Dream Theater Share-a-thon, Day 1: "These Walls"

Introducing...

The Dream Theater Share-a-thon!

Day 1: "These Walls", Track 3 on "Octavarium"

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 song that they have recorded in-studio. There are many good reasons to do this, but you can probably guess most of them 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.

****************************

"These Walls" is track number 3 on Dream Theater's 2005 album Octavarium.

Tempo - moderate with periods of significant fill within that tempo
Length - 7:30
Intro - grindy ambiance
Texture - verses fairly homophonic, chorus polyphonic
Features - clean-sounding keyboard, variant percussion, soulful guitar solo

Lyrics:

This is so hard for me
To find the words to say
My thoughts are standing still

Captive inside of me
All emotions start to hide
And nothing's getting through

Watch me,
Fading
I'm losing
All my instincts,
falling into darkness

Tear down these walls for me
Stop me from going under
You are the only one who knows
I'm holding back

It's not too late for me,
To keep from sinking further
(I'm trying to find my way out,
Tear down these walls for me now)

So much uncertainty
I don't like this feeling
I'm sinking like a stone

Each time I try to speak
There's a voice I'm hearing
And it changes everything

Watch me,
Crawl from
The wreckage
Of my silence
Conversation
Failing

Tear down these walls for me
Stop me from going under
You are the only one who knows
I'm holding back

It's not too late for me,
To keep from sinking further
(I'm trying to find my way out,
Take down these walls)

Everytime you choose to turn away
Is it worth the price you pay?
Is there someone who will wait for you
One more time? [x2]

Watch me,
Fading
I'm losing
All my instincts,
Falling into darkness

Tear down these walls for me
Stop me from going under
You are the only one who knows
I'm holding back

It's not too late for me,
To keep from sinking further
(I'm trying to find my way out,
Tear down these walls for me now)

Tear down these walls for me
It's not too late for me
Tear down these walls for me

************************

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).

Octavarium's lineup: The Johns, Portnoy, James LaBrie - vocals, Jordan Rudess - keyboards, continuum fingerboard, etc.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy!

Yours in harmony, Michael

~In loving memory of Tim~