6th Degree - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence [42:04]
music by Myung, Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess


I. OVERTURE [06:49]
(instrumental)


II. ABOUT TO CRASH - [lyrics by John Petrucci] [05:51]

She can't stop pacing
She never felt so alive
Her thoughts are racing
Set on overdrive

It takes a village
This she knows is true
they're expecting her
And she's got work to do

He helplessly stands by
It's meaningless to try
As he rubs his red-rimmed eyes
He says I've never seen her get this bad

Even though she seems so high
He knows that she can't fly
and when she falls out of the sky
He'll be standing by

She was raised in a small midwestern town
By a charming and eccentric loving father
She was praised as the perfect teenage girl
And everyone thought highly of her

And she tried everyday
With endless drive
To make the grade
Then one day
She woke up to find
The perfect girl
Had lost her mind

Once barely taking a break
Now she sleeps the days away
She helplessly stands by
It's meaningless to try
All she wants to do is cry
No one ever knew she was so sad

Cause even though she gets so high
And thinks that she can fly
She will fall out of the sky
But in the face of misery
She found hopefulness
Feeling better
She had weathered
This depression

Much to her advantage
She resumed her frantic pace
Boundless power
Midnight hour
She enjoyed the race


III. WAR INSIDE MY HEAD - [lyrics by Mike Portnoy] [02:08]

Napalm showers
Showed the cowards
We weren't there to mess around

Through heat exhaustion
And mind distortion
A military victory mounted on innocent ground

Hearing voices from miles away
Saying things never said
Seeing shadows in the light of the day
Waging a war inside my head

Years and years of
Bloodshed and warfare
Our mission was only to get in and kill

A free vacation
Of palmtrees and shrapnel
Trading innocence for permanent psychotic hell

Hearing voices from miles away
Saying things never said
Seeing shadows in the light of the day
Waging a war inside my head

Feeling strangers staring my way
Reading minds never read
Tasting danger with each word I say
Waging a war inside my head


IV. THE TEST THAT STUMPED THEM ALL - [lyrics by Mike Portnoy] [05:03]

Standing in the darkness
Waiting for the light
The smell of pure adrenaline
Burning in the night

Random blinding flashes
Aiming at the stage
Intro tape begins to roll
Igniting sonic rage

Still they keep me between these hollow walls
Hoping to find in me
The answers to the test that stumped them all

";The boy is simply crazy
Suffering from delusions
We honestly think that maybe
He might need an institution

He lives in a world of fiction
And really could use some help
We have just the place to fix him
To save him from himself";

Curled up in the darkness
Searching for the light
The smell of stale sweat and shit
Streaming through the night

Random urine testing
Pills red, pink and blue
Counseling and therapy
Providing not a clue

Still they keep me between these hollow walls
Hoping to find in me
The answers to the test that stumped them all

";We can't seem to find the answers
He seemed such a clear cut case
We cannot just let him leave here
And put all this work to waste

Why don't we try shock treatment
It really might do some help
We have just the tools to fix him
To save him from himself";


V. GOODNIGHT KISS - [lyrics by Mike Portnoy] [06:17]

Goodnight kiss in your nightgown
Lavender in your bed
So innocent as you lie down
Sweet dreams that run through your head

Are you lonely without Mommy's love?
I want you to know I'd die for that moment
You're just a poor girl
Afraid of this cruel world
Taken away from it all

It's been 5 years to the day and
My tainted blood's still the same
I can't help acting this way and
Those bastard doctors are gonna pay

I'm so lonely without baby's love
I want you to know I'd die for one more moment
I'm just a poor girl
Afraid of this cruel world
Taken away from it all


VI. SOLITARY SHELL - [lyrics by John Petrucci] [05:47]

He seemed no different from the rest
Just a healthy normal boy
His mama always did her best
And he was daddy's pride and joy

He learned to walk and talk on time
But never cared much to be held
and steadily he would decline
Into his solitary shell

As a boy he was considered somewhat odd
Kept to himself most of the time
He would daydream in and out of his own world
but in every other way he was fine

He's a Monday morning lunatic
Disturbed from time to time

To be continued...