- The Dance of Eternity
Song infobox
Name = The Dance of Eternity
Artist =Dream Theater
Album =
Released =October 26 ,1999
track_no = 9
Recorded = 1999
Genre =Progressive metal
Length = 6:13
Composer =Dream Theater
Label =Elektra Records
Producer =John Petrucci andMike Portnoy
Writers =Dream Theater
prev = "Home"
prev_no = 8
next = "One Last Time"
next_no = 10"The Dance of Eternity" (also known as Scene Seven Part 1: The Dance of Eternity in context of the album) is the ninth track off of
Dream Theater 's fifth studio album, . It is the second instrumental track off the album.Plot
Though the track is an instrumental, we get an idea of what the song represents. In "Metropolis Pt. 1", the final line is "Love is the dance of eternity." This hints that this may be when Victoria and Edward are making love, or out by themselves somewhere. For the complete story, see .
Musical Structures
The song is often considered one of the group's most progressive and complex works of their career. As many as 123 time signature changes are present in the over 6 minutes of music.Fact|date=July 2008 Numerous complex and obscure time signatures are used, including 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 3/8, 5/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, 12/8, 15/8, 5/16, 6/16, and 7/16. According to Mike Portnoy, the band wanted to make a complex instrumental in the middle of the album, just as they had done in the middle of Metropolis Part 1. This song was also an integral part in attempting to create an extremely progressive record, as their previous album "
Falling into Infinity " was criticized for being too mainstream and not progressive like the Dream Theater of old. The song features what is commonly considered to be one of Jordan Rudess's best keyboard solos, done in the style of a 1920ssilent film piano soundtrack .In addition, the backwards music in the beginning of the song, when played backwards itself, is a sample from the instrumental section of "Metropolis Part 1"
Live Performances
The song is almost never played live, not only because it is very difficult to play, but because the song doesn't seem to fit when played by itself, and is preferred to be played within the context of the storyline. The only live performance on CD is the performance on "" (portions, including the keyboard solo, were played on "
Instrumedley " on "Live at Budokan").Personnel
*
John Myung -Bass guitar
*John Petrucci -Guitar
*Mike Portnoy - drums
*Jordan Rudess - keyboards
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