WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DREAM THEATER SONG?

[puppyonacid]

Darn

I was really looking forward to more polls

[TheGreatPretender]

You couldn't even do that in a poll, lol. Everyone would just have to write out how all the songs rank for them.

How many of you guys wanna do that? 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

If you were willing to curb it down to top 50 lists, then there's a lot of data already out there. We've discussed using it in years past.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=35386.0

[TheGreatPretender]

Well, if there's a tracker thread, that does make it easier. Maybe I'll analyze the data after all. Although my own list (which was in the original, or 2nd thread) is very out of date, and I imagine the up to date list would be quite different, which is another problem, people's tastes and appreciation for these songs changes with time, so there would still be some inaccuracies.

But it's still probably going to give a better general idea. Maybe I'll just put together a new top 50 for myself, and once that's done, analyze the date from the rest.

[King Postwhore]

What are you analyzing?  The migration of a European Swallow.  And you?  Top 50 favorite Dream Theater songs based of a fan board.

[ToT-147]

The Dance of Eternity..

I've been looking for it, but there's definitely not an emoticon that can express what I feel for this song theme.. This track, this instrumental.. Call it the way you want, for me always will be the best piece of art ever composed.. My blood runs cold every time I hear it.. It makes me smile, brings me peacefulness and strength, and even give pleasure, I must say, every time I hear it.. Yeah, it's almost sexual.. Which actually wouldn't be so far from the meaning of this masterpiece.. Or, as Virgil Donati would say: "the mother of all pieces"...

All THAT I feel for this DT-so-underrated-material, and we're talking about an instrumental here!.. I mean, if a musical work with no lyrics provides (to someone) all this, then for sure it should be (at least for that someone) a very touching work.. And, you can say it (or think) all the times you want it: it doesn't have any "climax" moment or whatever... but, when I said that a DT song must have a lovely or gorgeous moment to get to like ME?.. Never.. I like their technical stuff.. I like their heavy stuff.. I like their prog and experimental part.. Also their light side.. But, either way, I "like" TDoE that much.. "Like", because I know that's not the word.. I love this track.. In fact, let me put it in this other way, to be more precise and even at risk of seeming insane:

I'm in love with The Dance of Eternity...

Well, I'm also 'in love' with DT in general, as I think many of you are, but I just love this piece so much that it's for me the best they have done.. I do feel almost the same for another songs like Metropolis, TCoT, TGP, all Train, 8V the song, Erotomania, TMoLS, but this one in particularly I've always felt like is very unique and special to me.. The meaning on its own it's extraordinary by itself.. The reminiscences of Metropolis are excellent, clever and very appropriate.. The sounding, the changing in the time signatures, the neatness and beauty of it..

I always had the impression that DT themselves also consider this instrumental to be their best (I mean among their instrumentals, not among the whole songs), because of the choice of make it the backbone of Instrumedley, which I easily believe is their best medley.. And that's precisely the other big reason I'm so fascinated with TDoE: the vast majority of the parts I most enjoy from DT songs are the instrumental ones.. (I listen to bands like Planet X, Freakeys, Animals as Leaders, and, of course, LTE; also, I like Haken and Symphony X, e.g., which, as you may know, have a strong singer presence, but anyway are very instrumental prog bands) I consider JLB to be the best singer on earth, but the kind of things the other guys in the band can make with their instruments are just beyond all magnificence.. In fact, IMO the best SONG from them is Metropolis, and mainly because of the instrumental part..

Let me finish with a quote from Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann":

... strains I had never heard before; strains which must have been of [their] own devising. To describe their exact nature is impossible for one unversed in music. They were a kind of fugue, with recurrent passages of the most captivating quality, but to me were notable (...) . Those haunting notes I had remembered, and had often hummed and whistled inaccurately to myself...

[Lucien]

Anyone notice Octavarium now has double the votes of A Change of Seasons? 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

The Dance of Eternity..

I've been looking for it, but there's definitely not an emoticon that can express what I feel for this song theme.. This track, this instrumental.. Call it the way you want, for me always will be the best piece of art ever composed.. My blood runs cold every time I hear it.. It makes me smile, brings me peacefulness and strength, and even give pleasure, I must say, every time I hear it.. Yeah, it's almost sexual.. Which actually wouldn't be so far from the meaning of this masterpiece.. Or, as Virgil Donati would say: "the mother of all pieces"...

All THAT I feel for this DT-so-underrated-material, and we're talking about an instrumental here!.. I mean, if a musical work with no lyrics provides (to someone) all this, then for sure it should be (at least for that someone) a very touching work.. And, you can say it (or think) all the times you want it: it doesn't have any "climax" moment or whatever... but, when I said that a DT song must have a lovely or gorgeous moment to get to like ME?.. Never.. I like their technical stuff.. I like their heavy stuff.. I like their prog and experimental part.. Also their light side.. But, either way, I "like" TDoE that much.. "Like", because I know that's not the word.. I love this track.. In fact, let me put it in this other way, to be more precise and even at risk of seeming insane:

I'm in love with The Dance of Eternity...

Well, I'm also 'in love' with DT in general, as I think many of you are, but I just love this piece so much that it's for me the best they have done.. I do feel almost the same for another songs like Metropolis, TCoT, TGP, all Train, 8V the song, Erotomania, TMoLS, but this one in particularly I've always felt like is very unique and special to me.. The meaning on its own it's extraordinary by itself.. The reminiscences of Metropolis are excellent, clever and very appropriate.. The sounding, the changing in the time signatures, the neatness and beauty of it..

I always had the impression that DT themselves also consider this instrumental to be their best (I mean among their instrumentals, not among the whole songs), because of the choice of make it the backbone of Instrumedley, which I easily believe is their best medley.. And that's precisely the other big reason I'm so fascinated with TDoE: the vast majority of the parts I most enjoy from DT songs are the instrumental ones.. (I listen to bands like Planet X, Freakeys, Animals as Leaders, and, of course, LTE; also, I like Haken and Symphony X, e.g., which, as you may know, have a strong singer presence, but anyway are very instrumental prog bands) I consider JLB to be the best singer on earth, but the kind of things the other guys in the band can make with their instruments are just beyond all magnificence.. In fact, IMO the best SONG from them is Metropolis, and mainly because of the instrumental part..

Let me finish with a quote from Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann":

... strains I had never heard before; strains which must have been of [their] own devising. To describe their exact nature is impossible for one unversed in music. They were a kind of fugue, with recurrent passages of the most captivating quality, but to me were notable (...) . Those haunting notes I had remembered, and had often hummed and whistled inaccurately to myself...

Great post!

[Dublagent66]

Anyone notice Octavarium now has double the votes of A Change of Seasons? 

Yeah, that is pretty laughable.

[Buddyhunter1]

Anyone notice Octavarium now has double the votes of A Change of Seasons? 

I approve of this.

[TheGreatPretender]

The Dance of Eternity..

I've been looking for it, but there's definitely not an emoticon that can express what I feel for this song theme.. This track, this instrumental.. Call it the way you want, for me always will be the best piece of art ever composed.. My blood runs cold every time I hear it.. It makes me smile, brings me peacefulness and strength, and even give pleasure, I must say, every time I hear it.. Yeah, it's almost sexual.. Which actually wouldn't be so far from the meaning of this masterpiece.. Or, as Virgil Donati would say: "the mother of all pieces"...

All THAT I feel for this DT-so-underrated-material, and we're talking about an instrumental here!.. I mean, if a musical work with no lyrics provides (to someone) all this, then for sure it should be (at least for that someone) a very touching work.. And, you can say it (or think) all the times you want it: it doesn't have any "climax" moment or whatever... but, when I said that a DT song must have a lovely or gorgeous moment to get to like ME?.. Never.. I like their technical stuff.. I like their heavy stuff.. I like their prog and experimental part.. Also their light side.. But, either way, I "like" TDoE that much.. "Like", because I know that's not the word.. I love this track.. In fact, let me put it in this other way, to be more precise and even at risk of seeming insane:

I'm in love with The Dance of Eternity...

Well, I'm also 'in love' with DT in general, as I think many of you are, but I just love this piece so much that it's for me the best they have done.. I do feel almost the same for another songs like Metropolis, TCoT, TGP, all Train, 8V the song, Erotomania, TMoLS, but this one in particularly I've always felt like is very unique and special to me.. The meaning on its own it's extraordinary by itself.. The reminiscences of Metropolis are excellent, clever and very appropriate.. The sounding, the changing in the time signatures, the neatness and beauty of it..

I always had the impression that DT themselves also consider this instrumental to be their best (I mean among their instrumentals, not among the whole songs), because of the choice of make it the backbone of Instrumedley, which I easily believe is their best medley.. And that's precisely the other big reason I'm so fascinated with TDoE: the vast majority of the parts I most enjoy from DT songs are the instrumental ones.. (I listen to bands like Planet X, Freakeys, Animals as Leaders, and, of course, LTE; also, I like Haken and Symphony X, e.g., which, as you may know, have a strong singer presence, but anyway are very instrumental prog bands) I consider JLB to be the best singer on earth, but the kind of things the other guys in the band can make with their instruments are just beyond all magnificence.. In fact, IMO the best SONG from them is Metropolis, and mainly because of the instrumental part..

Let me finish with a quote from Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann":

... strains I had never heard before; strains which must have been of [their] own devising. To describe their exact nature is impossible for one unversed in music. They were a kind of fugue, with recurrent passages of the most captivating quality, but to me were notable (...) . Those haunting notes I had remembered, and had often hummed and whistled inaccurately to myself...

Yeah, for me, the only thing that pushes Metropolis ahead of it is James LaBrie. But musically, instrumentally, The Dance of Eternity is an absolute masterpiece! 

[fischermasamune]

The Dance of Eternity..

So you were the second vote!

[fischermasamune]

We should always remember the Arrow Impossibility Theorem when forming rankings. You can't reach a perfect ordering of the songs. By perfect I mean satisfying:

0) 3 or more alternatives (this one has 120)
1) If every voter prefers alternative X over alternative Y, then the group prefers X over Y.
2) If every voter's preference between X and Y remains unchanged, then the group's preference between X and Y will also remain unchanged (even if voters' preferences between other pairs like X and Z, Y and Z, or Z and W change).
3) There is no "dictator": no single voter possesses the power to always determine the group's preference.

And I'm copying it from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow's_impossibility_theorem

[BlobVanDam]

Anyone notice Octavarium now has double the votes of A Change of Seasons? 

Yeah, that is pretty laughable.

How so? It deserves to have twice as many votes.

[Lucien]

Anyone notice Octavarium now has double the votes of A Change of Seasons? 

Yeah, that is pretty laughable.

How so? It deserves to have twice as many votes.

[Dublagent66]

Anyone notice Octavarium now has double the votes of A Change of Seasons? 

Yeah, that is pretty laughable.

How so? It deserves to have twice as many votes.

Why don't you ask Lucien?  I never said it didn't deserve twice as many votes.  I was just agreeing with him. 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Learning to Live

[PixelDream]

Scarred.

And it's a no-brainer these days for me. It's not only as epic as DT usually can get, it's a really weird song too. Harmonically speaking, for DT, this is totally out-there.

The intro and outro are really special, and the solos are out of this world. In fact, it's my favorite JP solo. Have I mentioned JLB's second verse already? Good lord.

Awake fanboy here though. For me it's their best record by far. I've always liked it, but it has taken me years to feel this way about it. And for some reason, the intrigue just never ends.

[lucky7]

Hell's Kitchen....too hard, so many choices...just went with one I love a lot!

[ToT-147]

The Dance of Eternity..

I've been looking for it, but there's definitely not an emoticon that can express what I feel for this song theme.. This track, this instrumental.. Call it the way you want, for me always will be the best piece of art ever composed.. My blood runs cold every time I hear it.. It makes me smile, brings me peacefulness and strength, and even give pleasure, I must say, every time I hear it.. Yeah, it's almost sexual.. Which actually wouldn't be so far from the meaning of this masterpiece.. Or, as Virgil Donati would say: "the mother of all pieces"...

All THAT I feel for this DT-so-underrated-material, and we're talking about an instrumental here!.. I mean, if a musical work with no lyrics provides (to someone) all this, then for sure it should be (at least for that someone) a very touching work.. And, you can say it (or think) all the times you want it: it doesn't have any "climax" moment or whatever... but, when I said that a DT song must have a lovely or gorgeous moment to get to like ME?.. Never.. I like their technical stuff.. I like their heavy stuff.. I like their prog and experimental part.. Also their light side.. But, either way, I "like" TDoE that much.. "Like", because I know that's not the word.. I love this track.. In fact, let me put it in this other way, to be more precise and even at risk of seeming insane:

I'm in love with The Dance of Eternity...

Well, I'm also 'in love' with DT in general, as I think many of you are, but I just love this piece so much that it's for me the best they have done.. I do feel almost the same for another songs like Metropolis, TCoT, TGP, all Train, 8V the song, Erotomania, TMoLS, but this one in particularly I've always felt like is very unique and special to me.. The meaning on its own it's extraordinary by itself.. The reminiscences of Metropolis are excellent, clever and very appropriate.. The sounding, the changing in the time signatures, the neatness and beauty of it..

I always had the impression that DT themselves also consider this instrumental to be their best (I mean among their instrumentals, not among the whole songs), because of the choice of make it the backbone of Instrumedley, which I easily believe is their best medley.. And that's precisely the other big reason I'm so fascinated with TDoE: the vast majority of the parts I most enjoy from DT songs are the instrumental ones.. (I listen to bands like Planet X, Freakeys, Animals as Leaders, and, of course, LTE; also, I like Haken and Symphony X, e.g., which, as you may know, have a strong singer presence, but anyway are very instrumental prog bands) I consider JLB to be the best singer on earth, but the kind of things the other guys in the band can make with their instruments are just beyond all magnificence.. In fact, IMO the best SONG from them is Metropolis, and mainly because of the instrumental part..

Let me finish with a quote from Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann":

... strains I had never heard before; strains which must have been of [their] own devising. To describe their exact nature is impossible for one unversed in music. They were a kind of fugue, with recurrent passages of the most captivating quality, but to me were notable (...) . Those haunting notes I had remembered, and had often hummed and whistled inaccurately to myself...

Great post!

Thanks!.. 

The Dance of Eternity..

So you were the second vote!

So YOU were the first vote!!.. 

[SupermanJLU]

A Change of Seasons

The first DT song still my favorite DT song

"Seize the day
And don't you cry
Now it's time
To say good-bye
Even though
I'll be gone
I will live on
Live on"

I get chills just reading these lyrics

[adamack]

My Top 4:

Finally Free
Octavarium
Home
Breaking All Illusions

These are all tied at the #1 spot for me, but I chose Finally Free for the poll.

The reason is simple. Finally Free is, along with Home, the oldest song of the bunch. Yet it still remains a song I listen to and love.

So, although Octavarium and BAI both have a CHANCE at being as timeless, Finally Free has already PROVEN that it is timeless. Home is a song I do not listen to quite as much as the others, so I chose FF over it.

Home belongs up there though, because it got me into DT.

So, Finally Free it is!