| OSI – Invisible Men Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I'm getting vibes these 'invisible men' are Kevin Moore & Jim Matheos. | |
| Chroma Key – Colorblind Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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About the first verse: "On a beach twenty yards from the roadside Back again, 6 AM, far from sleep Must be 290-blue on the water It's gray to me, 3-CV is all I see" Over time, I've come to interpret 290-blue and 3-CV as mere technical descriptions of colors. All he's trying to say is that he doesn't see or feel colors anymore, not even blue (depression). The current time in which we live in, where technical skill and academic proficiency amount for practically everything of value, only makes us emotionally numb. Funny. I fell to prey to the very thing Moore criticized, and only when I try to "feel" his lyrics (instead of analyzing them logically or analytically) do I get their true meaning. |
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| OSI – Our Town Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| The general feeling in this one is about leaving somebody behind, things having gone cold in the relationship. | |
| OSI – Once Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| It can also be interpreted like this: the 'once' lines talk about how great and happy their relationship was, while the 'now' lines refer to how things got to a point that they're just hurting each other, the relationship stalemated, etc. | |
| OSI – Sure You Will Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Lots of disappointment about society in this one; things never turn out one's way unless one's way is the other's way. Sometimes you're not even that lucky. That said, "Give, take, crowd control They get in my way when I'm starting my day and Teamwork, self-control Is making me blue so I knew what I had to do." I feel you there Kevmo. |
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| OSI – Free Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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OSI's 'Free' album's only political song. To put it simply, the lyrics are basically about not really living in a free society: you have to watch what you say, watch lots of television (that tells you what to buy, like, dislike, etc.); and if anything manages to get out of its way (i.e.: frees itself), just dial 1-800-YOU'RE FREE. That dial part is obviously about political and corporal entities marketing 'freedom' as a form of propaganda, when in fact they're all about the opposite. |
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| Dream Theater – Speak to Me Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| The song is about James LaBrie's daughter. He wants her to open up to him. | |
| OSI – Once Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Moore falls in love with girl. Both promise each other they won't hurt themselves. Shit happens. The relationship ends. Girl finds another guy, hurts Moore. And so this song gets made. |
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| OSI – Radiologue Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"I'll be going now either way that the wind blows I'll be back though Leave a light in the window When the waves die down I'll be halfway 'round and I'll call you When the sun blocks out hold the radio up to the phone I was dreaming I was heading west thirty days faster Had a fever woke up in a sweat bailing out the water Can't go on Can't go back Heard your voice coming through the noise wrote it in the radio log Hurt my head, wondering what you said so I threw it overboard" This one's easy. He's stepping out of a relationship, asking for a timeout to think things through. He tells her that when the "waves die down" (meaning the emotional turmoil) he'll go back to her. But at a given moment he dreams he's "heading west" (traveling 'west' is always a theme for hopeful change in Moore's works), meaning in his mind he's already leaving her behind; forgetting her. He can't go on because he's still heartbroken and needs someone to love or care for him, but he can't go back because it's already too late and no longer feels as strong for her as he did. She then calls him because she misses him and speaks her mind about his wanderlust, after which he writes it down "in the radio log" (probably meaning he wanted to write a song about it). He couldn't make sense about it all, though, so he decides to just let it go. |
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| OSI – All Gone Now Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| One word: breakup. | |
| Chroma Key – Colorblind Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Errata: "This is also a criticism to Dream Theater, which as mentioned was a group that focused more on the technical aspects of music composition than on a song's general feeling." Moore said in an OSI interview that progressive metal didn't cut it for him because he felt that the genre had too many formulaic caveats, such as instrumental solos that didn't add anything of importance to a particular piece (aside from being a self-indulgent display of skill), thus escaping and even compromising the artistic purpose of music. |
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| OSI – Blood Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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As it almost always is with Moore, this song is about a relationship: "It's been a long time I thought you'd get it It's been a long time but I finally beat the blood back like you" It's about a woman who comes after him after a long time. He managed to beat the 'blood' back, which means he suppressed all the emotions (both good and bad), feelings, and love he once had for her, just like she (apparently) did. "It's been a long time but let's just forget it Ya gotta drive lies then slowly trace the veins Put it back in your heart" But here he regrets that decision. It's not letting him feel love about anyone again. He wants to forget about all the bad things, tracing the veins (things that happened) and lying himself into the hope that it won't happen again, so that he can start caring about someone once again (whether it's she or someone else). In the end, putting all that 'blood' back into one's heart means it will only get pumped out again. "You helped me to cut our losses 'cause dreamin' isn't living (don't come home) Enough is enough coin tosses We don't know how to treat it or leave it alone" At a time, she helped him affront their love crash. Dreaming about love is not the same as living it, but he feels it that way when he is around with her, and it probably gets worse with each time he sees her. They're both confused about it since they don't know how to treat their heartache, nor how to leave it alone and just pretend it isn't there. "We got what we want ask anyone But war is still war it's medicine The wind's at our back when we attack 'Cause God is our man He understands (the heart) it beats for blood" The first two lines mean things are apparently going well for both of them, yet in reality they're still battling all of their feelings. But that inner struggle is at the same time the only cure. Loving someone, while painful, is also euphoric. And it's also what living is all about, the way God intended it to be; it's the way things work. |
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| Chroma Key – Colorblind Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think that to understand this song one must put oneself in Kevin Moore's shoes. Right after breaking up with Dream Theater, a band that focuses more on technical prowess than anything else, Moore must have felt completely alienated from the group. He was looking for a completely different sound (as it shows in all of Chroma Key) while the other band members were heading in another direction, which he greatly disliked. This song is mostly about that. "On a beach twenty yards from the roadside Back again, 6 AM, far from sleep Must be 290 blue on the water It's gray to me, 3-CV [sic] is all I see" This verse serves as an intro to Colorblind's motif. "290" was CSS Alabama's shipyard number, and the ship was initially known by that number only. "3-CV" is actually CV-3 misspelled, also known as the USS Saratoga. Here Moore tells us he's been rambling on for hours, wandering on the road well after midnight trying to make sense out of life, and then decides to take a look at the sea to see if he can feel anything. He thinks he sees a vessel in the distance, but instead of feeling something akin to woodwork's warmth (290) he thinks of steel, iron, and grayness (CV-3). "Green can only hold you in the garden Too much red will go right to your head But if it's all the same to you Give me back my blue Other colors fade, anyway" The main verse, where the theme of synesthesia continues: 'Green' can only catch your attention in nature, and 'red' is associated with quick, temporary feelings such as violence and love (at least as he feels it). It can also be interpreted that those things we usually don't 'stare' at for long and/or immediately absorb. He then asks someone to give him back his blue, a color mostly associated with depression, because that's the feeling that lingers on the most in him. "I'm colorblind, three way tragedy Pantone memory, grayscale eyes Maybe I'm paranoid; yeah, that's my problem You almost have to be when you look like me" Being colorblind is a three way tragedy in the way that he can't distinguish between the three 'colors' that give color to life, even though he can see them. He can technically sense them, in the way that he knows he's looking at colors, but he can't feel them, they all look gray to him. This is also a criticism to Dream Theater, which as mentioned was a group that focused more on the technical aspects of music composition than on. "Pantone memory" refers to the fact that he can recall colors, in his mind he can feel them, but "grayscale eyes" means he can only see the world as gray. With "Maybe I'm paranoid; yeah, that's my problem" Moore raises the question as whether this is because modern life *is* actually gray, or whether he just doesn't get it and is too paranoid. In the last sentence, 'to look' is a metaphor for 'to be', continuing the theme of associating life in colors. "Stopped in the shade of a road sign When the sun rose like a bomb Tried to read the simple writing But the letters came out wrong It's all white lines to me But things are getting clearer I can almost read the writing in the mirror" He gets back in his car, and now it's well into the morning and the sun is rising. He tries to read a road sign but he still can't understand what he's looking at. He only does it once he's already too far away, and looking through the rear mirror; only in his memory, of things past, can he feel something. And finally: "I'm colorblind, freeway tragedy Pantone memory, x-ray eyes Where'd all the color go on my radio? You almost have to be a satellite to see." A reprise of the main verse, "Freeway tragedy" refers to the fact that this is all happening on a roadside reflection. "X-ray eyes" is obviously alluding to him seeing things 'through', but not really 'looking' (feeling) at them. "Where'd all the color go on my radio?" is Moore's way of saying this is actually a synesthetic experience, and that 'colors' are a metaphor for emotions in life. It's also about Dream Theater, about music, about modern life: technical skill cannot substitute emotional introversion, true creative inspiration comes from the soul and not from pretentious abstractions or gimmicks. You almost have to be a satellite to understand, you must be alienated and isolated from society to see. Moore feels this way, and his travelling is a reflection of the last words in this verse. |
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