The Mirror
NOTE: The bold type within the lyrics signifies a shared passage and were included in the original version written by the author. The italics have been added by me to help readability.
Temptation-
Why won’t you leave me alone?
Lurking every corner, everywhere I go
Self control-
Don’t turn your back on me now
When I need you the most
He is calling out to his other self, or The Reflection, a sort of idealized self he feels has left him, because he keeps backsliding. His Reflection could be his Id or Superego, or his self-respect etc.
Constant pressure tests my will
My will or my won’t
My self control escapes from me still...
Hypocrite-
How could you be so cruel
And expect my faith in return?
The Reflection speaking back, accusing him of abandoning it and then asking for it’s help?
Resistance-
Is not as hard as it seems
When you close the door
Here’s our first mention of the Door, possibly the door to the Glass Prison he closed voluntarily and now cannot escape. The Reflection seems to be throwing this into his teeth.
I spent so long trusting in you
A trust you forgot
Just when I thought I believed in you...
Again, he’s asking his Reflection why it abandoned him
"What’re you doing?
What’re you doing?"
It’s time for me to deal
Becoming all too real
Living in fear-
Why did you lie and pretend?
This has to come to an end
I’ll never trust you again
It’s time you made your amends
Look in the mirror my friend
He’s again accusing his Reflection, and this is where the schism occurs that leads him to stop resisting and go totally into booze, and his Glass Prison.
"... that I haven’t behaved as I should"
"everything you need is around you.
The only danger is inside you."
"I thought you could control life, but it’s not like that.
There are things you can’t control."
Let’s stare the problem right in the eye
It’s plagued me from coast to coast
Racing the clock to please everyone
All but the one who matters the most
He’s tried to run from his problems, but it follows him around. He overcompensates by trying to be everything to everyone while neglecting himself, and his Reflection.
Reflections of reality
Are slowly coming into view
How in the hell could you possibly forgive me?
After all the hell I put you through
At this point he seems to finally realize what he’s done to himself, and he believes himself to be alone without the Reflection which has left him because of how he’s ruined his life.
It’s time for me to deal
Becoming all too real
Living in fear-
Why’d I betray my friend?
Lying until the end
Living life so pretend
It’s time to make my amends
I’ll never hurt you again
Here he’s apologizing to his Reflection and saying he’ll fix himself and do himself good. But the Reflection is skeptical.
Lie
Daybreak
At the bottom of lake
It’s a hundred degrees I can’t breathe
And I won’t get out
’til I figure it out
Though I’m weak like I can’t believe
So you tell me ’trust me’ I can trust you
Just let me show you
But I gotta work it out in a shadow of doubt
’cause I don’t know if I know you
His soul is drowning and he can’t escape his vices. He still doesn’t entirely trust his Reflection because it abandoned him, but he’s going to try. His weakness is because he can’t escape his alcoholism.
Doing fine but don’t waste my time
Tell me what it is you want to say
You sin, you win, just let me in - hurry
I’ve been out in the rain all day
So you tell me ’trust me’ I can trust you
As far as I can throw you
And I’m trying to get out of a shadow of doubt
’cause I don’t know if I know you
His Reflection responds, telling him that it will listen to what he has to say, but that it still doesn’t trust him. It also seems to be in better shape than he is, though still suffering. This is probably because as a perfect reflection of him and a creation of his battered mind, it’s unrealistically healthy compared to his deteriorating state.
chorus:
Don’t tell me you wanted me
Don’t tell me you thought of me
I won’t, I swear I won’t
(did)
I’ll try, I swear I’ll try
(lie)
He’s pleading with the Reflection, which is rejecting him because it believes him false.
Mother Mary quite contrary
Kiss the boys and make them wary
Things are getting just a little bit scary
It’s a wonder I can still breathe
He’s running out of time in his Prison.
Never been much of a doubting Thomas
But nothing breaks like a broken promise
You tell me ’bout your two more coming
But once is just enough for me
The Reflection calls him on all the times he said he’d fix himself, and asks why he should trust him a second time when he got burned once already.
chorus
I had gotten used to being a soul destroyed
She comes in apparently to fill the void
All dogs need a leash and
At least I’ll forget it
And she would never hurt me though
She’s never said it
But I’m not gonna ask her today
I don’t wanna scare her away
Your town, I’m all alone
And I just can’t stare at the phone
I wanna talk about lifelong mistakes
And you can tell your stepfather I said so
'She' could refer to his wife, who tries to keep him on the straight and narrow (the leash). This could also tie in thematically to Honour Thy Father as it refers to parents who aren’t of blood, though I don’t mean this in a storyline sense of course. 'She' could also be talking about AA.
The Glass Prison
I. Reflection
Cunning, Baffling, Powerful
Been beaten to a pulp
Vigorous, Irresistible
Sick and tired and laid low
Dominating, Invisible
Black-out, loss of control
Overwhelming, Unquenchable
I'm powerless, have to let go
I can't escape it
It leaves me frail and worn
Can no longer take it
Senses tattered and torn
Hopeless surrender
Obsession's got me beat
Losing the will to live
Admitting complete defeat
Fatal Descent
Spinning around
I've gone too far
To turn back round
Desperate attempt
Stop the progression
At any length
Lift this obsession
Crawling to my glass prison
A place where no one knows
My secret lonely world begins
This is how he entered the Glass Prison. This is at peak drunkenness, before his attempt to clean himself up in The Mirror.
So much safer here
A place where I can go
To forget about my daily sins
Life here in my glass prison
A place I once called home
Fall in nocturnal bliss again
He ‘once called’ it home. This implies he has returned to his prison(he never left it really, though) after being shot down in Lie.
Chasing a long lost friend
I no longer can control
Just waiting for this hopelessness to end
His Friend is the Reflection.
II. Restoration
Run – fast from the wreckage of the past
A shattered glass prison wall behind me
Fight – past walking through the ashes
A distant oasis before me
He sees something in the distance from behind his prison walls. It may be the Mirror.
Cry – desperate crawling on my knees
Begging God to please stop the insanity
Help me – I'm trying to believe
Stop wallowing in my own self pity
Crying out for help to the Reflection.
"We've been waiting for you my friend
The writing's been on the wall
All it takes is a little faith
You know you're the same as us all"
This appears to be Alcoholics Anonymous.
Help me – I can't break out this prison all alone
Save me – I'm drowning and I'm hopeless on my own
Heal me – I can't restore my sanity alone
More begging to anyone who can help him.
Enter the door
Desperate
Fighting no more
Help me restore
To my sanity
At this temple of hope
I need to learn
Teach me how
Sorrow to burn
Help me return
To humanity
I'll be fearless and thorough
The enter this temple of hope
Believe
Transcend the pain
Living the life
Humility
Opened my eyes
This new odyssey
Of rigorous honesty
Serenity
I never knew
Soundness of mind
Helped me to find
Courage the change
All the things that I can
He finds new hope.
"We'll help you perform this miracle
But you must set your past free
You dug the hole, but you can't bury your soul
Open your mind and you will see"
More on the past in This Dying Soul. Also his past is represented by his Reflection which has still, in his mind, abandoned him.
Help me – I can't break out this prison all alone
Save me – I'm drowning and I'm hopeless on my own
Heal me – I can't restore my sanity alone
AA is giving him the chance, but he needs his Reflection to help him escape.
III. Revelation
Way off in the distance I saw a door
I tried to open
I tried forcing with all of my will and still
The door wouldn't open
He’s fighting the door which only makes it stronger.
Unable to trust in my faith
I turned and walked away
I looked around, felt a chill in the air
Took my will and turned it over
The glass prison which once held me is now gone
A long lost fortress
Armed only with liberty
And the key of my willingness
His Glass Prison is and was a psychological barrier to prevent his core and possibly his Reflection from being annihilated by his alcoholism. It blocked everyone else out and allowed his emotions to be dormant. Unfortunately he could not escape and he still drunk, though perhaps not as much as he would have. It saved him and ruined him.
Fell down on my knees and prayed
"Thy will be done"
I turned around, saw a light shining through
The door was wide open
Through Prayer and honesty he has found away to escape his alcoholism, but he still hasn’t taken the final step. His Glass Prison is almost gone, but he will have to face the demons it frees, and he can’t do it alone.
This Dying Soul
IV. Reflections of Reality (Revisited)
Hello, Mirror - so glad to see you my friend, it's been a while
Searching, Fearless - where do I begin to heal this wound of self-denial
Now mostly free of the Prison, he returns to the Mirror, to heal the schism that weakens him and finally defeat the alcohol and make himself whole. This is titled Reflections of Reality because it is the second time in the story he has returned to a state where he can see clearly.
Face yourself man!
Brace yourself and trace your hell back
He will now delve into the roots of his problem.
You've been blinded, living life a one way cold existence all the while
Now it's time to stare the problem right between the eyes you long lost child
His Reflection is telling him he has to stop seeing like a one-way mirror, and face up to the issues that caused his alcoholism.
I wanna feel your body breaking
Wanna feel your body breaking and shaking and left in the cold
I want to heal your conscience making a change o fix this dying soul
The Reflection is describing withdrawal(‘breaking and shaking’) and life outside of his Glass Prison, where he is out in the cold without a barrier. He must now face his demons down.
Born into this world a broken home
Surrounded by love yet all alone
Forced into a life that's split in two
A mother and a father both pulling you
His parents were divorced.
Then you had to deal with loss and death
Everybody thinking they know best
Coping with this shit at such an age
Can only fill a kid with pain and rage
A death in the family.
Family disease pumped through your blood
Never had the chance you thought you could
Running all the while with no escape
Turning all that pain in to blame and hate
Someone in his family was an alcoholic, he ran from it but it still got him in the end.
Living on your own by twenty one
Not a single care and having fun
Consuming all the life in front of you
Burning out the fuse and smoking the residue
He lived fast and hard, without taking consequences into account.
Possessive obsessions selfish childish games
Vengeful resentments
Passing all the blame
Living out a life of decadence
Acting without thought of consequence
Spreading all your lies from coast to coast
While spitting on the ones that matter most
On the surface he was doing fine, but inside he seethed with obsessive tendencies and acted like a control freak. He blamed others for his problems, but at the same time destroyed himself. These obsessions probably caused the creation of an other-self, or at least he began to think of parts of himself as a separate identity. This may have been an act of self-preservation like the building of the Prison.
Running power mad with no control
Fighting for the credit they once stole
No one can ever tell you what to do
Ruling other's lives while the can't stand the thought of you
Again, being a control-freak.
A living reflection seen from miles away
A hopeless affliction having run astray
The Reflection may be the ‘oasis’ of Glass Prison. He grasps onto these things to hold on despite the affliction.
I wanna feel your body breaking
Wanna feel your body breaking and shaking and left in the cold
I want to heal your conscience making a change to fix this dying soul
Now that you can see all you have done
It's time to take that step into the kingdom
All your sins will only make you strong
And help you break right through the prison wall
He went on this journey of reflection(no pun intended) because AA suggested it. The Reflection helped him to deal with the demons they brought up, but the two are still split, and the Prison because of this still stands. The life he has lead only hardens him to the task ahead.
V. Release
Come to me my friend (Listen to me)
I'll help this torture end (Help to set me free)
Let your ego go (I can't carry this load)
You can't go through this alone (I feel so hopeless and exposed)
You'll find your peace of mind (Give me some direction)
You can no longer hide (Break out of this isolation)
Let humility (Openness, honesty)
And become what you can be (A healing tranquility)
The Reflection calls out to him and he responds in the brackets.
Help me
Save me
Heal me
I can't break out of this prison all alone
These tormenting ghosts of yesterday
Will vanish when exposed
You can't hold onto your secrets
They'll only send you back alone
The Reflection helps him to bring up the past and reveal it, so that they won’t fester inside him and weaken him.
Your fearless admissions
Will help expel your destructive obsessions
With my help I know you can
Be at one with God and man
The Reflection wants to be at one with him again, by destroying the fractures that caused the rift.
Hear me
Believe me
Take me
I'm ready to break right through this prison wall
The Reflection and the man will bond and shatter the prison one last time, for good.
Obviously This Dying Soul is a continuation of the Glass Prison, but it is also connected to the Mirror and possibly Lie(being written by Moore it's iffy, but the songs segue into one another...), so I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on the continuity of the songs, and to point out the lyrical/musical connections between them.
The Mirror / Lie / The Glass Prison / This Dying Soul
Excellent analysis. What do you think about the musical passage from "Scenes from a Memory" that is included in "This Dying Soul"... Coincidence?
Hey, sorry it took so long for me to read this. I think of that as a sort of nudge'n'wink if indeed it's really intended, as Scenes seems to more Petrucci's baby and doesn't deal with the same subjects. Still, interesting innit it?
This is quite amazing and interresting news for me, since I've come to the conclusion that Metropolis Part 1 and 2, The Glass Prison and This Dying Soul was connected... hmmmm... maybe with a little imagination you could link this together... Has annyone ever asked Dream Theater about this?
Astounding, one can only wonder were this story ends =)
Someone should continue this analysis with the two next songs: Root of All Evil and Repentance.
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