Learning to Live

Song infobox
Name = Learning to Live


Format = CD,
Cassette,
Vinyl
Artist = Dream Theater
Album = Images and Words
Released = 1992
track_no = 8
Recorded = December, 1991
Genre = Progressive metal
Length = 11:31
Label = ATCO Records
Writer = John Myung
Composer = Dream Theater
Producer = David Prater
prev = "Wait for Sleep"
prev_no = 7
next =
next_no =

"Learning to Live" is the eighth and final track from Dream Theater's 1992 album "Images and Words".

The opening lines from the song are a direct lift from the book Atlas Shrugged by noted author Ayn Rand. The first phrase, "There was no time for pain, no energy for anger. Sightlessness of hatred slips away." is paraphrase from the exact quote "He had no time for pain, no energy for anger. Within a few weeks, it was over; the blinding stabs of hatred ceased and did not return." (p.211 of the Centennial Edition) The next phrase in the song, "Walking through winter streets alone, he stops and takes a breath, with confidence and self-control," is similar to the next few sentences in the book. Dream Theater is known for using movie sound clips in their songs to make a point. However, this inclusion was actually in the lyrics with no reference given to Rand or the book itself. The song itself does not seem to hold any other parallels to Atlas Shrugged and it is unknown what significance this inclusion has.

The rest of Myung's lyrics of the song touch on a theme regarding the AIDS virus and epidemic.

Like many epic progressive rock songs, Learning to Live has a somewhat unusual structure. Starting at 4:45, James LaBrie stops singing, allowing the instrumentation to continue. At approximately 6:58, he begins singing wordlessly, building up to a very high note that coincides with the song's main climax. This note is the highest note sung in any Dream Theater song ever written, being the F# under soprano C. It is so high that he occasionally has trouble singing it live and sings a C# instead. The song's climax is followed by a guitar solo by John Petrucci. At approximately 8:10, the main riff from the song "Wait for Sleep", the previous track off the album, can be heard, and again at 8:53. The instrumentation continues until 9:35, when LaBrie joins in for the song's monumental conclusion.