Breaking All Illusions (the song with Myung lyrics)

[Vajra]

John Myung is finally making a poetic come-back, and this time with a song that's an epic 12:25 minutes long! (the longest song on the album)

What are your thoughts, speculations, expectations, hopes, and concerns for this song?

For me, I think BAI was the epic closer that DT intended to use to close the album, but decided afterwards to place BTS after it. With that in mind, I feel that BAI could be the next Learning to Live or Trial of Tears, judging by its length, track placement, and use of JM lyrics. All in all, I think this song will be fucking amazing.

As for lyrics, I'm expecting traditional Myung.... poetic, metaphoric, emotional, spiritual, and thought provoking.

[Zook]

In a dramatic turn of events, these will be his worst lyrics ever and it'll be about magicians.

[Vajra]

In a dramatic turn of events, these will be his worst lyrics ever and it'll be about magicians.

Followed by the dramatic turn of events of mass DT fan suicide.

[wammabe]

I'm hoping to see songs like Metropolis pt.1, Learning to Live, Scarred, Lines in the Sand, and Trial of Tears in this album. Songs like this used to be Dream Theater's "epics". I really miss them. After seeing the track sizes and the fact that Myung wrote lyrics for Breaking All Illusions, my hopes to see a song like this increased.

According to James, Beneath the Surface is a song made by Petrucci, so its very likely that Breaking all Illusions was originally going to be the final song in the album.

I'm really hoping that Far From Heaven would be like Vacant, Hell's Kitchen, or Wait For Sleep, those were all beautiful songs and made the upcoming song even more epic.

[Vajra]

^^Yeah JP came into the studio with "Beneath The Surface" already made I believe, so I doubt that was the original choice for closing track. I'm pretty convinced that "Breaking All Illusions" will be the big epic of the album.

Also...

BMUBMD
BITS
BTS
BAI

Why so many b's?

[darkshot]

BMUBMD
BITS
BTS
BAI

Why so many b's?

And 2 songs have the word break in the name...  To me all the song names seem to be very closely tied together.  The theme seems to be related to falling or sinking.  It starts above the clouds on the backs of angels, gets broken down below the clouds, they land on a bridge in the sky that breaks their fall, their outcry makes them fall further from heaven, they break the illusion of the reflection of water, and sink beneath the surface.

NUGGETZ!

[Zook]

BMUBMD
BITS
BTS
BAI

Why so many b's?

And 2 songs have the word break in the name...  To me all the song names seem to be very closely tied together.  The theme seems to be related to falling or sinking.  It starts above the clouds on the backs of angels, gets broken down below the clouds, they land on a bridge in the sky that breaks their fall, their outcry makes them fall further from heaven, they break the illusion of the reflection of water, and sink beneath the surface.

NUGGETZ!

You just blew my fuckin' mind.

[Slain]

In a dramatic turn of events, these will be his worst lyrics ever and it'll be about magicians.

LET ME INTRODUCE
MY WAND
A POINTY GENTLEMAN
SHOOTS SPELLS AND SHIT

[RaiseTheKnife]

Probably in ADTOE fashion, the song will feature only a snipit of lyrics ala Vacant, and 11:59 minutes of instrumental madness.

[Mbarak]

I'm not sure it's healthy to put so much anticipation for a song. You pretty much set yourself for disappointment.

Personally, I will (or try to) listen to the song with an open mind, with no pre(mis)conceptions of its quality. Gotta remember,  the last time JMX wrote lyrics wasn't bad but it wasn't poetry material either.

I remember when Portnoy announced prior to BC&SL's release that it will sound like "a Dream Theater album with 'A Change of Seasons', 'Octavarium', 'Learning to Live', 'Pull Me Under' and 'The Glass Prison' all on one album." I listened to the album with this expectation and I was severely disappoint. Later on once the preconceived idea was gone, I realized there are some good tunes there.

[Vajra]

I'm not sure it's healthy to put so much anticipation for a song. You pretty much set yourself for disappointment.

Personally, I will (or try to) listen to the song with an open mind, with no pre(mis)conceptions of its quality. Gotta remember,  the last time JMX wrote lyrics wasn't bad but it wasn't poetry material either.

I remember when Portnoy announced prior to BC&SL's release that it will sound like "a Dream Theater album with 'A Change of Seasons', 'Octavarium', 'Learning to Live', 'Pull Me Under' and 'The Glass Prison' all on one album." I listened to the album with this expectation and I was severely disappoint. Later on once the preconceived idea was gone, I realized there are some good tunes there.

Well my favorite novel is "Great Expectations" so I can't help it 

[tri.ad]

I will wait until I've heard it. Until then, I have a more or less neutral attitude towards the song. I am excited about the JM lyrics, though.

[DarkEternalNight]

When/how did we find out the song lengths?

[wammabe]

When/how did we find out the song lengths?

We calculated them.

[metropofreak]

When/how did we find out the song lengths?

We calculated them.

[Chrissalix]

When/how did we find out the song lengths?

In the press release about the box set.

[Dekost]

Myung wrote the lyrics, so it's gonna be the best DT song since 1999 or something.

[Mladen]

I don't think we can predict anything. He hasn't written any words on his own in 15 years, his approach to writing lyrics might have changed. Maybe they ain't as philosophical and deep as they used to be, they might have gone from Voices to The Count of Tuscany, the way it happened with JP. We might get something different, who can really tell?

[Psy]

BMUBMD
BITS
BTS
BAI

Why so many b's?

And 2 songs have the word break in the name...  To me all the song names seem to be very closely tied together.  The theme seems to be related to falling or sinking.  It starts above the clouds on the backs of angels, gets broken down below the clouds, they land on a bridge in the sky that breaks their fall, their outcry makes them fall further from heaven, they break the illusion of the reflection of water, and sink beneath the surface.

NUGGETZ!

You just blew my fuckin' mind.

[Mbarak]

I don't think we can predict anything...they might have gone from Voices to The Count of Tuscany, the way it happened with JP.

It hurts just thinking of this possibility 

[Guitalguy]

James said in the interview that the reason why JM wrote these lyrics were that he really found the theme of the song interesting, and expressed that he wished to do the lyrics for this one. And I don't think he'd do that if he didn't have anything less than brilliant in mind.

Since he hasn't written any lyrics since Scenes, I'd think that he wants to show everyone that he still has got it, and not write something mediocre, and hope nobody notices. He wouldn't put out something that's not good.

MP said in the LSFNY commentary: "When JM speaks, we listen." Usually that's because JM doesn't say anything unless it's worth saying. A lot of people could learn from that.

[VioletS16]

My speculation: instrumental

[Nic35]

Usually that's because JM doesn't say anything unless it's worth saying.

LOTR reference here ?

[Vajra]

I don't think we can predict anything. He hasn't written any words on his own in 15 years, his approach to writing lyrics might have changed. Maybe they ain't as philosophical and deep as they used to be, they might have gone from Voices to The Count of Tuscany, the way it happened with JP. We might get something different, who can really tell?

That's one of my concerns, that his lyrical approach has suffered from JP syndrome, as in, gone from great to bad. I'm going to remain hopeful though, I have this gut feeling that we're in for something great.

[BlackInk]

^ Me too, much because it seems like the JP syndrome is even starting to let JP hemself go. At least that's the feeling I get from OtBoA.

[Dr. DTVT]

In a dramatic turn of events, these will be his worst lyrics ever and it'll be about magicians.

He co-wrote the song with Icy

[Knguro]

When/how did we find out the song lengths?

We calculated them.

Never laughed so hard at work

[Jamesman42]

In a dramatic turn of events, these will be his worst lyrics ever and it'll be about magicians.

He co-wrote the song with Icy

standing on
the backs
of angels destined
to create mounting the
attack while

heroes carry the
weight

[Guitalguy]

Usually that's because JM doesn't say anything unless it's worth saying.

LOTR reference here ?

YES. 

[pmahoney1337]

I don't think we can predict anything. He hasn't written any words on his own in 15 years, his approach to writing lyrics might have changed. Maybe they ain't as philosophical and deep as they used to be, they might have gone from Voices to The Count of Tuscany, the way it happened with JP. We might get something different, who can really tell?

The difference between Myung and Petrucci is that Petrucci has been continuously writing lyrics since then, his creative thinking was bound to get lost somewhere. If it's been 15 years since Myung has written any of his own words, like you say, then he's gotta have something good cooked up somewhere.

BMUBMD
BITS
BTS
BAI

Why so many b's?

And 2 songs have the word break in the name...  To me all the song names seem to be very closely tied together.  The theme seems to be related to falling or sinking.  It starts above the clouds on the backs of angels, gets broken down below the clouds, they land on a bridge in the sky that breaks their fall, their outcry makes them fall further from heaven, they break the illusion of the reflection of water, and sink beneath the surface.

NUGGETZ!

Very nice observation.

[olliemedsy]

could someone possibly post a link to where they said the track lengths?

[Jamesman42]

Why? It's just what the track lengths are, and it's on wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dramatic_Turn_of_Events#Track_listing

[olliemedsy]

yeah but i want it to be legit. not something that some paedophile could have easily typed up on wiki 

[Jamesman42]

It was legit, Roadrunner posted it.

[Vajra]

yeah but i want it to be legit. not something that some paedophile could have easily typed up on wiki 

Road Runner Records confirmed the track lengths in an article. They are the label DT is under. So everything you see on Wikipidia is legit.