'Love, just don't stare'
He used to say to me
Every Sunday morning
The spider in the window
The angel in the pool
The old man takes the poison
Now the widow makes the rules

'So speak, I'm right here'
She used to say to me
Not a word, not a word
Judas on the ceiling
The devil in my bed
I guess Easter's never coming
So I'll just wait inside my head

Like a scream but sort of silent
Living out my nightmares

Voices repeating me
'Feeling threatened?
We reflect your hopes and fears.'
Voices discussing me
'Others steal your thoughts
They're not confined
Within your mind.'

Thought disorder
Dream control
Now they read my mind on the radio
But where was the Garden of Eden?

I feel elated
I feel depressed
Sex is death, Death is sex
Says it right here on my Crucifix

Like a scream but sort of silent
Living out my nightmares

Voices protecting me
'Good behavior
Brings the Savior
To his knees.'
Voices rejecting me
'Others steal your thoughts
They're not confined
To your own mind.'

"I don't want to be here, 'cause of my
Suffering, 'cause of my illness.
Only love is worth having, only
Love is what matters, loving every
People on equal terms. "
"You've got to know who you're
Dealin' with because, like a stranger,
A-heh, just might come in through
Here with a gun... and then, what
Would you do? (Heh.)"
"Everything is immaterial"
"'n' you know that reality is immaterial."
"This is not reality"

I'm kneeling on the floor
Staring at the wall
Like the spider in the window
I wish that I could speak
Is there fantasy in refuge?
God in politicians?
Should I turn on my religion?
These demons in my head tell me to

I'm lying here in bed
Swear my skin is inside out
Just another Sunday morning

Seen my diary on the newsstand
Seems we've lost the truth to quicksand
It's a shame no one is praying
'Cause these voices in my head
Keep saying

'Love, just don't stare.'
'Reveal the Word when you're
Supposed to'
Withdrawn and introverted
Infectiously perverted
'Being laughed at and confused
Keeps us pleasantly amused
Enough to stay.'

Maybe I'm just Cassandra fleeting
Twentieth century Icon bleeding
Willing to risk Salvation
To escape from isolation

I'm witness to redemption
Heard you speak but never listened
Can you rid me of my secrets?
Deliver us from Darkness?

Voices repeating me
'Feeling threatened?
We reflect your hopes and fears.'
Voices discussing me
Don't expect your own Messiah
This never world which you desire
Is only in your mind.


Lyrics submitted by Thunderbolt, edited by boomgorilla

Voices song meanings
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32 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment

    Actually yeah, the three piece suite is about paranoia, that's why it's called "A Mind Beside Itself"

    Part 1, Erotomania:

    The term Erotomania refers to a psychological condition where the sufferer has an unshakable belief that someone else is secretly in love with them.

    Part 2, Voices:

    It's written through the eyes of a schizophrenic, who reckons angels and demons are talking to him, he seems to be in distress and could mean he partly knows that the voices are a figment of his disorder. Also, many people have analysed this part as a clash between sex and religion.

    Part 3, The Silent Man:

    I read that the lyrics could suggest that if we follow faith (though not blindly) we could avoid such problems as were in Voices.

    And also, sometimes the obvious showing meaning is not the right meaning at all, and maybe you have to read | between the lines. |

    EkulTeabagon November 11, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Yeah.. i think you guys are right. Its about lust and religion. I think James Labrie gives possibly his best ever performance here. I think "the Twentieth century Icon bleeding" refers to the human soul or body. anyway.. amazing song. the best song on "Awake".

    MMM88on January 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is my favorite song of all time. I'm pretty sure it's about a boy fighting the struggle between religion and lust. For example, I think the "angel in the pool" refers to a fountain outside a church, and that "He" at the beginning of the song refers to a faith figure.

    Thunderbolton January 06, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It could also be paranoia vs. religion.

    life_as_lucidon February 25, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's an enourmous, amazing look at the many facest of religion. Unbelievably good song.

    hangar18on April 14, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Yea...F****Gly great song...and the vocals are so awsome to...his voice at that time was so awsome...a bit more depth than now and a bit more growl in it...I love it!

    mando91on July 15, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's about the conflicts of sexuality and religion.

    Ironman621on June 08, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think it is about actually speaking: the voices "repeat me"(repeat what he is thinking into the outside world)

    And the whole thing about getting thoughts stolen or brodcasting them is that if you speak, you're letting other people know what you're thinking. And what you say reflects your "hopes and fears".

    The main person is paranoid(the name of the big song this is a part of is "a mind beside itself" which is a rough translation of paranoia) and so refuses to speak (which would let everybody get easy access to his thoughts)

    which is the reason for:

    '"So speak, I'm right here" She used to say to me Not a word, not a word'

    Thus the person supposedly singing this song becomes the silent man in "A Mind Beside Itself: iii. The Silent Man"

    And then there's some stuff about religion in there somewhere.

    Anyway, it is a good song and Dream Theater are the greatest!

    likeabrokenpromiseon July 11, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    What an amazing song, especially musically

    f15x28on December 11, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    What does "Love, just don't stare" means?

    f15x28on December 21, 2006   Link

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