So, I was browsing my documents and I found this one that I made sometime ago. I updated it with DT12 and I figured I'd post it here. Tell me what you think.
-WHEN DREAM AND DAY UNITE:
A FORTUNE IN LIES:
About a friend of the band who was arrested for stealing and what he learned from the experience.
STATUS SEEKER.
About how no one takes a band seriously if it's not signed to a record label.
THE KILLING HAND:
About a war. The narrator witnesses the horrible atrocities of the war, and finally finds out he was the one causing it.
LIGHT FUSE AND GET AWAY:
About using someone for sex.
AFTERLIFE:
About life after death. (DUH!)
THE ONES WHO HELP TO SET THE SUN:
About a guy who falls asleep while driving and dreams about how his loved ones would be affected by his death. He then really dies at the end of the song.
ONLY A MATTER OF TIME:
About taking risks in order to find greater happiness in the end
-IMAGES AND WORDS:
PULL ME UNDER:
About death in general. Inspired by the Hamlet.
ANOTHER DAY:
About Petrucci's dad battle against cancer.
TAKE THE TIME:
About the time the band was going through in the past three years: searching for a new singer, new label and new management and all the frustration they went through.
SURROUNDED:
About some sort of realisation, warp from one state of mind to another and the feeling of it.
METROPOLIS PART 1 - THE MIRACLE AND THE SLEEPER
About the story of Victoria, Edward and Julian Baynes, further explained in Scenes From A Memory.
UNDER A GLASS MOON:
Petrucci proposing to his wife.
WAIT FOR SLEEP:
About a Moore's friend who couldn't find something to believe in.
LEARNING TO LIVE:
About something to do with AIDS
-AWAKE:
6:00:
Inspired by a LaBrie's friend, Moore wrote 6:00 about people not trying to live their dream, and inviting them to do so.
CAUGHT IN A WEB:
About a person that's dealing with another person who has suppressed their feelings for a long time and has had enough of it, and understands that the only way to live life is from the inside out.
INNOCENCE FADED:
About growing up and losing the innocence and the feeling that the world is becoming too real for the firrst time.
A MIND BESIDE ITSELF:
Deals with paranoia, kind of a prequel to Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
I. Erotomania - a psychological condition where the sufferer believes that someone else is secretly in love with him.
II.Voices - point of view of a schizophrenic person.
III.The Silent Man - if we follow faith we can avoid problems, like the one in voices.
THE MIRROR:
Deals with Mike Portnoy alcohol problems.
LIE:
It's connected with The Mirror theme, talking more about betrayal and disillusionment.
LIFTING SHADOWS OFF A DREAM:
About the duality between man and woman, the spiritual side of the relationship and how they both can compliment one another.
SCARRED:
About God.
SPACE DYE-VEST:
About Kevin Moore's broken relationship and the confusion that it brings.
A CHANGE OF SEASONS:
Inspired by Mike Portnoy's mother's death, this songs talks about the circle of life, and revolves around the concept of "carpe diem".
-FALLING INTO INFINITY:
NEW MILLENIUM:
About change, getting start over again.
YOU NOT ME:
About a person who takes on another person's life, and the frustation that comes out of it.
PERUVIAN SKIES:
About a girl getting abused.
HOLLOW YEARS:
About growing up, getting mature and being happy
BURNING MY SOUL:
About rage and the people bringing it.
LINES IN THE SAND:
About how overly religious people miss the message of peace and love.
TAKE AWAY MY PAIN:
About Petrucci's father death after a battle with cancer.
JUST LET ME BREATHE:
About the record label pressure on the creativity of the band
ANNA LEE:
Another song about child abuse, in general this time.
TRIAL OF TEARS:
About a personal journey, along the way to NY, expected to be a fucking amazing town, but realizing that it sucks.. very literal interpretation here
-SCENES FROM A MEMORY:
this is a concept album divided in scenes, so here is the story sum up:
SCENE ONE - "Regression":
Nicholas (main character) is going to do a regression therapy. Nicholas is slowly fading into another world.
SCENE TWO
I.Overture 1928
(Instrumental)
II.Strange Deja Vu
As Nicholas arrives in this other world, he visits a house. In a mirror, he sees Victoria Page. We learn that Nicholas dreams every night of Victoria, but he doesn't know why.
Victoria is afflicted by something, but we don't know what. Nicholas goes back to reality, and starts to investigate.
SCENE THREE
I.Through My Words
Nicholas realizes he was Victoria in his past life.
II.Fatal Tragedy
Nicholas meets an old man. The man tells him there was a murder, a young girl was killed. So we learn that Victoria was assassinated, but we don't know yet why. Nicholas understands that he can't live peacefully again until he solves this mystery.
SCENE FOUR - "Beyond This Life"
Nicholas goes back in time once again, and reads the newspaper about the murder. Apparently, Victoria was shot, a witness saw her body and the killer, he tried to help, but the murderer shot himself. In the pocket of the murderer there was a suicide note. There was written that he couldn't live a life with losing Victoria.
SCENE FIVE - "Through Her Eyes"
Back to the present, Nicholas visits Victoria's grave. He cries and he feels a lot of pain, like a beloved person died.
SCENE SIX - "Home"
This is about the love triangle that led to Victoria's death. Edward Baynes has got an addiction, probably gambling or alcohol. Because of this addiction Victoria doesn't wanna stay with him anymore, so she escapes to Edward's brother, Julian. The two end up getting together.
SCENE SEVEN
I.The Dance Of Eternity
This represents Edward and Victoria having le sexy time.
II.One Last Time
Back to the present, Nicholas is not convinced of what he saw. He then visit Edward's house, which holds a lot of clues. As he explores, he sees scenes from the fatal meeting Victoria was killed in. He doesn't realize what it's happening though because he soon fades back into counsciousness.
SCENE EIGHT - "The Spirit Carries On"
Nicholas finally realizes what happened, and he says that he's not arfraid of dying, because he understood death is not the end, but only a transition. He says goodbye to Victoria and then leaves.
SCENE NINE - "Finally Free"
We are in the past now, but not under Nicholas point of view. Edward is pissed off because Victoria left him for his brother, and he plans revenge. Victoria then rans into Julian, they plan on a meeting that night. At the meeting Edward comes out of nowhere and kills both Victoria and Julian. He then puts a note in Julian's pocket, and lies to the reporter. Back to the present, Nicholas is happy because he's finally free, and goes home to relax. As he listens to some relaxing tunes, he gets killed by the reincarnation of Julian, the hypnotherapist. PLOT TWIST!
-SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE:
THE GLASS PRISON:
First part of the Twelve Step Suite, involves the first three steps of the program: admitting to be powerless, needing the help of others, and have the will to change life.
BLIND FAITH:
About people who pronounce their faith, but they don't live thinking about it.
MISUNDERSTOOD:
About a religious figurehead.
THE GREAT DEBATE:
About stem cell research.
DISAPPEAR:
About how life could drasticly change, from good to painful.
SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE:
This is about six persons who are sick, each in a different way
I.Overture
(instrumental)
II.About to crash
About a girl who suffers of bipolar disorder.
III.War inside my head
About an ex-soldier who can't leave the "permanent psychotic hell" inside his head.
IV.The test that stumped em all
About a schizophrenic guy.
V.Goodnight kiss
About a mom whose baby died, and now suffers of post-partum depression
VI.Solitary shell
About a boy with relationship problems
VII.About to crash (reprise)
Same girl as the first part
VIII.Losing time/Grand finale
About a girl suffering from dissociative identity disorder, which brings her to amnesia.
-TRAIN OF THOUGHT:
AS I AM:
About accepting a person the way it is, not faking it.
THIS DYING SOUL:
About step 4 and 5 of the twelve step program
ENDLESS SACRIFICE:
About the difficulty of the families of the band members to stay away from them
HONOR THY FATHER:
About Portnoy's stepfather. He must be a fucking hateful person, huh?
VACANT:
About Labrie's daughter coma a few days before her 7th birthday
IN THE NAME OF GOD:
Against radical-muslims, or all people taking a religion and twisting it.
-OCTAVARIUM:
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL:
Step 6 and 7 of the 12 step program.
THE ANSWER LIES WITHIN:
About being yourself, enjoying life.
THESE WALLS:
About being trapped in a situation, seeking help, but not receiving it.
I WALK BESIDE YOU:
About having faith in a person, friendship.
PANIC ATTACK:
About a panic attack. Obviousness FTW
NEVER ENOUGH:
About DT fans who never like anything they do.
SACRIFICED SONS:
About 9/11 attacks.
OCTAVARIUM:
This is the bomb guys. This is the shit. The main theme here is thing going "full circle"
I.Someone like him
About a person who doesn't want to live a normal life, he wants to do something special. He succedes doing it, and wonders how his life would be if he lived in a normal way and ends up wishing it.
II.Medicate (Awakening)
About a person who wakes up after a 30-years catatonic sleep, but slowly fades back into unconsciousness, and eventually slips back into coma, after the doctor tries to save him.
III.Full circle
Mike Portnoy's ode to progressive music. There are a lot of references here.
IV.Intervals
Sum-up of the songs of the record, each line dedicated to one song.
V.Razor's Edge
Epic ending, about things going in circles.
-SYSTEMATIC CHAOS:
IN THE PRESENCE OF ENEMIES:
About a person that is dying, and he falls in temptation. He then sells his soul to the devil and fight demons, until he realizes he was wrong all the time and takes his soul back.
FORSAKEN:
About a guy getting visited by a vampiress at night, and she's sucking his blood without letting him notice, by showing him wonderful stuff.
CONSTANT MOTION:
About Mike Portnoy's state of mind, always thinking about ten different things at the time, the band, the family, the work to do ecc..
REPENTANCE:
Step 8 and 9 of the twelve step program. It deals with forgivness and regretness.
THE DARK ETERNAL NIGHT:
About a pharaoh who comes back to life under the form of a monster and haunts a town. God this album is brutal.
THE MINISTRY OF LOST SOULS:
About a person who's drowning, and another person actually saves him, but dies in the process.
PROPHETS OF WAR:
About the reason behind the Iraq War.
-BLACK CLOUDS AND SILVER LININGS:
A NIGHTMARE TO REMEMBER:
About a car crash John Petrucci was involved in as a child.
A RITE OF PASSAGE:
About freemasonry.
WITHER:
About the process of songwriting for John Petrucci
THE SHATTERED FORTRESS:
About the last 3 steps of the twelve step program.
THE BEST OF TIMES:
About the death of Mike Portnoy's father. R.I.P.
THE COUNT OF TUSCANY:
About the fear of dying when Petrucci met "the count of tuscany" in Italy.
-A DRAMATIC TURN OF EVENTS:
ON THE BACKS OF ANGELS:
Deals with the modern economic crisis
BUILD ME UP, BREAK ME DOWN:
About how the fans of a star first worship him, and when something goes wrong they immideatly insult/break he down.
LOST NOT FORGOTTEN:
About the persian army.
THIS IS THE LIFE:
About how wrong it is dreaming to be someone else, instead of accepting who you really are.
BRIDGES IN THE SKY.
About a man whose soul partly died, and goes to a shaman to bring it back to life. This also features the first backing vocals of John Myung, at the very beginning of the song.
OUTCRY:
About the north african uprisings in 2011.
FAR FROM HEAVEN:
About pressure that parents are giving to their kids to let them become what they (the parents) want.
BREAKING ALL ILLUSIONS:
A sequel to far from heaven, about someone who succeded in his dreams
BENEATH THE SURFACE:
About a lost love, a person who was forgotten.
- DREAM THEATER:
FALSE AWAKENING SUITE:
although it's an instrumental, it was written for live concert purposes, and it serves as like an opening credits kind of thing
THE ENEMY INSIDE:
About post-traumatic stress disorder.
THE LOOKING GLASS:
About how young people these days are obsessed with fame.
ENIGMA MACHINE:
instrumental. Jordan wrote the riff in his bed at night.
THE BIGGER PICTURE:
About being able to understand a situation, even when it's very complex.
BEHIND THE VEIL:
About criminals, more precisely kidnappers.
SURRENDER TO REASON:
About overdoing problems in life using love and faith.
ALONG FOR THE RIDE:
About how much there's going on in the world that we can't control.
ILLUMINATION THEORY:
About things that we would live, kill and die for. Also about of how in order to feel completely satisfied in your life, you have to also suffer.
Topic: DT songs lyrical meanings (Read 5162 times)
