Which DT songs are most dear to you? What are your top 5 favorite?

[Tyrannosaurus Chicken]

As in, what songs resonate with me the most on an emotional level?

Off the top of my head...

Octavarium
This is the Life
Disappear
A Change of Seasons
Take Away My Pain

Love seeing Take Away My Pain on there!

[KevShmev]

Voices
Scarred
Learning to Live
Space Dye Vest
Peruvian Skies

Metropolis used to be top 5 for me, but I bumped it for Peruvian Skies, which has always been a favorite and is even more of one now.  It seems a bit strange for me to have nothing from Scenes in there, but I am pretty sure if we expanded this to 20, Scenes would have 4-5 songs in the 6-20 spots for me.

[lightningbolt]

I consider them the same. Aren't they your favorites because they're most dear?

I see your point, but I took it to be regarding those songs that have some type of special meaning to me and listed based on that notion.  Some of those I listed are amongst my favorites, but not all.  For example, my favorite DT song is Metropolis (well, it is tied with Trial of Tears).  However, I wouldn't call it particularly meaningful to me aside from being a kickass tune.  On the other hand, Wither has special meaning to me because it describes writer's block so well, but isn't one of my top tier favorites DT songs.  I like it, but it is down the list a bit.

Come to think of it, Vacant has recently acquired special meaning (has become dear) to me.  My then 2-year old daughter had a febrile seizure a few months back.  Of course, I had no clue what was going on when it happened and had never heard of a febrile seizure.  Fortunately, it appears to be a one off and nothing serious.  It was scary as hell at the time and I can now very much relate to James' lyrics in that song. 

My straight up favorites at the moment:

1a.  Metropolis, Pt. 1: the Miracle and the Sleeper
1b.  Trial of Tears
3.   Home
4.   Octavarium
5.  The Spirit Carries On

[NoFred]

My top five from the most recent top 100:
5 The Glass Prison
4 Strange Deja Vu
3 Learning To Live
2 Beyond This Life
1 In the Name of God

LTL is an amazing song, easily the best of these five. Also the one that showed me a song can be longer than ten minutes (never forget your first) but for dear/favorite? ITNOG is so much fun

[Bentower]

Lines in the Sand
Learning to Live
Space-Dye Vest
Surrounded
Voices

Sorry Scarred, had to bump you in favour of LitS after all.

[pg1067]

I consider them the same. Aren't they your favorites because they're most dear?

Yeah...if there's a difference, I don't know what it is.

[Dream Team]

ACOS
Metropolis
Under a Glass Moon
Breaking all Illusions
Only a Matter of Time

The question should be reworded as: which songs do you think are their best as opposed to which would you rather listen to; keeping in mind you're not always in the mood for a 20 minute song.

[Tyrannosaurus Chicken]

ACOS
Metropolis
Under a Glass Moon
Breaking all Illusions
Only a Matter of Time

The question should be reworded as: which songs do you think are their best as opposed to which would you rather listen to; keeping in mind you're not always in the mood for a 20 minute song.

To be fair, in my original post, I didn't ask "which would you rather listen to". I asked which are most dear to you, as in, emotionally. You've got a good list, though 

[Ben_Jamin]

Scarred
The Bigger Picture
This Is The Life
Stream of Consciousness
Begin Again

Other than two songs, these are not my top 5 favorite songs.

Stream of Consciousness is on this list because it is the song that really got me into the band through the L@B DVD I borrowed from my Uncle. This holds a significant meaning to my branching out into the myriad of music genres, and discovering that my Uncle enjoyed a lot of progressive bands. He was a drummer and played many different genres of music with bands and has played lots of local live shows.

[Tyrannosaurus Chicken]

It didn't make my top 5 list, but another one that's really special for me is Speak to Me.

[Revenge319]

It didn't make my top 5 list, but another one that's really special for me is Speak to Me.

Well, I guess you could say Speak To Me is a song that... no, that one's too easy, even for my standards.

[Stadler]

Well, I guess you could say Speak To Me is a song that... no, that one's too easy, even for my standards.

Stand in your truth! 

[Tyrannosaurus Chicken]

It's a very sentimental song for me; it speaks to me haha.

[lovethedrake]

Metropolis Pt 1
Learning to Live
Change of Seasons
Fatal Tragedy
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

[Revenge319]

1. A Change of Seasons
2. Octavarium
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Voices
5. The Count of Tuscany

As for other songs that are dear to me, Metropolis Part 1 was my first ever Dream Theater song, and was the gateway to many songs and artists I listen to today. The Glass Prison, The Silent Man, and Constant Motion all have lyrics that resonate with me on a personal level (Constant Motion was also one of the first DT songs I heard).

[TheCountOfNYC]

I consider them the same. Aren't they your favorites because they're most dear?

For me, there is a difference. For example, while Panic Attack is no longer in my top 5 overall, it's the first song I ever heard by them, so it holds more emotional value to me than other songs that I rank higher than it in my overall ranking.

[Tyrannosaurus Chicken]

For me, there is a difference. For example, while Panic Attack is no longer in my top 5 overall, it's the first song I ever heard by them, so it holds more emotional value to me than other songs that I rank higher than it in my overall ranking.

Panic attack resonates with me as I actually get them from time to time. Come to think of it, they've written a lot about medical conditions and mental health, haven't they? I have PTSD, and that's what The Enemy Inside is about.

Funnily enough, it was the lyrics to that one that eventually made me appreciate the song. Musically, I wasn't that into it at the time, when it came out. After an album like A Dramatic Turn of Events, I was like...what the fuck is this? But the lyrics won me over. I've even come to appreciate the keyboard Toy Story breakdown, too.

And then there's the title track off Six Degrees and Octavarium. They've written some very relatable lyrics over the years.

[nick_z]

Going with:

1. Learning to Live
2. A Change of Seasons
3. Take the Time
4. Metropolis Pt.1
5. Space Dye Vest

[Jamesman42]

Misunderstood and Solitary Shell are also dear to me. DT are not the band I usually go to to deal with emotions, but these two songs speak to me (stand in my truth!) about how I feel at times.

[Cool Chris]

The only 2 DT songs that are dear to me are:

Pull Me Under. Just by virtue of it being the first song of theirs I'd heard, and opening up a whole new world of music to me.

Beneath the Surface. It assured me the DT I knew and loved was still full speed ahead after MP's departure, and I would sing this song to my daughter at night, as it came out a little after she was born, and babies don't care what they are listening to as long as it is nice and soothing.

[Stadler]

Emotional value? 

- This Is The Life
- The Best Of Times

I don't mean this to be a dig or a criticism, but as much as I love Dream Theater - and I do - it's not really a "chronicle the times of my life" type band for me. That's Genesis, Kiss, Asia... that's really a function of age/time, because I got into them a lot earlier.

[Tyrannosaurus Chicken]

Emotional value? 

- This Is The Life
- The Best Of Times

I don't mean this to be a dig or a criticism, but as much as I love Dream Theater - and I do - it's not really a "chronicle the times of my life" type band for me. That's Genesis, Kiss, Asia... that's really a function of age/time, because I got into them a lot earlier.

I can relate to that.