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The Twelve-step Suite, also known as the Alcoholics Anonymous Suite (and, to a lesser extent, the Mikey Suite), is a series of songs by progressive metal band Dream Theater. The lyrics to each song, written by drummer Mike Portnoy, deal with his experience of alcoholism[1] in some form, and each song represents a certain number of the Twelve Steps.
[edit] Themes
The songs feature a number of recurring musical and lyrical themes, and all of them (except for "Repentance") are among Dream Theater's loudest and heaviest. Gathering all songs, the suite reaches a total of 56:57 minutes making it their longest suite thus far. All of the steps start with the letters "Re", a reference to the word "rehab". Mike Portnoy stated in an interview on the Eddie Trunk show on March 16 that he prefers to call it the "Twelve-step Suite" or "Twelve-step Saga" rather than "AA Suite".[2]
The band also plans to release all of the songs together on a future live album.[1] All songs are dedicated to "Bill W. and his friends". [3][4]
All lyrics written by Mike Portnoy, all music composed by Dream Theater.
[edit] "The Mirror"
Additionally, the song "The Mirror" from the album Awake was written about Portnoy's alcoholism, and is considered by some fans to be the prologue of the Twelve-step Suite, while not actually being a part of it.[5][6] The song is also alluded to in the opening lyrics of the second, third, and fourth songs from the suite and in the fifth and final song.
[edit] Connections
It could also be noted that lyrically and/or musically, each song references the preceding songs:
| Song |
Connection |
| "This Dying Soul" |
- The first 5 guitar notes of This Dying Soul are the last 5 guitar notes of "The Glass Prison".
- The lines "Hello mirror, so glad to see you my friend / It's been a while" references the song "The Mirror".
- The lyrics "Now it's time to stare the problem right between the eyes you long lost child" and "Spreading all your lies from coast to coast / While spitting on the ones that matter most" is similar to the lyrics in "The Mirror" "Let's stare the problem right in the eye / It's plagued me from coast to coast / Racing the clock to please everyone / All but the one who matters the most".
- The lyrics "I can't break out of this prison all alone" is also said in "The Glass Prison".
- This song also shares a riff with "The Glass Prison".
|
| "The Root of All Evil" |
- The starting guitar riff is similar to the last riff played in "This Dying Soul", a bit slower.
- The opening drum riff is also nearly identical to one of the drum riffs in "This Dying Soul".
- The "I can feel my body breaking" prechorus also features in "This Dying Soul" along with an identical riff but raised from the key of B to C#.
- The lyrics "I can't break out of this prison all alone" is mentioned again.
- The lyrics "Help me be all I can be" is similar to the one in "This Dying Soul", "And become what you can be".
- The lyrics "Heal this dying soul" references the title of "This Dying Soul".
- In the lyrics booklet that comes with the album, the second chorus is printed with slightly different lyrics than the first, yet both choruses were recorded with the same lyrics.
|
| "Repentance" |
- The starting melody is identical to the one in "This Dying Soul" at 2:04 but raised from the key of B to C#.
- The first lines "Hello mirror, so glad to see you my friend / It's been a while" are the same as the first lines in "This Dying Soul".
|
| "The Shattered Fortress" |
- The title of the song is derived from two lines from "The Glass Prison", "A shattered glass prison wall behind me" and "A long lost fortress"
- The song is nearly entirely composed by variations of parts from the previous four songs in the saga. Intro sections, vocal sections, and main guitar riffs.
- It ends with the intro to "The Glass Prison" - one final distorted chord - and the intro of "The Root of All Evil" fading into the opening static from "The Glass Prison", ending the suite in the exact same way it began.
- The song also references "The Mirror", with the lyrics "Look in the mirror / what do you see?"
|
[edit] References
