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New Millennium Lyrics
A single star behind me
A red sky burns ahead
A lonely light below me
Awake among the dead
An overwhelming feeling
Leaves me numb and strange
A sense of new beginning
I sense a wind of change
Out with the old useless
People so cold ruthless welcome
In a new millennium
How many times must I
Live out this nightmare I
Can't wait until a new millennium
I've got this feeling
The tide is turning now baby
Funny feeling, everything's gonna be alright now
Living out a constant deja vu
Keep your head up
Please be patient we will get to you
Keep your head up
Just have some faith and you can see it
Through
Keep your head up
But faith don't pay the rent that's overdue
Keep your head up
All that's glittering is turning blue
Keep your head up
What they want from me ain't gotta clue
Keep your head up
Swallow pride before it swallows you
Keep your head up
Don't dare bite the hand that's starving you
Keep your head up
How can you keep your head
And not go insane when the only light at the end
Of the tunnel is another train
The lies ten feet tall
Have broken my fall
Welcome you all new millennium
It's well overdue and I can't wait to
Welcome in a new millennium
I've got this feeling
The tide is turning now baby
Funny feeling
Everything's gonna be alright now
Um, it's probably not the meaning of the song, but the first thing that comes into my head was all the hype about the blatantly bullshit Y2K bug thing.
was there y2k stuff actually going on in 1996/1997? lol I wouldn't know I was only 6, 7, or 8 at the time..
"was there y2k stuff actually going on in 1996/1997? lol I wouldn't know I was only 6, 7, or 8 at the time.."
Yeah I was the same age as you, but it wasn't going on then. Nobody was really even talking about it until at least 1998, but i'm guessing 1999.
My guess is that this song is about just accepting change and taking it with the best of intentions.
I love the twist Dream Theater made for this song in Live at Budokan (get it if you haven't seen it, you won't regret it!). On the last repetition of the chorus, James and Mike sing:
"The tide is turning now, Tokio"
I thought that was a nice detail.
Where's Tokio? Is it the lost brother to Tokyo or something?
Where's Tokio? Is it the lost brother to Tokyo or something?
I believe the song is about how the New Millennium is like turning over a new leaf...getting to start over again, with a clean slate...
A sense of new beginning I sense a wind of change
That's what I think
Change, and what comes with it. Throughout this song, the change seems to be downplayed quite a bit. I would imagine that Portnoy wrote this with a rather snappy attitude towards the record label, who were making them change their sound to a more radio-friendly environment. It also alludes to how people's minds change very quickly and unexpectedly. The change of sound came at a time when Dream Theater was on top of their game, so I could see this being what the song is about.
I think new millenium isn't literally speaking of the year 2000, but it is used as a symbolic term. My take is that the song is about how we (as a species) should change mentalities in order to solve our problems and move forward to a new era (hence the term new millenium) Sort of as a call to arms for people to "wake up". I got this interpretation mainly from this part:
Living out a constant deja vu Keep your head up Please be patient we will get to you Keep your head up Just have some faith and you can see it Through Keep your head up But faith don't pay the rent that's overdue Keep your head up All that's glittering is turning blue Keep your head up What they want from me ain't gotta clue Keep your head up Swallow pride before it swallows you Keep your head up Don't dare bite the hand that's starving you Keep your head up