JMX lyrics confirmed!

[Demolition]

I am a long time DT fan but fairly new to the board (discovered it when the drummer search started) so I don't know a lot of the background of the inner workings of the band.  I've seen on numerous posts reference to how lyrics had to be submitted under a certain process.  Can someone give me a little background on that?  When did it start, why did they think that was best, who was the driving force behind it?  Thanks.

[IdoSC]

I am a long time DT fan but fairly new to the board (discovered it when the drummer search started) so I don't know a lot of the background of the inner workings of the band.  I've seen on numerous posts reference to how lyrics had to be submitted under a certain process.  Can someone give me a little background on that?  When did it start, why did they think that was best, who was the driving force behind it?  Thanks.

I might get some things wrong there, but;

Since the band jams and gets the music first, and write lyrics separately, they started following a rule around the SFAM era or a bit after it, which iirc said you either have to fit your lyrics to the compositions or they won't be used. I believe, again, the driving force was Portnoy though sounds nobody in the band objected if they actually followed it for years.

I might be completely wrong.

[gmillerdrake]

This is indeed fantastic news and is just one more reason on top of twenty other reasons I so desire to have this album immediately.
But, is it possible that those of us who absolutely LOVE JM's lyrics, in the absence of his lyrical contribution, have built them/him up to such a 'mythical' level that there is no way he can possibly quench or satisfy our expectations?
  Or, does he give us a host of songs that declare once and for all that he is in fact a lyrical master...worthy of the praise and worship that has developed over the past 12 years?

[Aniland]

Yes, I think our mythic idealizations are going to come down on us hard.

[ReaPsTA]

I don't expect his lyrics to be super duper great or amazing.  You get rusty after ten years.

But I'd like to think he didn't just magically loose his talent and ability either.  If they aren't at least very good I'd be disappointed.

[Aniland]

You get rusty after ten years.

LOL I'll say... it's weird to know that the man who wrote "Under a Glass Moon" wrote "THE SOLDIERS IN THE WINE"

[antigoon]

I mean, to be fair, UAGM is pretty incomprehensible.

[Aniland]

Yeah but at least the imagery is really something else. "Nervous flashlights scan my dreams / Liquid shadows silence their screams / I smile at the moon chasing water from the sky / I argue with the clouds stealing beauty from my eyes" is way more intriguing then "Let me introduce my brother / A bearded gentleman / Historian"

[Orbert]

I thought the band has stated that "Under a Glass Moon" was intentionally supposed to be pretty WTF, both musically and lyrically.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

I came

[bosk1]

I saw.  I conquered.

[unklejman]

I thought the band has stated that "Under a Glass Moon" was intentionally supposed to be pretty WTF, both musically and lyrically.

I always pictured UAGM as the thoughts of some one falling in and out of sleep in a car on the side of the road on a rainy night. Hm.

Nervous flashlights = headlights going by

Liquid shadows = shadows created from drizzling rain on the windows.

Etc....

Strange interpretation I know.   

[Mladen]

I thought the band has stated that "Under a Glass Moon" was intentionally supposed to be pretty WTF, both musically and lyrically.

I guess that's why the song is so incredible. 

[Implode]

I feel that JP's lyrics went from beautiful yet baffling fantasy nonsense to rhythmic and realistic accounts of life.

[orcus116]

Which are told using the most boring descriptors and phrasing possible.

[Flacracker]

Why was JM barred from writing lyrics?

[Adami]

Why was JM barred from writing lyrics?

He wasn't.

[hefdaddy42]

I feel that JP's lyrics went from beautiful yet baffling fantasy nonsense to rhythmic and realistic accounts of life.

That's just the stage from Systematic Chaos to Black Clouds.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Tuscany's lyrics may be silly, but man...the phrasing and the melodies are brilliant.

[Implode]

I feel that JP's lyrics went from beautiful yet baffling fantasy nonsense to rhythmic and realistic accounts of life.

That's just the stage from Systematic Chaos to Black Clouds.

True. I was thinking more of WDADU though.

[orcus116]

I feel that JP's lyrics went from beautiful yet baffling fantasy nonsense to rhythmic and realistic accounts of life.

That's just the stage from Systematic Chaos to Black Clouds.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

You get rusty after ten years.

LOL I'll say... it's weird to know that the man who wrote "Under a Glass Moon" wrote "THE SOLDIERS IN THE WINE"

To be honest, those are my favourite lines in that song. The ones before the MP vocals I mean. I thought they were pretty cool and creepy when I heard them.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

The best way I can put my feelings about Petrucci's lyrics these days is that they aren't as... Creative.

[Ben_Jamin]

@LLTWM: When the MP vocals come in, it turns me off a little. It just sounds funny.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

@LLTWM: When the MP vocals come in, it turns me off a little. It just sounds funny.

Yeah my thoughts. But prior to that is cool.

[Knguro]

I thought the band has stated that "Under a Glass Moon" was intentionally supposed to be pretty WTF, both musically and lyrically.

I like those WTF songs!!! of course in a very good WTF non-sense! 

[Ħ]

ITT: People think that nonsensical = creative

[Orbert]

It actually takes creativity to put together phrases which sound cool when spoken or sung, but which do not make literal sense upon closer inspection.  The music in "Glass Moon" is similar; a lot of crazy stuff going on that doesn't really follow a form or build up to anything, but sounds cool anyway.

[FretMuppet]

The best way I can put my feelings about Petrucci's lyrics these days is that they aren't as... Creative.

Or should we say, they're not as abstract...

[ariich]

It actually takes creativity to put together phrases which sound cool when spoken or sung, but which do not make literal sense upon closer inspection.  The music in "Glass Moon" is similar; a lot of crazy stuff going on that doesn't really follow a form or build up to anything, but sounds cool anyway.

Thing is, if it sounds cool but sounds nonsensical, that's for some reason vastly preferable to when it sounds cool but is a bit literal/straightforward.

I don't really have a preference either way, I like both, and each to their own I guess. But it's quite funny seeing people trying to explain why one is supposedly so much better than the other.

[ReaPsTA]

@LLTWM: When the MP vocals come in, it turns me off a little. It just sounds funny.

I actually have no idea what this acronym means. o_O

[TheOutlawXanadu]

The best way I can put my feelings about Petrucci's lyrics these days is that they aren't as... Creative.

Or should we say, they're not as abstract...

That can be part of it! But even simple, straightforward stuff can still be creative. These days his stuff is very... Forgettable. Not much that sticks in my head.

[RuRoRul]

Some of it might be pretty stupid (the Bearded Gentlemen verse basically) but The Count Of Tuscany is pretty creative.

Edit: And on thread subject, I am looking forward to this, but John Myung lyrics don't automatically make a good song. Learning To Live and Trial Of Tears are awesome but they'd still have been awesome if Petrucci had written lyrics for them.

[j]

Thing is, if it sounds cool but sounds nonsensical, that's for some reason vastly preferable to when it sounds cool but is a bit literal/straightforward.

Nah, cool-sounding nonsensical lyrics are preferable to uncool literal/straightforward ones.  The argument is that a lot of DT's more blunt, literal lyrics don't even "sound cool".

-J

[Orbert]

I was mostly responding to Ħ's claim that "People think that nonsensical = creative".  Literally throwing together jibberish and hoping it works doesn't take much creativity, but actually making it work does.

The classic prog example is Yes lyrics, especially in the 70's, which sound really cool and rhyme and have a great rhythm to them, but make no literal sense.  Jon Anderson claims that they're poetry and he'll explain them to you, but Steve Howe and Chris Squire were also there and they don't know what the hell it means, other than that they were all stoned as hell at the time.

And how do you pronounce Ħ anyway?