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Someone Else Lyrics
When I fell from grace
I never realized
how deep the flood was around me.
A man whose life was toil
was like a kettle left to boil,
and the water left scars on me.
I know now who I am.
If only for a while,
I recognize the changes.
I feel like I did before the
magic wore thin and the "baptism
of stains" began.
They used to say I was
nowhere, man,
heading down
was my destiny.
But yesterday, I swear,
that was someone else not me.
Here I stand at the crossroads edge,
afraid to reach out for eternity,
One step, when I look down,
I see someone else not me.
Looking back and I see
someone else.
All my life they said I
was going down,
but I'm still standing,
stronger, proud.
And today I know there's
so much more I can be.
From where I stand at the crossroads edge,
there's a path leading out to sea.
And from somewhere
deep in my mind,
sirens sing out loud
songs of doubt
as only they know how.
But one glance back reminds, and I see,
someone else not me.
I keep looking back
at someone else... me?
He's not in touch with himself. He feels like he's looking upon himself as if he is not himself, and that he's deatched and looking at himself from the outside rather than looking at the world from the outside.
This sometimes happens when people get depressed and feel like they've done something wrong and do too much navel gazing.
Simply put, this song is about anyone who has ever hit rock bottom and found redemption...whether it's someone who has overcome addiction or who was lost and found salvation. A hauntingly spiritual reflection of the past, present, and future.
Queensryche is always introspective and powerful. If you like this song check out the full version on their Greatest album. This song is for anyone who has ever questioned themselves and their own humanity/morality.... regret. Passion for the future, even though inside we know that it will hurt just as much as the past. We look forward hoping to take what we learned.
"KNOW THYSELF" ~Socrates
This song (along with 'Promised Land' and 'Damaged') is practically Geoff in a nutshell: After the success of 'Empire', his life fell apart - Fame, alcohol, divorce. Something snapped in his head and he realised just who he had become. Moreover, that this person was not him - it was someone else.
I think this song essentially expresses Geoff's confidence. Not many people thought he could make it as a singer. They truly "made it" as a band when they released Empire, but it took so much to get there that he crashed. He divorced, and started drinking. After that crash, he is scared to return to the top "afraid to reach up for eternity". However, he knows he can. He proved everyone who didn't think he could make it wrong. This song describes this awkward stage he is in between ultimate fame, and alcoholism. "Crossroads edge." He isn't the Geoff Tate that would accept failure, and be contempt with walking away from music "when I look down I see someone else, not me," but because of the doubt he has always had, he is worried to return to the top.
To me this really is one of the most powerful and honest pieces of music I've ever heard and one that will probably mean a lot of different things to different people. I appreciate PigeonWing's comment as to the origin from Geoff Tate's experiences and this makes sense.
I think the references to crossroads make it in many ways about making decisions and living with those decisions, choosing your actions and becoming who you want to be. I bought this album the day it was released at a time when I was living as someone other than myself and the track summed up decisions I had to make about who I was.
One day this will be played at my funeral, and I hope positive interpretations of it will be made.