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1. The Glass Prison
[music by Myung, Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess]
[lyrics by Mike Portnoy]
[I. REFLECTION]
Cunning, Baffling, Powerful
Been beaten to a pulp
Vigorous, Irresistable
Sick and tired and laid low
Dominating, Invincible
Black-out, loss of control
Overwhelming, Unquenchable
I’m powerless, have to let go
I can’t escape it
It leaves me frail and worn
Can no longer take it
Senses tattered and torn
Hopeless surrender
Obsession’s got me beat
Losing the will to live
Admitting complete defeat
Fatal Descent
Spinning around
I’ve gone too far
To turn back round
Desperate attempt
Stop the progression
At any length
Lift this obsession
Crawling to my glass prison
A place where no one knows
My secret lonely world begins
So much safer here
A place where I can go
To forget about my daily sins
Life here in my glass prison
A place I once called home
Fall in nocturnal bliss again
Chasing a long lost friend
I no longer can control
Just waiting for this hopelessness to end
[II. RESTORATION]
Run – fast from the wreckage of the past
A shattered glass prison wall behind me
Fight – past walking through the ashes
A distant oasis before me
Cry – desperate crawling on my knees
Begging God to please stop the insanity
Help me – I’m trying to believe
Stop wallowing in my own self pity
“We’ve been waiting for you my friend
The writing’s been on the wall
All it takes is a little faith
You know you’re the same as us all”
Help me – I can’t break out this prison all alone
Save me – I’m drowning and I’m hopeless on my own
Heal me – I can’t restore my sanity alone
Enter the door
Desperate
Fighting no more
Help me restore
To my sanity
At this temple of hope
I need to learn
Teach me how
Sorrow to burn
Help me return
To humanity
I’ll be fearless and thorough
To enter this temple of hope
Believe
Transcend the pain
Living the life
Humility
Opened my eyes
This new odyssey
Of rigorous honesty
Serenity
I never knew
Soundness of mind
Helped me to find
Courage to change
All the things that I can
“We’ll help you perform this miracle
But you must set your past free
You dug the hole, but you can’t bury your sole
Open your mind and you’ll see”
Help me – I can’t break out this prison all alone
Save me – I’m drowning and I’m hopeless on my own
Heal me – I can’t restore my sanity alone
[III. REVELATION]
Way off in the distance I saw a door
I tried to open
I tried forcing with all of my will and still
The door wouldn’t open
[replaced with “but” in this line]
Unable to trust in my faith
I turned and walked away
I looked around, felt a chill in the air
Took my will and turned it over
The glass prison which once held me is now gone
[“now” is not heard in this line]
A long lost fortress
Armed only with liberty
And the key of my willingness
Fell down on my knees and prayed
“Thy will be done”
I turned around, saw a light shining through
The door was wide open
2. Blind Faith
[music by Myung, Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess]
[lyrics by James LaBrie]
Hear me, speaking
Asking why I even bother
Tell me, how you
Live from day to day
Take your time and look around
Is this utopia you’ve found
Sick of all of this
The suffering and we just carry on
Isn’t it time we care and lose the hate
Understand our fears
But we do all that we can
Justify the means to an end
Sorry you must excuse me
I’ve painted my own Mona Lisa
She’s fixed everything
Now I’m spoiled beyond my wildest dreams
Blind Faith we have in you
Invisible
Which direction do we choose
Predictable
Take the streets, the beaten path
Our system works for whom I ask
Yeah I have it all
The bigger house
An iron fence to keep you out
When did we all let you down
So come Messiah show us how how
Our human spirit drowns
Don’t think you hear me now
No sign of you around
What is it you hope to see
Blind Faith we have in you
Invisible
Which direction do we choose
Predictable
Give us something we can use
Desirable
Cause you’ve done all you can do
Regrettable
And still life pushes on
With or without you
We’ve got to carry on
Our will, will guide us to
A place where we belong
Know there lies the truth
I am the believer who gives purpose on to you
I don’t think we let you down
So come Messiah show us how how
Throw us a pure lifeline
I hope that you hear me
Too proud to be around
There’s more to us than we see now
Blind Faith we have in you
Invisible
Which direction do we choose
Predictable
Self ignorance, abuse
Desirable
Cause you’ve done all you can do
Incredible
3. Misunderstood
[music by Myung, Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess]
[lyrics by John Petrucci]
Waiting
In the calm of desolation
Wanting to break
From this circle of confusion
Sleeping
In the depths of isolation
Trying to wake
From this daydream of illusion
How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone
If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood
It challenges the essence of my soul
And leaves me in a state of disconnection
As I navigate the maze of self control
Playing a lion being led to a cage
I turn from a thief to a beggar
From a god to God save me
How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone
If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood
Playing a lion being led to a cage
I turn from surreal to seclusion
From love to disdain
From belief to delusion
From a thief to a beggar
From a god to God save me
How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone
If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood
4. The Great Debate
[also known as “Conflict At Ground Zero”]
[music by Myung, Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess]
[lyrics by John Petrucci]
“A gallop snapshot poll taken immediately after President Bush’s speach on
funding embryonic stem cell research last night shows that half of Americans
approve of his decision, 25% do not, and still another 25% are not sure what
to think.”
“Most people don’t even know what stem cells are.”
“Who is going to scream the loudest? Will it be the right-to-lifers or will
it be the scientists? And now what is going to happen is there will be a
tremendous amount of lobbying in Washington, D.C.: scientists,
entertainers, people who want to see this research – will be coming forth.”
“I am concerned about it. Christopher Reeves is concerned about it.
Everyone is concerned about it. The big question is do the ends justify
the means? When we talk about research, yes, we can cure a lot of things…
speculatively. But, where is the proof?”
“These developing human beings that you are talking about, these embryos,
were produced in an artificial, scientific environment. In vitro
fertilization is not God’s will.”
“That doesn’t make them any less human, though, after that happens.”
“We are on a road where we really don’t know where we are going as far as
what’s next. We are talking about harvesting embryos. We are talking about
this, we are talking about that, but what is the cost?”
“How could we possibly abandon the research?”
“That is right. That is the old question? If you think the research is good
then you may not have a problem with it. It is only if you think the
research is questionable that you get defensive about it. (You do have time
to research these embryos later if we choose to do so. While people are
suffering, we are not truly certain that this will provide a cure.)”
“And there was a great outrage in the conservative churches… You cannot
use developing humans… At that point in time they turn into humans.”
“I feel that abandoning this research could be a mistake. Researching this
may allow us to save other lives or at least to improve the quality of
lives.”
“We do not have the answers, yet. We need to put the money where we will get
those answers in the future. Listen, we are out of time.”
What if someone said
Promise lies ahead
Hopes are high in certain scientific circles
Life won’t have to end
You could walk again
What if someone said
Problems lie ahead
They’ve uncovered something highly controversial
The right to life is strong
Can’t you see it’s wrong
Humankind has reached a turning point
Poised for conflict at ground zero
Ready for a war
Do we look to our unearthly guide
Or to white coat heroes
Searching for a cure
Turn to the light
Don’t be frightened of the shadows it creates
Turn to the light
Turning away would be a terrible mistake
Anarchistic moral vision
Industries of death
Facing violent opposition
Unmolested breathe
Ethic inquisitions breed
Antagonistic views
Right wing sound bite premonitions
In a labyrinth of rules
Are you justified
Are you justified
Are you justified
Justified in taking
Life to save life
Life to save life
Taking life to save life
This embryonic clay
Wrapped in fierce debate
Would be thrown away
Or otherwise discarded
Some of us believe
It may hold the key
To treatment of disease
And secrets highly guarded
Are you justified
Are you justified
Are you justified
Justified in taking
Life to save life
Life to save life
Life to save life
Human kind has reached a turning point
Poised for conflict at ground zero
Ready for a war
Do we look to our unearthly guide
Or to white coat heroes
Searching for a cure
Turn to the light
Don’t be frightened of the shadows it creates
Turn to the light
Turning away would be a terrible mistake
We’re reaching
But have we gone too far
Harvesting existence
Only to destroy
Carelessly together
We are sliding
Someone else’s future
Four days frozen still
Someone else’s fate
We are deciding
Miracle potential
Sanctity of life
Faced against each other
We’re divided
Should we push the boundaries
Or should we condemn
Moral guilt and science
Have collided
Turn to the light
We defy our own mortality these days
Turn to the light
Pay attention to the questions we have raised
“One of the big questions that still remains for me, though, is that all of
these embryos that are sent or will be discarded – is this worse than just
throwing those away?”
“You do not know that all of these will be discarded. All of a sudden you
say which ones will be discarded. And all of sudden you have people being
solicited for parts of their anatomy. Then they harvest parts of people’s
bodies. That is how it starts.”
“People are not soliciting; there are fertility clinics that have extra
embryos.”
“The research is a scientific advancement. I know we are going down a road
that we may not know where we end, but that is exactly what science is all
about. I am very sorry, but I do feel sympathy for those whose spines have
been severed… There is a possibility that we might cure them. I am
concerned about a cure for juvenile diabetes and if these types of
scientific advancement can cure these diseases, then quite candidly I think
there ought to be at least what President Bush has proposed: some limited
research.”
“Stem cells come from developing human beings and they should not be
experimented on that doesn’t make sense or that is unethical, but at the
same time there is great promise.”
“I have a 28-year old son who is paraplegic. And if there is a small
chance that my son can be able to have feeling and be able to walk then I am
all for it.”
“Human beings have been evolving for 10’s of thousands of years and we are
just injecting cells from embryos into people’s brains. How do we come to
do something like that?”
5. Disappear
[music by Myung, Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess]
[lyrics by James LaBrie]
Why, tell me the reasons why
Try, still I don’t understand
Will I ever feel this again
Blue sky, I’ll meet you in the end
Free them, free the memories of you
Free me, and rest ’til I’m with you
A day like today
My whole world has been changed
Nothing you say
Will help ease my pain
Turn, I’ll turn this slowly round
Burn, burn to feel alive again
She, she’d want me to move on
See me, this place I still belong
Give chase, to find more than I have found
And face, this time now on my own
Days disappear
And my world keeps changing
I feel you here
And it keeps me sane
So I’m moving on
I’ll never forget
As you lay there and watched me
Accepting the end
I knew you were scared
You were strong I was trying
I gave you my hand
I said it’s okay letting go time to leave here
And I’ll carry on
The best that I can without you here beside me
Let him come take you home
6. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
[music by Myung, Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess]
[I. OVERTURE]
[instrumental]
[II. ABOUT TO CRASH]
[lyrics by John Petrucci]
She can’t stop pacing
She never felt so alive
Her thoughts are racing
Set on overdrive
It takes a village
This she knows is true
they’re expecting her
And she’s got work to do
He helplessly stands by
It’s meaningless to try
As he rubs his red-rimmed eyes
He says I’ve never seen her get this bad
Even though she seems so high
He knows that she can’t fly
and when she falls out of the sky
He’ll be standing by
She was raised in a small midwestern town
By a charming and eccentric loving father
She was praised as the perfect teenage girl
And everyone thought highly of her
And she tried everyday
With endless drive
To make the grade
Then one day
She woke up to find
The perfect girl
Had lost her mind
Once barely taking a break
Now she sleeps the days away
She helplessly stands by
It’s meaningless to try
All she wants to do is cry
No one ever knew she was so sad
Cause even though she gets so high
And thinks that she can fly
She will fall out of the sky
But in the face of misery
She found hopefulness
Feeling better
She had weathered
This depression
Much to her advantage
She resumed her frantic pace
Boundless power
Midnight hour
She enjoyed the race
[III. WAR INSIDE MY HEAD]
[lyrics by Mike Portnoy]
Napalm showers
Showed the cowards
We weren’t there to mess around
Through heat exhaustion
And mind distortion
A military victory mounted on innocent ground
Hearing voices from miles away
Saying things never said
Seeing shadows in the light of the day
Waging a war inside my head
Years and years of
Bloodshed and warfare
Our mission was only to get in and kill
A free vacation
Of palmtrees and shrapnel
Trading innocence for permanent psychotic hell
Hearing voices from miles away
Saying things never said
Seeing shadows in the light of the day
Waging a war inside my head
Feeling strangers staring my way
Reading minds never read
Tasting danger with each word I say
Waging a war inside my head
[IV. THE TEST THAT STUMPED THEM ALL]
[lyrics by Mike Portnoy]
Standing in the darkness
Waiting for the light
The smell of pure adrenaline
Burning in the night
Random blinding flashes
Aiming at the stage
Intro tape begins to roll
Igniting sonic rage
Still they keep me between these hollow walls
Hoping to find in me
The answers to the test that stumped them all
“The boy is simply crazy
Suffering from delusions
We honestly think that maybe
He might need an institution
He lives in a world of fiction
And really could use some help
We have just the place to fix him
To save him from himself”
Curled up in the darkness
Searching for the light
The smell of stale sweat and shit
Streaming through the night
Random urine testing
Pills red, pink and blue
Counseling and therapy
Providing not a clue
Still they keep me between these hollow walls
Hoping to find in me
The answers to the test that stumped them all
“We can’t seem to find the answers
He seemed such a clear cut case
We cannot just let him leave here
And put all this work to waste
Why don’t we try shock treatment
It really might do some help
We have just the tools to fix him
To save him from himself”
[V. GOODNIGHT KISS]
[lyrics by Mike Portnoy]
Goodnight kiss in your nightgown
Lavender in your bed
So innocent as you lie down
Sweet dreams that run through your head
Are you lonely without Mommy’s love?
I want you to know I’d die for that moment
You’re just a poor girl
Afraid of this cruel world
Taken away from it all
It’s been 5 years to the day and
My tainted blood’s still the same
I can’t help acting this way and
Those bastard doctors are gonna pay
I’m so lonely without baby’s love
I want you to know I’d die for one more moment
I’m just a poor girl
Afraid of this cruel world
Taken away from it all
[VI. SOLITARY SHELL]
[lyrics by John Petrucci]
He seemed no different from the rest
Just a healthy normal boy
His mama always did her best
And he was daddy’s pride and joy
He learned to walk and talk on time
But never cared much to be held
and steadily he would decline
Into his solitary shell
As a boy he was considered somewhat odd
Kept to himself most of the time
He would daydream in and out of his own world
but in every other way he was fine
He’s a Monday morning lunatic
Disturbed from time to time
Lost within himself
In his solitary shell
A temporary catatonic
Madman on occasion
When will he break out
Of his solitary shell
He struggled to get through his day
He was helplessly behind
He poured himself onto the page
Writing for hours at a time
As a man he was a danger to himself
Fearful and sad most of the time
He was drifting in and out of sanity
But in every other way he was fine
He’s a Monday morning lunatic
Disturbed from time to time
Lost within himself
In his solitary shell
A momentary maniac
With casual delusions
When will he be let out
Of his solitary shell
[VII. ABOUT TO CRASH (REPRISE)]
[lyrics by John Petrucci]
I’m alive again
The darkness far behind me
I’m invincible
Despair will never find me
I feel strong
I’ve got a new sense of elation
Boundless energy
Euphoria fixation
Still it’s hard to just get by
It seems so meaningless to try
When all I want to do is cry
Who would ever know I felt so sad
Even though I get so high
I know that I will never fly
And when I fall out of the sky
Who’ll be standing by
Will you be standing by
[VIII. LOSING TIME/GRAND FINALE]
[lyrics by John Petrucci]
She dresses in black everyday
She keeps her hair simple and plain
She never wears makeup
But no one would care if she did anyway
She doesn’t recall yesterday
Faces seem twisted and strange
But she always wakes up
Only to find she’d been miles away
Absence of awareness
Losing time
A lapse of perception
Losing time
Wanting to escape
She had created a way to survive
She learned to detach from herself
A behavior that kept her alive
Hope in the face of our human distress
Helps us to understand the turbulence deep inside
That takes hold of our lives
Shame and disgrace over mental unrest
Keeps us from saving those we love
The grace within our hearts
And the sorrow in our souls
Deception of fame
Vengeance of war
Lives torn apart
Losing oneself
Spiraling down
Feeling the walls closing in
A journey to find
The answers inside
Our illusive mind