Under a Glass Moon (7:03)
Ah, lookie! It's Under a Glass Moon! This is the first of the three songs that will conclude the album and my my, isn't the title confusing already? I love this song very much, but it doesn't peak like Another Day and Metropolis Part 1. This song is notable for its obscure lyrics and John Petrucci's solo. I don't why people go crazy over his solo. I mean, sure, it is good, but I think it is a tad overrated. Even if I think that, I still love this song to death. This song has a personal meaning for me and I have interpreted this lyrics on how it relates to me and it may relate to some people here also. If you want to really confuse someone, ask a friend (non Dream Theater fans) to listen to this song and interpret what this song is saying. They will either be confused and give up or think of some bizarre analysis.
The beginning of this song is beautiful. Plain and simple. Moore and Petrucci are the main and only people in the beginning of this song. We can hear Petrucci and Moore playing similar notes in an orchestral fashion. The orchestra known as Under A Glass Moon is beginning. Then Myung gets going with his bass, and man, you can almost feel how this song will go, epic and mysterious. . A minute and a half in, Myung and Portnoy have a quick little interlude, and LaBrie sings some of the weirdest, but extremely clever and deep lyrics Petrucci has ever written. Yeah, as if "Under a Glass Moon" wasn't weird enough.
Tell me
Remind me
Chase the water racing from the sky
Always
Beside me
Taste the memories running from my eyesReally clever. The main character here, or I am being reminded with a past memory. A memory that has affected me greatly in the past. The water racing from the sky is the rain as it falls down to Earth. No matter where I am, I can't escape the rain pouring as it is all around me and it is always beside me until the rain decides to stop falling. As rain pours, water drips down your face. Rain can signify a lot of things and once the main character was hit with this extreme memory, nostalgia struck him as she began crying. As tears escaped here eyes, some trailed down to her lips in which you could taste your memory. The memory was so strong that you could even taste it. Now, "Taste the memories running from eyes," means either the tears running from your eyes or the rain drops that run down your eyes, though I'm going with the tears because it fits more perfectly and the source are the eyes, not the clouds.
Nervous flashlights scan my dreams
Liquid shadows silence their screams
I smile at the moon
Chasing water from the sky
I argue with the clouds
Stealing beauty from my eyesAs my brain starts scanning my memories, it comes to me in the form of a dream. The flashlights can be the brain or the flashbacks. The memory was so nostalgic, but also very saddening that although it brought some joy, with it came sadness. If you get over something horrific or something really sad like the death of a loved one, you don't want to bring back the memories, but you miss the components of joy. If a memory was nostalgic and joyful, without traces of sadness, instead of nervous flashlights, it would be eager flashlights. The nervous was added because even though she wanted to feel the memories of joy, there were sad parts of the memories so she is extremely nervous to relive that. The moon is really beautiful at night, especially a full moon, so you could be smiling at the full moon as it is raining. I think the lyrics were written as "I smile at the moon" in one sentence and "Chasing water from the sky" as another sentence. Have you every ran in the rain, hands outstretched, trying to make the rain go away. That can be a possible meaning for chasing water from the sky. As the clouds come and cover the moon, it takes away the beauty of the moon. You are displeased with the clouds that have hindered the view of the beautiful moon as it "Steals the beauty from her eyes."
Outside the soundness of your mind
Bathing your soul in silver tears
Beneath a blackened summer sky
Praying for time to disappearOutside your conscience, as you are crying, woken up from the dream, it has touched you so deep that it touches your soul. As the tears fall all around you, you are bathing your soul with your tears. The sadness from the memory puts you in a bad mood as a blackened sky covers the summer sky. You know in movies where everything is extremely bright, but suddenly evil comes in and just blackens the whole place? It could be a reference to that as she prays that time disappears. Death takes away our loved ones, but so does time. Time has only one gear, forward, and unfortunately, that means aging. Aging leads to death and without time, could we have been young forever? If time wasn't present at all, we wouldn't even be born, so time is extremely valuable. Cursing time for making your life miserable is wrong. Without time, where would we be? Heck, I'm sure we even wouldn't be alive.
Beneath a summer sky
Under glass moonlight
Night awaits the lamb's arrival
Liquid shadows crawl
Silver teardrops fall
The bride subsides to her survivalYou are crying in reality, but you are still trapped within your conscience, within your dream. As you relive your memories, you are under a summer sky, a glass moonlight. Imagine the moonlight and imagine it looking glassy. Glass alters the vision of light. A flashlight's light is circular and shining it through glass, makes it look bigger and more beautiful. The moon's light is exactly like that. I know that "Night awaits the lamb's arrival" has a spiritual sense to it, but I interpret it another way. The lamb signifies your savior. You are in this dreamy nightmare as you hope to wake up, but you just can't. As you are stuck in your beautiful nightmare, crying, all you can do is wait. The tears all around you began crawling down the grass as she, "the bride," subsides and just waits.
By your hand
I've awakened
Bear this honor in my nameFinally, someone is there to wake her up. He sees are crying and he takes her hand, trying to wake her up. She finally wakes up from this pleasant nightmare and is relieved. "I have awaken/Bear this honor in my name," she says to him. After that, she tells him about her dream. They get comfortable and she is ready to tell everything to him, her memories and her dreams. That story she tells is portrayed in an instrumental that follows.
All of the band starts to play, though it is mostly a duo between Petrucci and Moore. This part of the instrumental tells the basics of her story. She hasn't gotten into the nostalgic and tragic part of her memory as she wants to slowly build up so she won't lost control. Finally, the time has come to tell that man about her tragic, but nostalgic nightmare/dream. The band falls silent as Myung picks a few notes.She is silent as she finally gains the courage. After this, everything explodes. The girl is pouring her heart out to him. Petrucci plays a passionate solo, like in Another Day. Petrucci begins shredding and starts going up and down the frets. It feels like his fretboard is on fire. Petrucci gets lost in his solo and he plays a minute of pure awesome. After that, Moore comes in with a solo of his own and by this point, the entire band is lost in their conscience, playing like crazy. The solo ends as the band just synchronizes the last few seconds of the solo and Labrie comes in.
James Labrie finishes off with one more chorus and an outro. By this point, the man has heard what the girl has said and understands how she felt. An extremely well way to close out this song. This song has meant a lot to me as it talks about dreams and cherishing your memories to the fullest.
Wait For Sleep (2:31)
Ah, Wait for Sleep, the shortest Dream Theater song, besides Regression. I love this song very much as it proves that Kevin Moore can write extremely short songs that pack a lot of information. Only Kevin Moore and Kevin Labrie is present in this song. Kevin starts off with keyboards and strings playing in the background. After fifteen seconds, Labrie comes in.
Standing by the window
Eyes upon the moon
Hoping that the memory will leave her spirit soonThe main character is standing by the window, staring at the moon. Perhaps she is daydreaming about a memory, something that has meant a lot to her. She just waits and hopes that the memory will leave her. Have you ever had that time where you were daydreaming and you wanted to break out, but the dream was too enchanting that it prevented you from breaking out? that is exactly how she feels.
She shuts the doors and lights
And lays her body on the bed
Where images and words are running deep
She has too much pride to pull the sheets above her head
So quietly she lays and waits for sleepFinally, she breaks out of her daydream as she prepares to sleep. She shuts her door and turns off all her lights as she lays down on her bed. When you daydream, sometimes you think about both the pictures, the images, and the words, the conversations spoken. It is deep within her mind. I remember when I was 5 or 6, I was scared of the dark because I thought monsters were real. I usually covered myself with a blanket and trembled in there until I fell asleep. Right now, if I were to be afraid of the dark and pull the sheets over my head to shut off those nightmares, I'd be called a baby and immature. That would hurt my pride, so instead of cowering, I would not pull the sheets over my head, leaving myself exposed. That is exactly what she is doing as she lays down quietly and waits for sleep.
She stares at the ceiling
And tries not to think
And pictures the chains
She's been trying to link again
But the feeling is gone
And water can't cover her memory
And ashes can't answer her pain
God give me the power to take breath from a breeze
And call life from a cold metal frameShe can't sleep as she stares at the ceiling, waiting for sleep. She tries not to dwell on what she just daydreamed, but it is very hard to do that. It is impossible to not think because your mind will be focused on something. She tries to link her memories together like a chain, but as time passes, that feeling of linking her memories passes away. She begins to cry as the memories come crashing into her, but even tears can't release her from the pain. She is so much in pain that even ashes can't make her feel less pain. She prays to God. In the bible, there is a man named Ezekiel who raised dry bones from the dead. Maybe she had lost her sister and they used to sleep next to each other, but now since she is dead, there is no one to comfort the girl who had lost her sister. She prays to God to revive her sister, but that doesn't happen.
In with the ashes
Or up with the smoke from the fire
With wings up in heaven
Or here, lying in bed
Palm of her hand to my head
Now and forever curled in my heart
And the heart of the worldShe can't take it anymore as she doesn't want to live anymore. She ends up committing suicide as she is like the smoke that rises into the air. As she dies, she sees a spiritual figure of her sister resting her palm to the girl's head as she slowly fades into unconsciousness and death. Now, the heart of the world, everything is curled into her heart as she breathes her last.
This story to me is really sad and poetic at the same time. Indeed, losing a loved one is hard for anyone and can drive people to suicide. I know that this is not what is actually meant, but this is my interpretation of the song. Hope you enjoyed it.
Topic: SFAM ----> DT 12 Ranked and Reviewed (Read 19826 times)
