Dream Theater

When Dream And Day Unite (1989)

 
 

1. A Fortune In Lies
2. Status Seeker
3. The Ytse Jam (instrumental)
4. The Killing Hand
5. Light Fuse And Get Away
6. Afterlife
7. The Ones Who Help Set The Sun
8. Only A Matter Of Time

Charlie Dominici - Vocals
Kevin Moore - Keyboards
John Myung - Bass
John Petrucci - Guitars
Mike Portnoy - Drums and Percussion

A Fortune In Lies

I can remember when,
In the unity of our five-day sessions
Not even once did we hear the siren song
What kind of imagination
Asleep in some lyrical coma
Who's vain futile memory
Could have been so wrong?

   You can make a fortune in lies
   You can keep a giant alive
   You can ride the red
   Until everybody smiles

A trifling euphoria
was such an untimely religion
maybe your life can explain
the reason for my indecision
Here is a poor man
the heart of this monster creation
He said we both will be heroes
and I was led into temptation

   You can make a fortune in lies
   You can keep a giant alive
   You can ride the red
   Until everybody smiles

Can you show me your gold
and your silver?
A hero in frozen water

   Now you've made a fortune in lies
   and you kept a giant alive
   You rode the red
   You rode the red

Status Seeker

Heart sick at the sight of the
Status Seeker
In a sense I'm not beyond reproach
the aspiration to drop a name
When any rose might smell the same
Maybe you'll figure it out someday
"I want to know you now...
You know I've always believed in you."

Nothing is sacred...
   You draw the bottom line
   with a dollar sign
Change of opinion...
   At the drop of a dime
Graceless intrusion...
   Are you sanctified in your judgment of me?
   All that I deserve is what you were unable to see

In a garden where the seeds were spilled
I favored the few that stood strong in the sun
As I reached for the profit of my prize
I found I had trampled the forgotten ones.

Nothing is sacred...
   You draw the bottom line
   with a dollar sign
Change of opinion...
   At the drop of a dime
Graceless intrusion...
   Are you sanctified in your judgment of me?
   All that I deserve is what you were unable to see

You're running in circles
And I'm turning away
You refused to believe
Now I'm turning away

Nothing is sacred...
   You draw the bottom line
   with a dollar sign
Change of opinion...
   At the drop of a dime
Graceless intrusion...
   Are you sanctified in your judgment of me?
   All that I deserve is what you were unable to see

You're running in circles
And I'm turning away
You refused to believe
Now I'm turning away

The Killing Hand

I.  The Observance
An Angel's kiss now fallen
Descending scarlet cuts the sky
Faded names left on the wall
Honor the fighting leave life to die
Remembered is the sacrifice but
No praisal of blood still flowing
Who were the leaders?
what controlled the Killing Hand
that caused this mourning?
       Crossing over...

II.  Ancient Renewal
Lowered deep into the sea
Being awaits to cleanse his soul
senses weakening time is still
Motionless by stiffening cold

The wheels race back and
Scorch his mind
Travelling all to find the land
Revelation warms a touch
And now, he will begin to
Understand

III.  The Stray Seed
Extended a view to yesterday
Manifestation for none the same
Walking amidst a frightening still
No sound, no smoke, no scorching
Flames
       He is risen...

Sipping his poison the raven sings
Yet another to add more bodies fallen
King from below
this one controls
the Killing Hand that caused this mourning.
       Is it all over?

IV.  Thorns
Evil genius this secret plan
Mercy dealt with the losing hand
Will he ever fell?
Can he end it all?
Our savior must make his stand

Only a Prophet of years to come
Wanting mortality I'm all alone
He heard my voice
It was my choice
I've stopped the Killing Hand

V.  Exodus
When I go back again
Will it be the same?
I've stopped the cries
But now they know my name

The sea is calling me
my spirit must return
As I get closer,
was it really worth
what I have learned?

I'm in the valley
And the saddened chimes I hear
Race toward the wall to find
one more name appears

No one is left now
my one and only land
I laugh at what I've done
I am the Killing Hand

Light Fuse and Get Away

   Would you like to sit and talk to me
about the way things change so
   suddenly
when your senses come and the feeling goes?
   can you remember feeling much too close?

   Stop your hands from shaking
      Look at me
   Are your senses racing endlessly 
      tracing
past impressions?  So were mine
Have you ever been used
or will this be the first time?

   It's come so clear to me
   Light fuse and get away
      No gain, no pain
   It's a fatal game
   and the true lose everything

   I can see
   what trust and loyalty have done for me
   falling miles from the mark
   with a thirst for revenge
   and a dangerous heart

   I've tried to wash from memory
feelings of betrayal and the incidents
that plague me since I lost my sense
of innocence

   A history of changes now I'm loving
now I'm losing keeps me constantly
in fear of hearing "I can't see where
this is going"

   You lie alone with the memory
feeling the ceiling and walls closing
   in on
      Your Conscience -- my ally
      the guilt -- your affliction
from preying on praise as you fed
an attention addiction

   Someone told me
Light fuse and get away
   No gain, no pain
and when it's lust to dust you can
crawl from the wreckage

I can see
what trust and loyalty have done for me
lying bleeding in the dark
with a thirst for revenge
and a dangerous heart

It's come so clear to me
Light fuse and get away
   No gain, no pain
It's a fatal game
and the true lose everything
I can see
what trust and loyalty have done for me
falling miles from the mark
with a thirst for revenge
and a dangerous heart

Afterlife

I touched with one
who made me run
away from my own soul...
In this world with its
many illusions
We are moving like mice through a maze

And now I find
what's left behind
has served to make me whole
full of doubt, deception, and delusion
seeking purpose to all earthly days

I search within
beneath a skin
that bears both pleasure and pain
In a world full of constant confusion
I will not be a par to the craze

   In the Afterlife
   will dark be bright?
   will cold be warm?
   will the day have no night?
   In the Afterlife?
   will the blind have sight?
   In the Afterlife.

Behind closed eyes
some comfort lies
In knowing the truth never spoken
Through this world with its
hidden conclusion
we'll keep moving like mice through a maze

   In the Afterlife
   will dark be bright?
   will cold be warm?
   will the day have no night?
   In the Afterlife?
   will the blind have sight?
   In the Afterlife.

   In the Afterlife
   will dark be bright?
   will cold be warm?
      will the day have no night?
   In the Afterlife?
   will the blind have sight?
   In the Afterlife.

The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun

Watching my window I was led like a child
As the roadway lamplights
misguided my mind through the night
a shadow of limits
We were racing the rain
my hands held the wheel
My eyes tried to hold their place

   there must have been a time
   when I thought that you were watching
   It had to be when my senses lost control
   I thought I'd slipped away
   I thought I could still feel us moving
   It must have been a cloud
   no bigger than a man's hand

Every reason I risk my life
To come back to you
Is locked behind your door
You're my immunity
Outside I watched you burn
Heavy hearts were bleeding
A cry for help, a familiar voice
My melting hands streaked the glass

   As I walked away
   I wondered what had really happened
   had I run out of time
   did I push myself to far
   As my last step fell
   I felt my hands upon the wheel
   had I come back to life
   or did I ever leave at all
   In higher lives
   We seem to be
   always a moment too late
   We're past the time
   when we looked on
   Now we're
   THE ONES WHO HELP TO SET THE SUN
   this time for real
   I locked the door behind me
   My mind was still a wreck
   from what I saw
   For when my hands are still
   I'll recognize the message
   never again will my senses lose control
   In higher lives
   We seem to be
   Always a moment too late
   We're past the time
   when we looked on
   Now we're
   THE ONES WHO HELP TO SET THE SUN

Only A Matter Of Time

A suited man smiled said:
"It's just a matter of time
You can have the world at your feet by tomorrow
just sign on this line."
Hold tight...limelight!
Approaching the paramount
with the sun in our eyes
fearing family ties, legalies, compromise

In a dimly lit room with a stool as his stage
a dream-stricken prince of a pauper's descent
haunts the eavesdropping silence
that presses his window
as he sweats a performance
to an audience that ticks on the walls

To the practical observer
It's just a matter of time
   "You can deviate from the commonplace
   only to fall back in line."
I understand mine's a risky plan
and your system can't miss
But is security after all a cause or symptom of happiness?

Brave, yet afraid, his eyes on horizon
in a steady-set gaze
a mariner soon from an open cocoon
takes a moment to summon his courage
to stifle his grave apprehension and
trembling, approaches the surf
A father's benediction as his hopeful son departs
to brave the sea of rage and conquer at all costs

lingers in his memory
and visions still surviving in a logic-proof shell
that should have been held sacred, safe and hidden well
are compromised in usury
with every rising sun that yields no sight of land
the hesitation cultivates within the tired man
and rumors spread of mutiny
and though the time will come when dream and day unite
tonight the only consolation causing him to fight
in fearless faith in destiny

Even when plan fall to pieces
I can still find the courage
with promise I've found in my faith

Likely or not, it's a dream that we keep
and at odds with our senses we'll climb
But if faith is the answer, we've already reached it

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