In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Most of this is memory now
I've gone too far to turn back now
I'm not quite what I thought I was but
Then again I may be more
The blood-words promised, I've spoken
Releasing the names from the circle
Maybe I can leave here now and, o
Transcend the boundaries
For now I'm standing here
I'm awaiting this grand transition
The future is but past forgotten
When you're on the road to madness
Time's measure rusts as it crawls
I see its face in the looking glass - stop
This screaming laughter hides the pain of its reality
Black, the door was, was locked I opened
And now I've paid that price ten-fold over
Knowledge - was it worth such torment? Oh
To see the far side of shadow
And still I'm standing here
I'm awaiting this grand transition
I'm a fool in search of wisdom
And I'm on the road to madness
Yes, I'm on the road to madness
I'm awaiting endlessly
Pounding rhythms echo me
Won't you take me somewhere far beyond the void
And still I'm standing here
I'm awaiting this grand transition
Maybe one day, oh I'll meet you, and we'll
We'll walk the roads to madness
Yes, we're on the road to madness
Oh, I think they've come to take me
I hear the voice, but there's no-one to see
I can't scream, too late it's time
{Background, largely unintelligible}
Stay on the course to pass
You'll never find the answer
To a place where darkened angels
Seemed lost but never found
Scream to see the light of
Forming figures fast behind you
Lay the past in the wind to spin
And your fate will sail beyond the open plains
Sail with angels onward
Live or die for the chosen one said
Saber sights cast a spell behind you
And they lock in all around
Free the scene insider
You're never looking back to find why
Ride a course till the end of time
And you'll stand atop the gate
Laying waste in a path recited
Fighting force won't avenge the guided black wing
Oh, electric might poses fright inside me
Seeing light at the end of sight reminds me
I've passed away
I've gone too far to turn back now
I'm not quite what I thought I was but
Then again I may be more
The blood-words promised, I've spoken
Releasing the names from the circle
Maybe I can leave here now and, o
Transcend the boundaries
For now I'm standing here
I'm awaiting this grand transition
The future is but past forgotten
When you're on the road to madness
Time's measure rusts as it crawls
I see its face in the looking glass - stop
This screaming laughter hides the pain of its reality
Black, the door was, was locked I opened
And now I've paid that price ten-fold over
Knowledge - was it worth such torment? Oh
To see the far side of shadow
And still I'm standing here
I'm awaiting this grand transition
I'm a fool in search of wisdom
And I'm on the road to madness
Yes, I'm on the road to madness
I'm awaiting endlessly
Pounding rhythms echo me
Won't you take me somewhere far beyond the void
And still I'm standing here
I'm awaiting this grand transition
Maybe one day, oh I'll meet you, and we'll
We'll walk the roads to madness
Yes, we're on the road to madness
Oh, I think they've come to take me
I hear the voice, but there's no-one to see
I can't scream, too late it's time
{Background, largely unintelligible}
Stay on the course to pass
You'll never find the answer
To a place where darkened angels
Seemed lost but never found
Scream to see the light of
Forming figures fast behind you
Lay the past in the wind to spin
And your fate will sail beyond the open plains
Sail with angels onward
Live or die for the chosen one said
Saber sights cast a spell behind you
And they lock in all around
Free the scene insider
You're never looking back to find why
Ride a course till the end of time
And you'll stand atop the gate
Laying waste in a path recited
Fighting force won't avenge the guided black wing
Oh, electric might poses fright inside me
Seeing light at the end of sight reminds me
I've passed away
Lyrics submitted by Ice, edited by charlie110, adam101541
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I always saw this song as an amalgamation of H.P. Lovecraft characters. All attempting to search for hidden/forbidden knowledge and only upon finding it they realize their search is not only futile but deadly.
@AdrianDangerous. Yes sir. <br /> @pootangmagnet- silly guy. you funny guy?
godamajin, pootangmagnet was closest to the right answer
This song can only really be understood in the context of the rest of the album. It's not quite the concept album of Mindcrime, but it's pretty close. And as with all great QR albums, it's the killer last track that sums things up.
Seems pretty clear that this is written from the perspective of a typical doomed HP Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith-type mystic anti-hero. Even the title seems borrowed from Lovecrafts' At the Mouth of Madness.
It starts with a typical HPL introduction where the figure explains from the beginning that this has already taken place in the past, and he is recounting the events from some changed and maybe unpleasant perspective. He's opened up some occult portal in search of power or secret knowledge, only to discover the truth is too terrible to comprehend without going mad, and he's released some terrible entities from the other side who seek to destroy him for what he's done, and prevent him from using the powers he's tried to gain. He tries to escape, thinking in his madness he can eventually outrun his fate and become the being he sought to be in the first place, but there is nowhere he can go where is isn't pursued. Everywhere he goes (maybe to the end of time and space), he sows insanity and destruction, until he is eventually caught and either destroyed or dragged back to the realm of his phantom pursuers.
Anyone know what he's reading / speaking in the middle?
@charlie110 Yes I do! I actually came across it several years ago! It really adds to what I feel the true meaning is. Pretty mind blowing ! Ill get it on here this weekend sometime. <br /> <br /> Peace
I\'m sure this tune has a different meaning to about everyone and would refect thoughts of ones beliefs. So to me it is the watchers and the giants having sarrow for teaching Gods children the knoledge of good and evil. Just what it men\'s to me.
I think its about an out of body experience. He gives it away in the very last line "I\'ve passed away" . To me, he begins by describing the moments immediately after death and then the subsequent journey to the Great Beyond. He has thoughts and visions along the way of good and evil and feels he\'s going crazy because he\'s unaware that he\'s dead. Its quite possible that Geoff Tate wrote this while on mushrooms and therfore the reference but I think he\'s really describing frustration with leaving earthly life for the afterlife and feels hes gone crazy until at the end he realizes he\'s dead.
Amazing that nobody voiced any opinion on this great classic song. My favorite sone from Queensryche and one of my favorite songs of all time. Whats its about? I'm thinking its about a guy looking into the face of death and kinda wondering what will happen next. He is certain he will die soon so i'm guessing a death sentence. Hell? Heaven? and then the scenerio plays out for both. By the way there are many mistakes in the lyrics
Maybe it is about the "The Crack in the Cosmic Egg"?
I also heard it was about the madness of the nuclear arms race, but I like to think it's about the descent into madness of a mathematician going after figuring out some complex formula of dark energy and string theory.
WTF? How does the only guy to guess somewhat correct get voted down? haha. this isnt opinion by the way its fact from GTs own mouth
The song isnt about shooting up, but it is about drugs. Shrooms to be specific.
Tate explains this himself during the Building Empires tour introducing the song as being about "something very sily-cybin" referring to psilocybin (shrooms)
This song is about fuckin heroin and shootin up and shit. Its about junk man.