Octavarium (song)

For album of the same name, see Octavarium (album).

"Octavarium"
Song by Dream Theater from the album Octavarium
Format	CD
Recorded	2005
Genre	Progressive metal
Length	24:01
Label	Atlantic Records
Writer	James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy
Composer	Dream Theater
Octavarium track listing
"Sacrificed Sons" (7) "Octavarium" (8)

Octavarium is a song by progressive metal band Dream Theater, from the album of the same name.

The song starts with Jordan Rudess using his Haken Continuum and his lap steel guitar, drawing references from Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", Tangerine Dream, Marty Friedman's Scenes, and Queen's "Bijou".

Movements

Octavarium has five parts.

I. Someone Like Him

• 0:00 - 8:47 (8:47)
• Lyrics by John Petrucci

Beginning with a lengthy Continuum / lap steel guitar solo by Jordan Rudess, this section is told from a first-person perspective. It portrays the thoughts of a person as he decides on what to do in the course of his lifetime, as well as his wish to never become an ordinary person.

He succeeds in living an extraordinary life, but reflects upon it, and ends up wishing he had become an ordinary person, 'Someone like Him'. This is also in line with the 'Full Circle' theme of Octavarium: "this story ends where it began".

In the live performances of the complete version of Octavarium, John Petrucci uses his custom-made "Blue Sparkle"^[1] twelve-string/six-string double-neck guitar for this section of the song. The only other songs he uses this particular guitar on are the live performances of Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence's "Solitary Shell" and "Regression" from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory.

II. Medicate (Awakening)

• 8:48 - 13:49 (5:01)
• Lyrics by James LaBrie

A person wakes up to discover a doctor sitting at his bedside. The doctor informs him that he has been in catatonic sleep for 30 years. The doctor, however, believes he was able to cure him. Suddenly, the patient is in dire need of help as he feels his consciousness fading. The doctor prescribes a higher dosage of medicine, but it doesn't seem to help. Despite the doctor's failure in assisting him, the patient tells the doctor that he's not at fault, and that he shouldn't feel ashamed. Eventually, the patient slips back into unconsciousness. This is in line with the events of the movie Awakenings.

Again, this also reflects the theme of 'Everything ends where it began.'

III. Full Circle

• 13:50 - 18:27 (4:37)
• Lyrics by Mike Portnoy

Full Circle is Mike Portnoy's ode to progressive rock, shown in the lyrics by several underlying references to his favorite songs, bands and more. Once again a reference is made to the unifying theme of the song ('Everything ends where it begins'). The enumeration using the last syllable/word as the beginning of the next reference enhances the message that everything is linked, a common theme throughout Dream Theater's albums. (i.e. Day for Night, mare Cinema, Show). There is also another subtle nod to the theme in the references themselves; the section begins and ends with a Pink Floyd reference.

• Isn't This Where We Came In? - Pink Floyd's The Wall
• Sailing on the Seven Seas - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
• Seize the Day - popular translation of Latin phrase "Carpe Diem"
• Day Tripper - Beatles
• Per Diem - Latin phrase and business term meaning "each day"
• Jack the Ripper - Morrissey
• Tim "Ripper" Owens - ex-Judas Priest and Iced Earth singer
• Owen Wilson - actor
• Wilson Phillips - band
• Supper's Ready - Genesis
• Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - Beatles
• Diamond Dave - David Lee Roth
• Dave’s Not Here – Cheech and Chong
• Here I Come to Save the Day – Mighty Mouse
• Day for Night - Spock's Beard
• Nightmare Cinema – Dream Theater's band name when their players swap instruments
• The Cinema Show - Genesis
• Show Me The Way - Styx
• Get Back - Beatles
• Home Again - Pink Floyd's Breathe (Reprise)
• Flying off the Handle - Peter Blegvad, King Strut
• Handle with Care - Traveling Wilburys
• Careful With That Axe, Eugene - Pink Floyd
• Gene Gene the Dance Machine - The Gong Show / character in the film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
• Machine Messiah - Yes
• Light My Fire - The Doors
• Pinhead (Gabba Gabba Hey) - The Ramones
• Hey Hey, My My - Neil Young
• My Generation - The Who
• Home Again - Pink Floyd's Breathe (Reprise)

IV. Intervals

• 18:28 - 19:51 (1:23)
• Lyrics by Mike Portnoy

Before each stanza in the lyrics, Mike Portnoy says a scale degree. In each stanza, a song from Octavarium is referenced, and an audio clip from that song is played in the background.^[2]

Root	Our deadly sins fill his mortal wrath Remove all obstacles from our path		Fifth	Tortured insanity, a smothering hell Try to escape but to no avail
The Root of All Evil			Panic Attack
Second	Asking questions, search for clues The answer's been right in front of you		Sixth	The calls of admirers who claim they adore Drain all your lifeblood while begging for more
The Answer Lies Within			Never Enough
Third	Try to break through, long to connect Fall on deaf ears with failed muted breath		Seventh	Innocent victims of merciless crimes Fall prey to some madmen's impulsive designs
These Walls			Sacrificed Sons
Fourth	Loyalty, trust, faith and desire Carries love through each darkest fire		Octave	Step after step, we try controlling our fate When we finally start living it's become too late
I Walk Beside You			Octavarium

To finish the Octave, LaBrie repeats the line "Trapped inside this Octavarium", meaning that the speaker is trapped in the Octavarium's full circle, which begins and ends the same. To enunciate the intensity of this statement, LaBrie screams the line, straining his voice more than he had done for over a decade. By the time the song reaches the fourth repeat of the line, his voice has reached as high as G5, the highest note heard on a Dream Theater studio song from vocals, beating the famous F# in "Learning to Live". During live performances, LaBrie usually sings the first three lines the with the same notes, then jumps to the note on the last two syllables of the word "Octavarium", sometimes going as high as G5, holding the note and doing trills downwards on the last.

V. Razor's Edge

• 19:52 - 24:00 (4:08)
• Lyrics by John Petrucci

This movement simply emphasizes the cyclical nature of all things, as well as the album, as it begins where it ends, using the same melody as the end to the first track, it also ends with the same note that The Root of All Evil begins with. There is also an alternative ending where the main flute theme is reprised and faded at the end of the song.

This movement also serves as the capstone for the song and the album which shares its name, being the fifth movement in the eighth song on the album. In this way, it continues the 5:8 theme. When performed live as part of "Schmedley Wilcox" on Chaos in Motion, Mike Portnoy adds in additional vocal emphasis to portions of this movement.

Another way in which this part ties in to the cyclical nature of the album is that it is part five of Octavarium. The first song on the album, The Root of All Evil, begins with part six (as it is continuing the Twelve-Step Suite).

This movements lyrics also references Rush's Progressive epic Hemispheres, by mirroring the "Perfect Sphere Theme".

Hemispheres - "...With the heart and mind united in a single perfect sphere."

Octavarium - "A Perfect Sphere, colliding with our fate..."

5 and 8 Theme

The song also uses the theme that things revolve around the numbers of 5 and 8 (this theme is used as the unifying theme of the album). "Octavarium" is the eighth song on the album (the prefix "octa" in the title also refers to the number eight) and it has five different sections.

Personnel

• James LaBrie - lead vocals
• John Petrucci - guitar
• John Myung - bass
• Jordan Rudess - keyboards, continuum, lap steel
• Mike Portnoy - drums, backing vocals

References

1. ^ http://www.johnpetrucci.com/gear.htm
2. ^ Octavarium analysis