This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Headline: "murder, young girl killed
Desperate shooting at echo's hill
Dreadful ending, killer died
Evidently suicide."
A witness heard a horrifying sound
He ran to find a woman dead and
Lying on the ground
Standing by her was a man
Nervous, shaking, gun in hand
Witness says he tried to help
But he'd turned the weapon on himself
His body fell across that poor young girl
After shouting out in vain
The witness ran to call for assistance
A sad close to a broken love affair
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
She wanted love forever
But he had another plan
He fell into an evil way
She had to let him down
She said, "I can't love a wayward man."
She may have found a reason to forgive
If he had only tried to change
Was their fatal meeting prearranged
Had a violent struggle taken place
There was every sign that lead there
Witness found a switchblade on the ground
Was the victim unaware
They continued to investigate
They found a note in the killer's pocket
It could have been a suicide letter
Maybe he had lost her love
I feel there's only one thing left to do
I'd sooner take my life away
Than live with losing you
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
Desperate shooting at echo's hill
Dreadful ending, killer died
Evidently suicide."
A witness heard a horrifying sound
He ran to find a woman dead and
Lying on the ground
Standing by her was a man
Nervous, shaking, gun in hand
Witness says he tried to help
But he'd turned the weapon on himself
His body fell across that poor young girl
After shouting out in vain
The witness ran to call for assistance
A sad close to a broken love affair
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
She wanted love forever
But he had another plan
He fell into an evil way
She had to let him down
She said, "I can't love a wayward man."
She may have found a reason to forgive
If he had only tried to change
Was their fatal meeting prearranged
Had a violent struggle taken place
There was every sign that lead there
Witness found a switchblade on the ground
Was the victim unaware
They continued to investigate
They found a note in the killer's pocket
It could have been a suicide letter
Maybe he had lost her love
I feel there's only one thing left to do
I'd sooner take my life away
Than live with losing you
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
Our deeds have traveled far
What we have been is what we are
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
All that we learn this time
(what we have been is what we are)
Is carried beyond this life
Lyrics submitted by Idan, edited by Octavarium64
Beyond This Life Lyrics as written by John Petrucci John Myung
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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One of the most beautiful songs from Dream Theater. I think the lyrics are pretty self explanatory. Don't waste time wishing you were someone else (Have you ever wished you were someone else - Traded places in your mind - it's only a waste of time). But also, you are the master of your own destiny (Feed the illusion you dream about).
Basically, instead of dreaming about being someone else, get off your butt and do something about it.
One of the most "beautiful" songs...
Truly Great
I only wish for the part 5:50-6:26 was bigger.
Wow, what a introspective and powerful song. This is much bigger than MP related. "Time races on. What will they say after you're gone". Love it
I'm someone who beats up on myself a lot and compares myself to other people too much. I interpreted this song as a message to stop berating yourself and accept where you are in life...of course it's written by people who are self-actualized about 10 times over, so I think "easy for you to say" but I think it can be about appreciating the life you have, whatever that is.
It's hard not to think that this is not Portnoy related. One of the most beautiful song by Dream Theater in a while.
-cheers from the Philippines-
I think the title explains it, and it explores how life works
Having lived my life in a maze a few years back, this song speaks from experience and is simply beautiful. Living gracefully...smells like freedom to me-
It's about living life to the fullest even though people will drag you down, don't give up. The recent passing of Whitney Houston, made me think of these lyrics.
This song is too much like the movie "Being John Malkovich", where a puppeteer finds a portal that transports him to the mind of John Malcovich for about 15 minutes where he is then spit out and transported somewhere else. You ask why? Because he wishes to be John Malcovich because someone he loves is involved with him, in the end SPOILERS:
He gets trapped in the body of his lover and ex wife's (Lesbians) daughter (John Malcovich's and his lover's biological daughter) where he stays there for ever. Thus being lost in the maze and can't find the way home, driven by love and crushed by hate until the day the gift is gone and shadows remain.The puppeteer is now the puppet because he can't control the daughter. They even mention in the movie about some people life gracefully while some lose the way home (In a way).
This song is too much like the movie "Being John Malkovich", where a puppeteer finds a portal that transports him to the mind of John Malcovich for about 15 minutes where he is then spit out and transported somewhere else. You ask why? Because he wishes to be John Malcovich because someone he loves is involved with him, in the end SPOILERS:
He gets trapped in the body of his lover and ex wife's (Lesbians) daughter (John Malcovich's and his lover's biological daughter) where he stays there for ever. Thus being lost in the maze and can't find the way home, driven by love and crushed by hate until the day the gift is gone and shadows remain.The puppeteer is now the puppet because he can't control the daughter. They even mention in the movie about some people life gracefully while some lose the way home (In a way).