influenced my own.
Of all the songs on that record, Lateralus outshines, or out darkens, all the rest. Strictly in a technical sense, the song is dizzying. The rhythm and time signature changes from 9/8 to 8/8 to 7/8, making a complex pattern. Not only does this work well, but this pattern is part of the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical theory which is directly related to the golden ratio, which is found everywhere in nature, and which I consider to be the fingerprint of God on everything he has created. The Fibonacci sequence is an ascending and descending sequence of integers that, when graphed out, forms a spiral. If one knows anything about the golden ratio, it is a pattern used in art and design, and can be found in radial symmetry throughout nature, from the Nautilus shell, to the orbits of the planets. It is rougly two-thirds to one third, and if one makes this division repeatedly, it also forms a spiral.
This design within the song isn't an accident, because the lyrics reflect this idea. The spiral is a universal sign of spirituality and divinity. Maynard sings about this in my favorite section of his lyrics:
"I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm,
to feel connected,
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 swing on the spiral of our divinity
and still be a human."
These words have directed me in a significant way, and I continue to explore the line between what it is to be divine, and what it is to be human. As a Christian, this idea is met in Jesus Christ, who perfectly human, and perfectly divine, simultaneously. I also believe there is something of the divine in all of us, and it is to be sought and embraced.
Beyond that, the music itself is one of the few songs that I can get utterly, completely lost within. Tool has mastered the quiet/loud dynamic that I love so much, and this song starts with a whisper and ends in an explosion. From the point in the song where everything drops out, and Adam Jones' guitar stomps like the approaching footsteps of a giant, to the quiet pondering of Keenan's voice, this song is epic in every sense of the word. Right down to the last eight chords that fall like the hammer of God on judgment day. Colossal. Monolithic. Gargantuan. Yet laced with moments incredibly small and intimate, I can't imagine any song every topping this one.
If you're reading this, and you've never listened to this song, do it. Then do it again. It doesn't matter if you've never heard of Tool, or hate them. Do yourself a favor and listen to it. Even if you don't buy into all the artistic meaning behind it (which many people won't, and that's okay) just listen to it as a fantastic rock song.
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