| Space-Dye Vest | |
| Awake | |
| Length | 07:29 |
| Working title | (Unknown) |
| Release date | October 4, 1994 |
| Lyrics | Kevin Moore |
| Music | Kevin Moore |
| First live performance | Jan 24th, 2011, Tarrytown Music Hall (Jordan Rudess and James LaBrie); Jan 15th 2014, Coliseu do Porto, Portugal (full band) |
| Total live plays | 2 |
| Recorded | One On One Studios and Devonshire Studios |
| Other appearances | |
| Previous song | Scarred |
| Next song | A Change of Seasons |
Space-Dye Vest is the eleventh track on Dream Theater's third album, Awake. Space-Dye Vest was written by Kevin Moore, who brought the piece into the studio as a completed song. The song The Mirror contains several reprises and musical references to Space-Dye Vest.
Personnel
- James LaBrie - Vocals
- John Myung - Bass
- Kevin Moore - Piano
- John Petrucci - Guitar
- Mike Portnoy - Drums, percussion
Lyrics
Falling through pages of Martens on angels Feeling my heart pull west I saw the future dressed as a stranger Love in a space-dye vest Love is an act of blood and I'm bleeding Pool in the shape of a heart Beauty projection in the reflection Always the worst way to start [Sample is Julian Sands from the film "A Room With A View".] "But he's the sort who can't know Anyone intimately, least of all a woman. He doesn't know what a woman is. He wants you for a possession, Something to look at like a painting or an ivory box. Something to own and to display. He doesn't want you to be real, or to think or to live. He doesn't love you, but I love you. I want you to have your own thoughts and ideas and feelings, Even when I hold you in my arms. It's our last chance... It's our last chance..." Now that you're gone I'm trying to take it Learning to swallow the rage Found a new girl I think we can make it As long as she stays on the page This is not how I want it to end And I'll never be open again. [Sample from "The Trouble With Evan", from the Canadian series "The Fifth Estate".] "...I was gonna move out...ummm...get, Get a job, get my own place, ummm, But... I go into the mall where I Want to work And they tell me, I'm, I was too young..." [Sample is Jim Hill from a news commentary about the OJ Simpson freeway chase.] "Some people, gave advice before, About facing the facts, about facing reality. And this is, this without a doubt, is his biggest challenge ever. He's going to have to face it. You're gonna have to try, he's gonna to have to try and, Ah, and, and, and get some help here. I mean no one can say they know how he feels." [Sample from the Conan O'Brien show.] "That, so they say that, in ya know like, Houston or something, you'd say it's a hundred and eighty degrees, But it's a dry heat. In Houston they say that? Ah, maybe not. I'm all mixed up. Try until they hit the swimming pool." [Sample from "The Trouble With Evan", from the Canadian series "The Fifth Estate".] ...I get up with the sun... Listen. You have your own room to sleep in, I don't care what you do. I don't care when. That door gets locked, That door gets locked at night by nine o'clock. If you're not in this house by nine o'clock, then you'd better find some place to sleep. Because you're not going to be a bum in this house. Supper is ready..." There's no one to take my blame If they wanted to There's nothing to keep me sane And it's all the same to you There's nowhere to set my aim So I'm everywhere Never come near me again Do you really think I need you I'll never be open again, I could never be open again. I'll never be open again, I could never be open again. And I'll smile and I'll learn to pretend And I'll never be open again And I'll have no more dreams to defend And I'll never be open again.
Lyrics
The lyrics are about Moore falling in love with a picture of a model in a fashion magazine wearing a space-dye vest. "Kevin Moore saw this photograph in a fashion magazine of a beautiful model wearing a space-dye vest and he fell in love with her," LaBrie explained. "He carried that magazine around with him for ages, but he realized that the only way the innocence could be kept, so that he could retain that love for her, was if she stayed on the page. If he'd met her, all that would have been lost."
Tone
The style of the song is rather more subdued and stripped back than Dream Theater's usual style. Portnoy recalled that when the rest of the band first heard the song 'we thought it was so very, very different we didn't think we even wanted to fuck with it.'
Live Performances
Mike Portnoy claimed that if they had known Kevin Moore was going to leave the band, they would not have included it on the album. Portnoy considered "Space-Dye Vest" totally 100% Moore's song,' and refused to play the song live without Moore during his time in the band.
The track later surfaced on the Along for the Ride tour, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Awake, with a slightly modified arrangement.
It also appears on their Breaking the Fourth Wall DVD (at Boston Opera House) in a version very close to the original.