Is The Count of Tuscany overrated?

[Nick]

A top 5 Dream Theater song for me, and while I think that most people really love the song, I think it generally might not rank quite that high, so I'd say it's underrated.

[pmahoney1337]

Option #4:  Neither, because "overrated" and "underrated" are really dumb terms that are just a different way of saying "I think most other people's opinions on [song] are wrong, but mine is right."

Yea, I like this. I never liked the terms overrated and underrated. Although I did say earlier I didn't think it was overrated, but that was for the sake of the thread. 

[Lowdz]

I love the song. All of it. The lyrics are a bit clumsy and anticlimactic but not enough to spoil a great song. As I've said before, I'm an 80s hair metal fan so lyrics aren't a dealbreaker for me  It does confuse me a bit-I'm no expert in heraldry but I can't work out which of them is the Count? The young man? His brother? His brother sounds older than him so shouldn't he be the Count?

I love the "driving" riff (pun intended), it's an air guitar moment for me.

[Tripp]

It's one of my favourite songs, and I love literally every minute of it.

[dongringo]

Option #4:  Neither, because "overrated" and "underrated" are really dumb terms that are just a different way of saying "I think most other people's opinions on [song] are wrong, but mine is right."

So your opinion that "overrated" and "underrated" are dumb terms makes you right and us wrong?   Snap!

[ghostnotes]

Since I'm a lyric-basher when it comes to TCoT, maybe I can help clarify.  This is just for those who don't know where we TCoT lyric-bashers are coming from for their understanding...don't bother with refutation of these opinions - they are so solidified at this point you have a better chance of converting me to your choice of ancient obscure religion and having me take part in its most painful coming-of-age bodily ritual. 

I have two fundamental problems with the lyrics in this song, and they mostly stem from the fact that for the most part, DT has written incredibly intelligent lyrics to their "epics" in the past (ACOS, SFAM, SDoIT, etc.).   

1.  They are incredibly shallow, and make no honest attempt to be otherwise.  This is made more annoying by considering the shallow nature of the story...Petrucci visits a town in Europe, runs across a dude who invites him to his house, turns out he's a count, wants to show him a tour, tells some interesting ghost stories about the place, and Petrucci gets scared, thinking he's going to get mobbed in the cellar.  That's it.  For me, for a such a simple premise to be effective, it has to be artistically vague or embellished either via choice of words or storytelling/prose style, and neither of those happened.  The lyrics almost literally read like it exactly happened..."Dude, I went into this house of this guy in Tuscany, and he was smoking this pipe, he invited on a tour of the place, told me a ghost story, and I got scared and literally thought I was going to die."

As bad as that is in and of itself, the bigger issue for me is:

2.  The shallow lyrics do not come within MILES of matching the musical intensity and composition of the song.  This is the crux of the issue for me, because in truth the MUSIC to TCoT is some of the best they've done in almost a decade.  And it had to sit alongside a silly anecdote Petrucci has from when DT was touring Europe that was better off as part of the commentary on a live DVD.

Hell, I can make up something more entertaining in two minutes with the aid of this beer.  Here goes: I went to a restaurant in Italy and ordered spaghetti bolognese, the waiter told me a story that hundreds of years ago chefs in this very kitchen used to put rat meat infected with the bubonic plague in the bolognese, I freaked out thinking bubonic plague-infested rat meat might be in THIS bolognese, I got up to leave without paying, then the waiter said "excuse me, MY BRUUUTHA, I didn't mean to frighten you, there's no bubonic plague-infested rat meat in the bolognese, enjoy your meal, and tell your friends about us!" 

Then I will compose the most EPIC track you've ever heard.

It just doesn't go together.  TCoT's music and lyrics are truly oil and water.  If you can overlook it, great for you - enjoy the amazingness of the song!  Just don't get rattled when plenty of others despise it for its nonsensical lyrics on top of its epic music.

[DJay32]

I've voiced my opinions on "The Count of Tuscany" a lot, but this seems like the perfect topic to do it again.

I think, much like everything that's not from Images & Words, Awake, or Metropolis, pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, "The Count of Tuscany" isn't heralded all that highly. People praise the bookends of the song, but they don't respect what I call the "second movement," the part of the song where the story is really told.

Personally, I find the lyrics to be very fitting to the music of the second movement. If the lyrics were applied to, say, the opening? Hell no, that would be a little too dissonant. But when I listen to the music behind the vocals, the first thing that pops into my head is "Wow, this is quirky." The song has a big quirky vibe to it. It makes me think of, say, EarthBound. And the lyrics reflect this vibe very efficiently. Could Mike Portnoy have tried not being so metal-y with "MAH BROTHAH?" Of course, and the song would have most likely benefited from it. But that one choice didn't break the song.

I love singing along to "The Count of Tuscany;" in fact, I find myself singing along to the entirety of Black Clouds & Silver Linings. My opinion of "The Count of Tuscany" seems to place it much higher than a lot of people on this forum, which is why I voted that it is an underrated track. I don't claim that my opinion is fact, though. It's all subjective in the end.

[dongringo]

I've voiced my opinions on "The Count of Tuscany" a lot, but this seems like the perfect topic to do it again.

I think, much like everything that's not from Images & Words, Awake, or Metropolis, pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, "The Count of Tuscany" isn't heralded all that highly. People praise the bookends of the song, but they don't respect what I call the "second movement," the part of the song where the story is really told.

Personally, I find the lyrics to be very fitting to the music of the second movement. If the lyrics were applied to, say, the opening? Hell no, that would be a little too dissonant. But when I listen to the music behind the vocals, the first thing that pops into my head is "Wow, this is quirky." The song has a big quirky vibe to it. It makes me think of, say, EarthBound. And the lyrics reflect this vibe very efficiently. Could Mike Portnoy have tried not being so metal-y with "MAH BROTHAH?" Of course, and the song would have most likely benefited from it. But that one choice didn't break the song.

I love singing along to "The Count of Tuscany;" in fact, I find myself singing along to the entirety of Black Clouds & Silver Linings. My opinion of "The Count of Tuscany" seems to place it much higher than a lot of people on this forum, which is why I voted that it is an underrated track. I don't claim that my opinion is fact, though. It's all subjective in the end.

I'm down with that.

[LKap13]

Option #4:  Neither, because "overrated" and "underrated" are really dumb terms that are just a different way of saying "I think most other people's opinions on [song] are wrong, but mine is right."

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