This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
The smile of dawn arrived early May
She carried a gift from her home
The night shed a tear to tell her of fear
and of sorrow and pain she'll never outgrow
Death is the first dance, eternal
There's no more freedom
The both of you will be confined to this mind
I was told there's a miracle
for each day that I try
I was told there's a new love that's born
for each one that has died
I was told there'd be no one to call on
when I feel alone and afraid
I was told if you dream of the next world,
you'll find yourself swimming in a lake of fire
As a child, I thought I could live without pain, without sorrow
As a man, I've found it's all caught up with me
I'm asleep, yet I'm so afraid
Somewhere, like a scene from a memory,
there's a picture worth a thousand words
Eluding stares from faces before me
It hides away and will never be heard of again
Deceit is the second without end
The city's cold blood teaches us to survive
Just keep my heart in your eyes and we'll stay alive
The third arrives...
Before the leaves have fallen
Before we lock the doors
There must be the third and last dance
This one will last forever
Metropolis watches and thoughtfully smiles
She's taken you to your home
It can only take place
when the struggle between our children has ended
Now the Miracle and the Sleeper know
that the third is love
Love is the Dance of Eternity
She carried a gift from her home
The night shed a tear to tell her of fear
and of sorrow and pain she'll never outgrow
Death is the first dance, eternal
There's no more freedom
The both of you will be confined to this mind
I was told there's a miracle
for each day that I try
I was told there's a new love that's born
for each one that has died
I was told there'd be no one to call on
when I feel alone and afraid
I was told if you dream of the next world,
you'll find yourself swimming in a lake of fire
As a child, I thought I could live without pain, without sorrow
As a man, I've found it's all caught up with me
I'm asleep, yet I'm so afraid
Somewhere, like a scene from a memory,
there's a picture worth a thousand words
Eluding stares from faces before me
It hides away and will never be heard of again
Deceit is the second without end
The city's cold blood teaches us to survive
Just keep my heart in your eyes and we'll stay alive
The third arrives...
Before the leaves have fallen
Before we lock the doors
There must be the third and last dance
This one will last forever
Metropolis watches and thoughtfully smiles
She's taken you to your home
It can only take place
when the struggle between our children has ended
Now the Miracle and the Sleeper know
that the third is love
Love is the Dance of Eternity
Lyrics submitted by rainstorm
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My interpretation (keep in mind, this is MY OWN, not Petrucci's or DT's) (And yes, I know of the connection to Scenes From A Memory; I'm just saying, if this was a stand-alone, this is what it could be):
Two people, a boy and a girl, are telepathically connected; they are in two distant regions, but they know in their hearts that hey can't live without one another.
Enter the three dances: Death, Deceit, and Love.
The first dance, Death, could signify the death of the girl's parents, or of a close loved one. The girl feels extremely distraught, and somehow becomes linked to a boy in a far-off region.
The boy is also living life alone, with no one to watch over him, and becomes so attached to this connection, he can't live life without this mysterious person by his side.
That is when he decides to forsake all that he has known and search for this mysterious girl.
This is the second dance: Deceit.
The girl knows of this, and decides to find him, as well. He then tells her, "Just keep my heart in your eyes and we'll stay alive..."
And so, the journey begins.
Throughout the instrumental break, the two are hectically searching for each other, and when the break is over, the two find each other. Realizing this, they find out that their struggles' end can mean that they can now live the life they have pursued - a life together.
This is the third dance: Love, also known as the Dance Of Eternity.
@mitalca35 <br /> Nice idea <br /> but " to tell her of fear<br /> and of sorrow and pain she'll never outgrow"<br /> i think, i feel that the girl is the one, who will die (very young) so this not fit me to your explanations. <br /> <br /> But very nice idea, thinking about your idea, sentences "Before the leaves have fallen<br /> Before we lock the doors<br /> There must be the third and last dance<br /> This one will last forever"<br /> sounds more bueatifull to me :) <br /> <br /> So I disagreee with you, but i love your idea, thank you