Favorite James LaBrie Lyrics (NEW SELECTIONS ADDED, PLEASE VOTE AGAIN)

[Zyzzyva17]

Same poll as the JMX one, but for the other occasional DT lyricist.

[The Letter M]

"Disappear", from my fave DT album, and one of my favorite tracks of theirs of all time. JLB's delivery and lyrics are astounding, and it gets me teary-eyed all the time.

-Marc.

[wolfking]

Gotta be Blind Faith.

[Dublagent66]

BF easily.

[The Letter M]

Also, the poll is missing "Speak To Me" (which is highly underrated) and "The Way It Used To Be".

-Marc.

[CharlesPL]

The Way it Used to Be, Speak to Me?

[JiM-Xtreme]

Blind Faith by a huge margin.

[TheCountOfNYC]

I went with Vacant. It may have the least amount of words, but he says so much in that song with so little. It's my favorite track on TOT and his lyrics and singing are the sole reason for that. Much like Mike with ACoS, James took a very personal and horrible moment from his life and turned it into an amazing song.

[The Letter M]

The Way it Used to Be, Speak to Me?

https://www.discogs.com/Dream-Theater-Christmas-CD-1999-Cleaning-Out-The-Closet/release/2898166

-Marc.

[CharlesPL]

The Way it Used to Be, Speak to Me?

https://www.discogs.com/Dream-Theater-Christmas-CD-1999-Cleaning-Out-The-Closet/release/2898166

-Marc.

Lol, i know this song, This was the question, just before you write a post

[TAC]

"Disappear", from my fave DT album, and one of my favorite tracks of theirs of all time. JLB's delivery and lyrics are astounding, and it gets me teary-eyed all the time.

It's incredible. One of Dream Theater's greatest moments. Way undervalued in their catalog. Would love to see them bring this out on the next tour a la Space Dye Vest.

[TheGreatPretender]

I voted for Disappear, but really, I think that The Way It Used To Be and Speak To Me should be on the list as well. And even Caught in a Web for being a partial JLB lyric. Especially if we cound BAI as a partial JM lyric.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Disappear.

[the_silent_man]

I hope labrie contributes at least 1 song (of reasonable length) on the next album. In the last 7 years, his lyrical contribution has been one 3.5 min song...

Anyway, Sacrificed Sons for me. Great, dark concept, seems really underrated to me

[wolfking]

I hope labrie contributes at least 1 song (of reasonable length) on the next album. In the last 7 years, his lyrical contribution has been one 3.5 min song...

That's just mainly due to his solo work taking priority in the lyric department.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Blind Faith has the best JLB written lyrics in my opinion.


But the ones that have the most emotional impact in me are in Vacant.

[TheGreatPretender]

I hope labrie contributes at least 1 song (of reasonable length) on the next album. In the last 7 years, his lyrical contribution has been one 3.5 min song...

Anyway, Sacrificed Sons for me. Great, dark concept, seems really underrated to me

Holy crap. I can't believe it's been 7 years since Systematic Chaos... That's depressing.

[BlobVanDam]

Tough call for me between Blind Faith, Disappear and Vacant.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Caught in a Web?

[Zydar]

Disappear

[RaiseTheKnife]

I voted for Disappear, but really, I think that The Way It Used To Be and Speak To Me should be on the list as well. And even Caught in a Web for being a partial JLB lyric. Especially if we cound BAI as a partial JM lyric.

Agreed.  Also, based on the thread title shouldn't his solo stuff be listed as well.  I mean, they are JLB lyrics.

[BlobVanDam]

This is the DT section, so it makes sense to stick to just DT, as that's what we can assume everyone will know.
It's bad enough we're starting to include Majesty stuff, it's just wasting poll space.

[Mladen]

Disappear, beautiful lyrics to the saddest song I've ever heard.

[wolfking]

I voted for Disappear, but really, I think that The Way It Used To Be and Speak To Me should be on the list as well. And even Caught in a Web for being a partial JLB lyric. Especially if we cound BAI as a partial JM lyric.

Agreed.  Also, based on the thread title shouldn't his solo stuff be listed as well.  I mean, they are JLB lyrics.

No.  Did anyone actually expect his solo songs to be listed here?

[sylvinception]

"Disappear" lyrics are awesome, of course.

I'm the only one who voted for "Anna Lee", because:
1 - I knew I would be the only one to vote for this song 
2 - I just love this ballad...

[The Stray Seed]

"Isn't it time we care? And lose the hate... understand our fears" has been in my sig in all forums for years.

[hefdaddy42]

Gotta be Blind Faith.

[TheGreatPretender]

No.  Did anyone actually expect his solo songs to be listed here?

I'm pretty pedantic, but even I understood that "Favorite JLB Lyric" in this case referred specifically to "in Dream Theater". But that does still include The Way It Used To Be and Speak To Me, so those should be in the poll.

[mikeyd23]

Blind Faith all the way, its one of my favorite DT tunes and the lyrics are great.  Vacant and Disappear are both great as well though.

[BlackInk]

Probably Disappear. It's not the best track on the list, but it has the best lyrics. Very touching, especially by the end.

[wolfking]

No.  Did anyone actually expect his solo songs to be listed here?

I'm pretty pedantic, but even I understood that "Favorite JLB Lyric" in this case referred specifically to "in Dream Theater". But that does still include The Way It Used To Be and Speak To Me, so those should be in the poll.

Agree with all of this.

[Rodni Demental]

I'm gonna have to be that guy that says Prophets of War. It needs some love. Think what you will of the song but, but the lyrics are spot on. I don't think anyone had a problem with the content so much as the presentation of the song but I could be wrong.

[Madman Shepherd]

I really love the song Anna Lee.  When I got into Dream Theater around the year 2000, I had trouble getting into a lot of the music due to its complexity.  I always loved simple heavy metal. 

The softer songs on FII really helped bridge the gap between the heavy riffs I loved and the long technical tangents.  When I started to examine the songs more I found out that Anna Lee was about child prostitution and I had just seen a gut wrenching documentary about an undercover investigation/rescue mission from Cambodia (I think).  It actually gave me nightmares (and I dont really have a lot of nightmares if i see something disturbing). 

The lyrics, "She keeps holding on, holding on to you" remind me of when they finally rescued this child and she was hysterically crying, wanting to go back to the strangers that abused her as she held on to the person rescuing her because she didn't know any different. 

Powerful stuff. 


But anyway, I chose Blind Faith because that song kicks more ass than any other Dream Theater song 

[TheGreatPretender]

Anna Lee is very underrated. It wasn't until I did it at Karaoke that I realized not only how beautiful the song is, but just how much fun it is to sing.

[RaiseTheKnife]

I'm just being pedantic, but if we are truly looking at the value of the lyric, shouldn't it be regardless of who performed the music?   If I were an author I would feel slighted if half of my creative body of work were dismissed because it was released via a different band, publisher or other means.  Are his solo lyrics no less valid or valuable as a form of written expression than those he wrote for DT? 

But yeah, I get it.  This is a DT forum, and you folks just want to focus on the DT related things you know about.

I'm looking at it from an artists perspective and pointing out that this poll is an incomplete evaluation of JLB's creative output.  But you already know that.  Same could be said for the KM poll (for those of you who appreciate his Chroma Key and other lyrics). 

I guess I'm just a formalist and like to broaden the paradigm wherever possible.  Even with informal polls.