DREAM THEATER LYRICS

1. On The Backs Of Angels

[Music by John Petrucci, John Myung and Jordan Rudess, Lyrics by John Petrucci]

Standing on the backs of angels
Destined to create
Mounting the attack
While heroes carry your weight

We spiral towards disaster
Survival fading faster

Riding out the wave
Content to feed off the machine
Bleeding us to death
The new American dream

You're blinded by your hunger
Beware your days are numbered

Tears fall from the shameless
Shelter me, guide me to the edge of the water
Selfless are the righteous
Burden me, lead me like a lamb to the slaughter

Blurring lines drawn in between
What is right and what is wrong
Victims on the radar string us along

We're on to your agenda
The dead end road to nowhere

Tears fall from the shameless
Shelter me, guide me to the edge of the water
Selfless are the righteous
Burden me, lead me like a lamb to the slaughter

Tears fall from the shameless
Shelter me, guide me to the edge of the water
Selfless are the righteous
Burden me, lead me like a lamb to the slaughter
Selfless are the righteous
Burden me, lead me like a lamb to the slaughter

2. Build Me Up, Break Me Down

[Music by John Petrucci, John Myung, James LaBrie, Lyrics by John Petrucci]

Today I will be your savior
Tomorrow ‒ a demon
You crave my erratic behavior
And watch my every move

Obsession at all cost
You'll be the death of me
Broken and torn apart
Why can't you let me be?

You build me up
You break me down
Until I'm falling to pieces
I crash and burn
I never learn
I'm your guilty addiction

Build me up
Break me down

Tonight I am the new messiah
You deify
When I'm no longer desired
I'll be crucified

The one who's free from sin
The first to cast the stone
Fighting the fear within
I won't be left alone

You build me up
You break me down
Until I'm falling to pieces
The price I pay
To live this way
And the fantasy stays alive

I can't live up
I can't let down
And leave you falling to pieces
I crash and burn
I never learn
I'm your morbid obsession.

Build me up
Break me down

You build me up
You break me down
Until I'm falling to pieces
The price I pay
To live this way
And the fantasy stays alive

I can't live up
I can't let down
And leave you falling to pieces
I crash and burn
I never learn
Your iconic fixation

Build me up
Break me down

Build me up
Break me down

3. Lost Not Forgotten

[Music by John Petrucci, John Myung, James LaBrie, Jordan Rudess, Lyrics by John Petrucci]

I am not immortal
I am just a man
A power-craving tyrant
Beyond the shadows in the sand

Men have come to fear me
Many bow and cry
Known across the desert
I am the one who will not die

I have faced the demons of our most desperate moments
I have been the one to defend our pride
I have worn the banner of my abandoned brothers
I will be the first one to give my live

Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Spirit as black as coal
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul

An Epic novel no one's read
Pages torn and faded
The greatest story never told

Behold the kingdom I possess
Land of wealth and beauty
Where the streets are paved with gold

Once fearless and brave
A realm passed away
The ghosts of yesterday

Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Brutal and heartless
Vanishing further
Into the darkness
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul

4. This Is The Life

[Music by John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess, Lyrics by John Petrucci]

In the heart of your most solemn barren night
When your soul's turned inside out
Have you questioned all the madness you invite?
What your life is all about

Some of us choose to live gracefully
Some can get caught in the maze
And lose their way home
This is the life we belong to
Our gift divine

Have you ever wished that you were someone else?
Traded places in your mind
It's only a waste of your time

Some of us choose to live gracefully
Some can get caught in the maze
And lose their way home
This is the life we belong to
Our gift divine

Feed the illusion you dream about
Cast out the monsters inside
Life begins with an empty slate
Fragile left in the hands of fate
Driven by love and crushed by hate
Until the day the gift is gone
And shadows remain

Some of us choose to live gracefully
Some can get caught in the maze
And lose their way home
Memories will fade
Time races on
What will they say after you're gone?
This is the life we belong to
Our gift divine
Our gift divine

5. Bridges In The Sky

[Music by John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and John Myung, Lyrics by John Petrucci]

Blackness awakens
Visions come alive
Seeing through darkness
With borrowed eyes

Death survivor
Take me higher
Reunite my soul

Whisperer of truth
I trust in you
To make me whole

Sun
Come shine my way
May healing waters bury all my pain

Wind
Carry me home
The fabric of reality is tearing apart
The piece of me that died
Will return
To live again

Feeling myself slip away
Suddenly dreaming awake
Hidden memories
Flooding back

I will not grow in the light
Until I pass through the darkest caverns of my heart

Dance with fire
Spirit guide erase the world outside

Messenger of truth
I trust in you
Transform me now

Sun
Come shine my way
May healing waters bury all my pain

Wind
Carry me home
The fabric of reality is tearing apart
The piece of me that died
Will return
To live again

And at last the time has come
To unite again as one

To the power of the Earth I'm calling
Crossing bridges in the sky
On a journey to renew my life
Shaman take my hand

Sun
Come shine my way
May healing waters bury all my pain

Wind
Carry me home
The fabric of reality is tearing apart
The piece of me that died
Will return
To live again

And at last the time has come
To unite again as one
To the power of the Earth I'm calling
Crossing bridges in the sky
On a journey to renew my life
Shaman take my hand

6. Outcry

[Music by John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and John Myung, Lyrics by John Petrucci]

Somewhere overhead
Distant thunders roars
The revolution has begun
The war to end all wars

As I welcome death
I hear the battle cry
Bullets fall like fire
Raining from the sky

The rebel in us all
Someday gets tired
Of being pushed around
But freedom has a price
The cost is buried in the ground

We suffered far too long
We gather now growing stronger
We will not be ignored
Anymore any longer
Our anthem will guide us

Rise up, be counted
Stand strong and unite
Wait for the outcry
Resistance is calling tonight

Far too many years
Of chaos and unrest
Far too many voices
Brutally suppressed

We fight for what is just
For all that we believe
We fight till death or glory
Fight to be set free

The street are bathed in blood
Time to step down
And time to walk away
You'll never rule me now
Though you may stand upon my grave

You can look the other way
Or you can face the light
Although it seems so far away
Freedom's worth the fight

Rise up, be counted
Stand strong and unite
Wait for the outcry
Resistance is calling

Rise up, be counted
Stand strong and unite
Wait for the outcry
Resistance is calling tonight

The world watches on
While we risk our lives
Locked in a kingdom of fear
As our children die

7. Far From Heaven

[Music by John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and James LaBrie, Lyrics by James LaBrie]

No one truly has the answers
Every day I struggle through it once more
Keep things bottled up
Never speaking my mind
Misinterpreted I'm doing just fine

Every day I put a brave face on
Serves me well
Feeling helpless facing it alone
Hard to tell
That I can't change who I am
How I feel there's no end

I have done
What you asked of me
Leaves me nothing to live for

Coming undone
Way too high a price
I should pay
You keep your pride
While I die inside
Every day
No I
Can't lie anymore
Won't pretend
I've done
All I can

You can't imagine
The hell I'm going through
Not asking you to save me
I'm too far from heaven

Nothing you can do to change me
But accept me as I am

8. Breaking All Illusions

[Music by John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and John Myung, Lyrics by John Myung and John Petrucci]

With the sun in place
There's a test of faith
Streams of thought awaken

New realities
Singularities
Breaking all illusions

[Spoken words:]
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

Sudden bust of heat
Burning source of life
Masterful destruction

Power's not an act
It's understanding truth
Changing my direction

Live in the moment
Breathe in a new beginning
Wisdom revealed
As I unlearn to learn

Life's biggest battles
Often are fought alone
My spirit brings me home

Emerald thoughts flow through my consciousness
Drawn to curses left behind
Test of will the threshold to one's faith
Starts a fire in the mind

Searching out
Reaching in
To arrive
Where I began
Sights remembered
In the light

Searching out
Reaching in
To arrive
Where I began
Sights remembered
Come alive

Embrace the days
Don't turn away
Life's true intent needs patience
Karma starts the signal

9. Beneath The Surface

[Music and Lyrics by John Petrucci]

Is there ever really a right time?
You had led me to believe
Someday you'd be there for me
When the stars above aligned
When you weren't so consumed
I kept looking for the clues
So I waited in the shadows of my heart
And still the time was never right

Until one day I stopped caring
And began to forget why I longed to be so close
And I disappeared into the darkness
And the darkness turned to pain
And never went away
Until all that remained was buried, deep beneath the surface

A shell of what things could've been
Tired bones beneath a veil of guarded secrets all too frail
Sad to think I never knew
You were searching for the words
For the moment to emerge
Yet the moment never came
You couldn't risk my fragile frame

Until one day you stopped caring
And began to forget why you tried to be so close
And you disappeared into the darkness
And the darkness turned to pain
And never went away
Until all that remained was buried, deep beneath the surface

I would scream just to be heard
As if yelling at the stars
I was bleeding just to feel
You would never say a word
Kept me reaching in the dark
Always something to conceal

Until one day I stopped caring
And began to forget why I longed to be so close
And I disappeared into the darkness
And the darkness turned to pain
And never went away
Until all that remained was buried, deep beneath the surface
Beneath the surface







DREAM THEATER LYRICS