"Another Day", Track 2 on "Images & Words"
I will be posting a link to a song/piece by my favorite band, Dream Theater, hopefully every day until we have successfully enjoyed every original song that they have recorded in-studio. There are many good reasons to do this, but you can probably guess most of the ones that I'm thinking.
No adieu.
We're just gonna do it.
I'm going to try to help you know what to expect a little bit without influencing the way that you experience the song. At least in the initial write-up, I won't tell you what I think the best or my favorite parts are. I want you to have the chance to enjoy the music on your own without any spoilers, just as I did.
I will also tell you that some of the things that Dream Theater does may be quite different than much of the music that you have listened to before. Sometimes it may be so new that it makes you a bit uneasy or just doesn't connect to you at all. If that happens, I encourage you to listen to it a few times, perhaps in different ways... once in the background while you do dishes, once with your eyes closed and your full attention, once hanging upside down like a bat. You get the idea.
You may even want to come back to it later for another listen.
I believe that, if you go on this journey with me, you will find more than a few songs that you enjoy. My mom saw Dream Theater live in K.C. and really enjoyed them, and she usually listens to NPR which I don't think gets to rock and roll that much. Dream Theater truly has something for everyone. Not everything they do may be your thing, but some of it may change your life for the better the way that it did mine.
****************************"Another Day", Images & Words album, track 2
Tempo - quick walk
Length - 4:24
Intro - slow instrumental, vocal ambiance
Texture - super-polyphonic - keyboards sliding around, guitar flitting about then soloing, drums chilling purposefully
Features - guest-artist saxophone soloist, soaring vocals
Lyrics:
Live another day
Climb a little higher
Find another reason to stay
Ashes in your hands
Mercy in your eyes
If you're searching for a silent sky
You won't find it here
Look another way
You won't find it here
So die another day
The coldness of his words
The message in his silence
"Face the candle to the wind"
The distance in my voice
Isn't leaving you a choice
So if you're looking for a time to run away
You won't find it here
Look another way
You won't find it here
So try another day
They took pictures of our dreams
Ran to hide behind the stairs
And said maybe when it's right for you, they'll fall
But if they don't come down
Resist the need to pull them in
And throw them away
Better to save the mystery
Than surrender to the secret
No!
You won't find it here
Look another way
You won't find it here
So try another day
************************
Dream Theater formed at Berklee in 1985. The original 3 members were John Petrucci (guitar) and John Myung (bass), friends from Long Island, and Mike Portnoy (percussion) whom the Johns heard in a practice room and said, "we gotta get that guy". (Something along those lines). Canadian James LaBrie became the vocalist for this album.
Images & Words lineup:
The Johns
Portnoy
LaBrie - vocals,
Kevin Moore - keyboard
Thank you for reading, and enjoy!
Yours in harmony,
Michael
P.S. Personal narrative...
As a vocalist, this remains one of my favorite Dream Theater songs to sing.
In a fortunate confluence of circumstances, I joined choir in high school the same year that I took physics. The choir director prompted us male singers to start employing our falsetto, especially for warming up.
My physics teacher played several songs from the Train of Thought album during quizzes and work time. James sings, quite often, way higher than I was/am capable of singing in my modal voice.
So I started using my falsetto. A lot. And, for me, this song, especially, requires consistent use of my falsetto.
And it's damn fun.
~In loving memory of Tim~
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