A Fortune In Lies
John Petrucci

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

"For the first time in a long time...
everything was right in my world...
and then I woke up..."

Sample from a television prison documentary.

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

 

Status Seeker
Charlie Dominici and John Petrucci

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

 

1. 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...

    

2. 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
   Traveling all to find the land
   Revelation warms a touch
   And now, he will begin to
   Understand

    

3. 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?
   Is it all over?

    

4. Thorns

   Evil genius this secret plan
   Mercy dealt with the losing hand
   Will he ever fall?
   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.

    

5. 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.

    

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

 

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.

 

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 too 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

 

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
is 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
And if spirit's a sign
then it's only a matter of time
only a matter of time