I decided just now, that The Edge of Forever is one of the greatest songs ever. And everything in it, like every single other Symphony X song, is sheer genius, but in this particular song, it's just plain beautiful. The music, the poetry, everything. But.... What the hell are the lyrics about?!?!?!?!
The Edge of Forever
- Thread starter Horus
- Start date
Fallen Embers
New Metal Member
I agree, the layout of the song is so great. And the chorus is just immaculate, probably one of their most uplifting as well.
The song itself, I think, is about a dream/nightmare about a past love and how it's leading him to dementia in both dream and reality.
The song itself, I think, is about a dream/nightmare about a past love and how it's leading him to dementia in both dream and reality.
Matt
Active Member
Pictures of what used to be,
Lie in Pieces on the floor
Find himself in an empty room.
Her voice calls out to him
He opens the door, but there's no one there
No one there...
Draped in a silken glow of moonlight
Through the mist I see, a lucid cathedral appears to me,
Pray for a glimpse a touch of sunlight
Chain our shadow down, night swttles in my love,
You never make a sound.
This song is close to my favorite as well, very well written, from every riff every guitar solo and every god spoken lyric, it kicks the ass!
I believe the song (as mentioned) is about lost love.. For some reason i think is about his lover passing away.(or being gone/leaving) For the most part of the song its not about a dream or a nightmare... its about his sub-concious, his life and how he lives it out without her.
"Pictures of what used to be, lie in pieces on the floor, he finds himself in an empty room,her voice calls out to him, he opens the door, but there's no one there, no one there...."
Pictures of his X-lover scattered around, him being in a room all alone... He is thinking about her and thinks she is going to be at the door so he opens it...but no one is there
"Draped in a silken glow of moonlight, through the mist I see, a lucid cathedral appears to me. Pray for a gimpse a touch of sunlight, chain our shadow down, night settles in my love, you never make a sound.."
He only see's his love at night while he is dreaming of her, he prays to see her again, in real time during the day. He wants to see the sunlight touch her beatiful skin and cast their shadows. Than night comes along, and he knows that he will get to see her once again.
"Close your eyes-and try to remember, discordant lullabies of days gone by, close your eyes-on the edge of forever, a chance to dream, fast asleep your nightmare ends."
The chorus is the part that best explains my theory... FAST ASLEEP YOUR NIGHTMARE ENDS...he is missing his love, and every day he lives without her is killing him inside, but when he goes to sleep, it gives him a chance to dream about her, a chance to touch and see her once again.
"Love is flowing from my finger tips, never in control of this domain. All around me my essence lay. watch the vultures circle through the pouring rain."
His love is dieing, and he is unable to save her (hence never in control of this domain) vultures are waiting for him to leave to peck at her dead body (since this is what they do) The pouring rain is like a dramatic effect added to movies, rain = depressed feeling.
Everything up untill the first time the chorus plays that Allen sings is in a rather soft style... but afterwords the lyrics ar much heavier, angry-depressed.
"As the walls converge around me, castles crumbling down, everything is not as it seems to be.
Once more I feel I must return, No more will my soul burn, dawn breaks the ground, my love, and with it you fade away."
(allen sings in a much more disgruntled manner) His lover passed away a while back, and he dreams about her every night...But when reality hits again, when the dream is ending she dioes once again (in the dream) hence she goes away at the break of dawn because the dream is over...Than the night mare begins.. The nightmare being his life and everyday he lives without her...
"On the edge of forever"
Simply he is going to love her forever, and no matter what the situation that will never change....He also goes through this shit every living, breathing second for the rest of his life, so for him it seems like he is on the edge of forever... If time flys by while having fun...I hate to see how SLOW it goes when you lose someone you love, and are ubber depressed
Why do I think this is what the song means? well look at it, have you ever lost someone you cared very much for? Lived shitty, depressed days...than dream about her (or him in a females case
) all night, than you wake up and this person is no longer in your grasp...
Anyhoot, hope my explanation is suffecient enough for you guys...
Lie in Pieces on the floor
Find himself in an empty room.
Her voice calls out to him
He opens the door, but there's no one there
No one there...
Draped in a silken glow of moonlight
Through the mist I see, a lucid cathedral appears to me,
Pray for a glimpse a touch of sunlight
Chain our shadow down, night swttles in my love,
You never make a sound.
This song is close to my favorite as well, very well written, from every riff every guitar solo and every god spoken lyric, it kicks the ass!
I believe the song (as mentioned) is about lost love.. For some reason i think is about his lover passing away.(or being gone/leaving) For the most part of the song its not about a dream or a nightmare... its about his sub-concious, his life and how he lives it out without her.
"Pictures of what used to be, lie in pieces on the floor, he finds himself in an empty room,her voice calls out to him, he opens the door, but there's no one there, no one there...."
Pictures of his X-lover scattered around, him being in a room all alone... He is thinking about her and thinks she is going to be at the door so he opens it...but no one is there
"Draped in a silken glow of moonlight, through the mist I see, a lucid cathedral appears to me. Pray for a gimpse a touch of sunlight, chain our shadow down, night settles in my love, you never make a sound.."
He only see's his love at night while he is dreaming of her, he prays to see her again, in real time during the day. He wants to see the sunlight touch her beatiful skin and cast their shadows. Than night comes along, and he knows that he will get to see her once again.
"Close your eyes-and try to remember, discordant lullabies of days gone by, close your eyes-on the edge of forever, a chance to dream, fast asleep your nightmare ends."
The chorus is the part that best explains my theory... FAST ASLEEP YOUR NIGHTMARE ENDS...he is missing his love, and every day he lives without her is killing him inside, but when he goes to sleep, it gives him a chance to dream about her, a chance to touch and see her once again.
"Love is flowing from my finger tips, never in control of this domain. All around me my essence lay. watch the vultures circle through the pouring rain."
His love is dieing, and he is unable to save her (hence never in control of this domain) vultures are waiting for him to leave to peck at her dead body (since this is what they do) The pouring rain is like a dramatic effect added to movies, rain = depressed feeling.
Everything up untill the first time the chorus plays that Allen sings is in a rather soft style... but afterwords the lyrics ar much heavier, angry-depressed.
"As the walls converge around me, castles crumbling down, everything is not as it seems to be.
Once more I feel I must return, No more will my soul burn, dawn breaks the ground, my love, and with it you fade away."
(allen sings in a much more disgruntled manner) His lover passed away a while back, and he dreams about her every night...But when reality hits again, when the dream is ending she dioes once again (in the dream) hence she goes away at the break of dawn because the dream is over...Than the night mare begins.. The nightmare being his life and everyday he lives without her...
"On the edge of forever"
Simply he is going to love her forever, and no matter what the situation that will never change....He also goes through this shit every living, breathing second for the rest of his life, so for him it seems like he is on the edge of forever... If time flys by while having fun...I hate to see how SLOW it goes when you lose someone you love, and are ubber depressed
Why do I think this is what the song means? well look at it, have you ever lost someone you cared very much for? Lived shitty, depressed days...than dream about her (or him in a females case
) all night, than you wake up and this person is no longer in your grasp...Anyhoot, hope my explanation is suffecient enough for you guys...
I've always thought this song was about innocence. The innocence we had once long ago when we were very young, or even before that(hence "lullabies of days gone by"). The "close your eyes"-part is basically a plea for us to remember that greatness of the youth once again, while standing on the edge of forever. The last singing part("oh my love, live again"), is when a person remembers the past and lets his innocence live again.
My theory finds support in the fact that several of Symphony X's lyrics deal with the theme innocence.
My theory finds support in the fact that several of Symphony X's lyrics deal with the theme innocence.
Ret-
Witching Metal!!!
rockyracoon
...
Well I think most SX fans who didnt just get onboard with either V or The Odyssey agree TEOF is one of, if not, the best SX songs. For me, it has pretty much always been my favorite.
But.............it has been largely ignored in regards to live performances.
But.............it has been largely ignored in regards to live performances.
Kenneth R.
Cináed
Anonymous
L'Étranger
Proulxski, the end where he sings "Oh my love, live again." also proves your theory (him wanting her to live again, it's quite obvious.). But yeah, you couldn't have made it clearer than that.... I understand the song 89% more now that I've read your post.
lol...do remember I'm not the official song discipher...Its simply how the strong comes across to me, unless one of the band members told me for sure any answer could be possible...But for now I look to go with mine
RequiemX
King of Ithaca
The Edge of Forever is one of the most emotional songs ever written by Symphony X...At least in my opinion.
Where is the live coverage on this song, it would kick anus... And surely get some lighters going in the crowd...or at least a single tear from every metal heads eye (umm wait we don't cry lol) As they've stated it would be difficult to go back tot he past and cover songs they didn't when they have so much new material that needs covering (especially with a new CD under creation)
Where is the live coverage on this song, it would kick anus... And surely get some lighters going in the crowd...or at least a single tear from every metal heads eye (umm wait we don't cry lol) As they've stated it would be difficult to go back tot he past and cover songs they didn't when they have so much new material that needs covering (especially with a new CD under creation)
Yeh, I forgot to mention this in my explanation... He also says "ohh my love, live again..." Pretty much flat out stating his love is dead... either metaphoricaly or metaphysically( if that
is a word)
rockyracoon
...
proulxski said:
Citing too much new material as an excuse to ignore the old material is insulting. And here is why:
1. Virtually every SX fan has seen Odyssey material. And if you havent, then tough shit, you were living under a rock the past few years.
2. I completely understand the new album getting complete coverage on their next tour, but surely it wont fill an entire show.
3. "V" material has been played, to a lesser extent perhaps, but still the chance to see that material has been there.
4. Plenty of Divine Wings songs have gotten heavy rotation over the years.
5. If SX simply doesnt like Damnation Game, then come out and say you dont like it and that you wont play from it. At least then I could sleep better with a definitive answer. And the production quality of an album is a non-issue when playing the material live, because I've heard that arguement raised as well.
6. Bottom line, SX has never given the fans a even a remote opportunity to see material from SX or Damnation Game live. If they played it and I missed the show, then that would be fine, and my own fault. I just dont understand how you omit such a large part of your catalog. I'm sure Jax is tired of me bitching about this and has a perfectly legitimate reason why it doesnt get played, but I just feel like that material needs to be touched on. I certainly hope others agree...
Snowmaker
GO BLUE!!
_Gentleman of_the Snow_
Prog' Drummer
Holy shite, Proulxski. That's quite an awesome perception. Mega props, B. That, fo' shiz', has opened up my eye-izzles. Word. 
Selppinevoli
Member
Uh, rockyracoon...while you may have been a Symphony X fan since the Rod Tyler days, not everyone has. They're constantly getting new fans who have never heard their newer stuff, much less gotten to hear it live.
Most bands that have an extensive back catalog only play a few songs from their earlier days. Look what happened when Blind Guardian did voting as to what the setlist should be for their live DVD. The fans still voted for almost all songs from the IFTOS album on up.
It's not like TEoF is a short song either...it's 9 minutes long. They can fit two newer songs in that timeframe. I also have a few bootlegs where the song "Dressed To Kill" is played live, so it appears it was on their setlist for at least a year (the boots range from 1998-2001 that have that song). So they didn't ignore it, even after TDWoT, TiO, and V were already out.
Heck, a few years from now when they have even more albums out, people will probably be complaining that they don't play anything (or maybe only 1 song) off the TDWoT and TiO albums.
Back on the topic at hand though, I love TEoF. It has always been one of my favorite SymX songs from when I first started listening to them. Thank you proulxski for that interpretation of it!
Most bands that have an extensive back catalog only play a few songs from their earlier days. Look what happened when Blind Guardian did voting as to what the setlist should be for their live DVD. The fans still voted for almost all songs from the IFTOS album on up.
It's not like TEoF is a short song either...it's 9 minutes long. They can fit two newer songs in that timeframe. I also have a few bootlegs where the song "Dressed To Kill" is played live, so it appears it was on their setlist for at least a year (the boots range from 1998-2001 that have that song). So they didn't ignore it, even after TDWoT, TiO, and V were already out.
Heck, a few years from now when they have even more albums out, people will probably be complaining that they don't play anything (or maybe only 1 song) off the TDWoT and TiO albums.
Back on the topic at hand though, I love TEoF. It has always been one of my favorite SymX songs from when I first started listening to them. Thank you proulxski for that interpretation of it!
Dark Lucidity
Wrath
Anonymous
L'Étranger
My fav SX song (and fav song of all time actually) has got to be Through the Looking Glass. That song rules so damn much I can't even begin to describe its Uber 1337ness.
