RE: ITPOE as One song or Two - I'll sound off and say that I agree with the fact (yes, fact, as has been stated by the piece's creators) that "In The Presence Of Enemies" is indeed ONE song, but it is also two TRACKS.
There's a difference between Songs and Tracks. Songs =/= Tracks, especially in the world of prog. "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" is 8 tracks, but it is also 1 song. There's also a difference between Suites and Songs. One Suite =/= One Song. "A Mind Beside Itself" is known as a suite, but it is not one song (especially as the pieces that make it up were all composed at separate times). The same goes for "The Twelve-Step Suite", which features 5 songs (with 2-3 movements each), composed at 5 different times over the course of a decade.
Had "A Change Of Seasons" been released as 7 tracks, would we all be arguing over whether or not it's one song or seven?! Most people would accept it as one song, but there'd be others who'd accept it as 7, but it was all composed at once, released at once, and intended as a whole piece, so therefore, it'd still be ONE song, just a longer epic piece split into 7 tracks.
Similar to the title track to SDOIT, ITPOE is split to facilitate the format. The 42-minute epic SDOIT was split because MP (and possibly the rest of the band) felt that the novelty of seeing the CD timer (because this was before iPod's and MP3 players) would wear off after awhile, so tracking the song into 8 separate tracks made it easier for fans to jump to specific parts if they wanted to.
While it was for a different reason, ITPOE was split to facilitate the album, to both open AND close the album (as has been previously said numerous times in this thread). Had the individual movements also been tracked into separate tracks, would we be arguing over whether or not it was 6 songs or one?
Needless to say, I'll always hold band-intent above any other opinion, considering they wrote it.
TL:DR - ITPOE is one song, but still 2 tracks; SDOIT is still one song, but also 8 tracks; AMBI is NOT a song, but a suite made of 3 tracks, which are also 3 songs; TTSS is 5 tracks, 5 songs, but 1 suite.
Then again, don't get me started on SFAM, whose back cover lists 9 track times for its 9 scenes, but lists 12 tracks for the individual tracks on the album. Do the Scenes count as songs? Is "Through My Words" really a song, or just part of one? These questions and more on the next DTF-Debate...
-Marc.