Length - 4:04
Tempo - slightly slow walk
Intro - classical grand piano sound
Texture - gentle layering
Features - piano, soulful guitar solo, yearning vocal sound
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Dream Theater formed at Berklee in 1985. The original three 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).
""Distance Over Time" lineup:
Petrucci - guitars
Myung - bass
Jordan Rudess - keyboards
James LaBrie - Vocals
Mike Mangini - drums
Lyrics for "Out of Reach":
There's something about this girl
Some kind of magic
I swear she cast a spell on me
Not the first time
Might be the last
Can't let this moment slip away
Try to find the words
None sit right with me
Air of confidence
But I can barely breathe
She's without a care
Electrified and held there
A thousand volts igniting me
Her waves crash over me
Far below, out of reach
The undertow, my reverie
Sadness in her smile
Love, it's been a while
Near but far away
She chases it each day
A promise to come back
All the while still waiting
Seems it lost its way
Out of reach
Just too hard to reach
You're letting your life slip away
Out of reach
Yeah, it's hard to reach
There's another day
Although you're hurting and afraid
You're stronger than yesterday
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SPOILERS AND SUBJECTIVITY BELOW: YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THIS AFTER LISTENING
Words to describe this song: supportive, cathartic, therapeutic
Imbibery tip: Dark room. Headphones. Gently and slightly firmly press your hands against your temples, your fingers into your scalp. If you're like me, you may feel things you've been holding in trying to get out through your pores. It's up to you whether you let them. This is another one of those Dream Theater songs that doesn't come and get you (a contrast to the weekend edition). This song may be the medicine man, and he's not doing house calls today.
Stream-of-consciousness thoughts as I listen to "Out of Reach":
This song is a walk outside in overcast jacket weather. It's close to this dog's expression.
Funny story, James LaBrie recorded a song called "Slightly Out of Reach" for one of his solo albums. (Which I have only heard becomes someone leaked his solo album right about the time that DT's album "Octavarium" came out. And there are several songs on there that I just love to wail away with.) Mike Mangini played the drums on that album, too, about a half-decade before he joined Dream Theater. Anyway, "Slightly Out of Reach" has a somewhat similar feel. It has a long guitar section that is to live for.
Something cool about this song is that it makes you wait and wait for the chorus which also serves as the climax. This is one of the shortest songs DT has ever recorded. My lovely music-degree education wants me to call this song "through-composed". It may not be through-composed in the strictest sense as there are tiny pieces that repeat (the intro kinda comes back at the close like Harry's first snitch), but it's pretty darn close. This song balances nicely a feeling of being complete with leaving you wanting juuuust a bit more. But, it's 2019 and we have recordings and easy scrolling through a song, so if you want to sing the chorus again, just slide back in the song or repeat the whole dang thing. Magic!
I haven't decided for sure as I've only listened to this song about 20 times (no irony intended), but I feel like this song pretty nearly describes my relationship with traveling, especially when there are places you're not allowed to go because they are on private property. The picture below is some super cool-looking rocks that I wanted to ascend. But there is a fence. They called me, but I could not answer.
I include this next image for scale.
Thank you for reading, and enjoy!
Michael
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What is the "Dream Theater Share-a-thon"?
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. 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.
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~In loving memory of Tim~
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