Meaning of line "Feel like blowing my cover"

[Sixtease]

Hey mates,

I find myself marveling at the old jewels of DT's work. What a genius of a lyricist KM is! I realize though that I don't understand what's meant by the line "Feel like blowing my cover" in 6:00.

Anyone feels like shedding some light on my poor outlander's understanding?

Thanks. \m/

[MirrorMask]

I'm not a native speaker but I assume that to blow one's cover means to reveal one's true identity.

Clark Kent opening up his shirt to reveal the Superman outfit in front of everyone would be blowing his cover in doing so.

In the contest of the song, the disillusioned and disgruntled protagonist would essentially (and voluntarily) let everyone know how he truly feels.

[Sixtease]

That makes sense! Thanks a lot for sharing the knowledge

[Evai]

In the 90's it was common to refer to your male significant other as your 'cover'. I hope this helped

[Sixtease]

In the 90's it was common to refer to your male significant other as your 'cover'. I hope this helped

:-D You are a bad person! Now every time I hear that line, I'll be haunted by an image of KM commiting sodomy

[MirrorMask]

Blowing is not that, it's using the mouth 

[gzarruk]

I always thought 6:00 was Kevin's way of letting his frustrations and emotions towards the band out. If you look at what happened after he recorded the album (he quit) and read these lyrics, it all makes sense, imo.

In the context of the song, I would say he's refering to, as MirrorMask also said, revealing his true feelings to the rest of the guys, as opposed to pretending he's still interested in the work they're doing.

[Ben_Jamin]

It's Spiderman feeling like revealing his true identity to Mary Jane.

[Tony From Long Island]

In the 90's it was common to refer to your male significant other as your 'cover'. I hope this helped

I was never really comfortable asking about the lyrics of Learning to Live.    My interpretation was that it was a person dealing with his sexuality and / or   finding out they were HIV positive.        This "blow my cover"  thread makes sense to me in that context.

[MirrorMask]

I think it's pretty confirmed that Learning to Live indeed deals with the HIV issue.

[noxon]

https://dreamtheater.club/questions/question/what-is-600-about/

[noxon]

And https://dreamtheater.club/questions/question/what-is-learning-to-live-about/

[Evai]

Ooh, that explains it. I was wondering how he managed to present this song to them without them replying "So you're leaving then?"

[?]

In the 90's it was common to refer to your male significant other as your 'cover'. I hope this helped

Oh god...

Ooh, that explains it. I was wondering how he managed to present this song to them without them replying "So you're leaving then?"

I bet they thought it was a fictional story about a dude giving up his job/safe lifestyle/whatever and didn't grasp the real meaning until Kevin had actually left. If you look at the quote from James in the link Noxon posted, this is what he said:

Lyrically it’s about a guy who finds himself in a situation he doesn’t want to be in. He wants to move on, and if that involves giving everything up, he’s willing to do so…

If you don’t take life by the reins and chase after something you both love and need, then things will pass you by. The opening line is: “6:00 on a Christmas morning”, and it means, are you getting up for the right reasons, is it for Christmas or is it for work?

As for the "blowing my cover" line, I think it's related to "The pain inside coming outside": the protagonist can no longer hold back and disguise his feelings.

[Tony From Long Island]

In the 90's it was common to refer to your male significant other as your 'cover'. I hope this helped

Oh god...

I'm not sure that the  "Oh God"  comment was supposed to mean,   but it would make more sense if Your "cover" was a fake significant other of the opposite sex rather than your actual significant other.

In the 90's I went to a college with a huge theater department  (I was a music major) and was also often the only straight guy in local opera / theater performances. I don't remember  a single time a guy referred to his male significant other as his "cover"

[?]

In the 90's it was common to refer to your male significant other as your 'cover'. I hope this helped

Oh god...

I'm not sure that the  "Oh God"  comment was supposed to mean

Just that the meaning of that line suddenly took a different turn.

[Mladen]

Whoa! That explanation Noxon posted is fantastic, never realized it before.

[Elite]

In the 90's it was common to refer to your male significant other as your 'cover'. I hope this helped

this is fantastic

[TheAtliator]

Blowing your cover generally means revealing an identity (For instance, if a cop who is under cover reveals that they are a cop, they have blown their cover). It would make sense in that the person in the song feels like breaking out and showing the world who he actually is, though he may never do it.


The song is about someone getting up to do a job that he doesn't enjoy and watching his true desires get further and further out of reach; "But it's too late for me now" "But it's too late for me.... now". But that also ties in to a deeper major theme on Awake, regarding the notion of taking control of where you want to go and who you want to be rather than just riding the current, or getting caught in the cycle of trying to please everyone else. That can apply to creating music, finding companionship, or anything else. The "sound" in 6:00 seems to be a calling he has in his head to pursue a dream.

[Pragmaticcircus]

It's Spiderman feeling like revealing his true identity to Mary Jane.

Ah yes I remember that Awake theory 

[Tony From Long Island]

Blowing your cover generally means revealing an identity (For instance, if a cop who is under cover reveals that they are a cop, they have blown their cover).

I feel confident in saying that just about everyone on this forum knew what "blow my cover" meant literally!    The question was what it meant in the context of the song.  Several interesting hypotheses have been proffered, all of which are plausible (though I am bit skeptical on the Spider Man theory!).   Until KM himself clarifies it's certainly fun to speculate.

At least it has been more civil than my hypothesis on the real meaning of Looking Glass!   :-)

[hefdaddy42]

It's Spiderman feeling like revealing his true identity to Mary Jane.

Ah yes I remember that Awake theory 

What do you mean, "theory"?

It's a fact.

[noxon]

Whoa! That explanation Noxon posted is fantastic, never realized it before.

Thanks, thats why the faq exists. It's actually survived for over 20 years now! Too bad people aren't interested in contributing it to keep it up to date with more current material