Repentance (chanson)

Repentance est la cinquième chanson de l'album Systematic Chaos du groupe Dream Theater.

La chanson fut écrite par Mike Portnoy et fait partie de sa Alcoholics Anonymous suite qui traite des douze étapes du programme des Alcooliques anonymes. La suite a commencé sur le sixième album du groupe Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. "Repentance" inclus les étapes huit et neuf du programme des alcooliques anonymes. Par rapport aux chansons précédentes de la suite, "Repentance" est plus calme et lente.

L'introduction de la chanson consiste en une reprise la mélodie entendue dans le mouvement IV de la Alcoholics Anonymous suite, Reflections of Reality (Revisited), de la chanson "This Dying Soul" qui est sur l'album Train of Thought. Les premières paroles, « Hello, mirror / So glad to see you my friend / It's been a while » sont les mêmes que les lyriques qui ouvrent la chanson This Dying Soul. Toutefois, tel que vu dans le documentaire Chaos In Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos documentary, cette partie est chantée Mike Portnoy plutôt que par James LaBrie. Les voix ont également été mixées de façon a donner l'impression qu'elles sortent d'un téléphone.

La fin de la chanson contient un long passage parlé connu comme les « douze promesses » des pages 83-84 du livre des Alcooliques anonymes.

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

Selon Chaos in Progress, le titre préliminaire de la chanson était "Song #7" ou "Fisheye".

Mouvements

• VIII. Regret
• IX. Restitution

Crédits

Groupe

• James LaBrie - chant
• John Myung - basse
• John Petrucci - guitares
• Mike Portnoy - batterie, chant
• Jordan Rudess - claviers

Parties parlées

La section du milieu de la chanson inclut des excuses dites par les personnes suivantes :

• Corey Taylor - « Until that moment, I'd never felt like I'd failed at anything…And I felt like I failed her…And I failed myself, and I failed my children…It's still really hard to deal with. »
• Steve Vai - « I want to thank you for helping me to see my own selfishness and to tell you how regretful I am it has hurt you. »
• Chris Jericho - « I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital, Grandpa when you were on your deathbed. I'm sorry I didn't come to your funeral...I don't know if I was selfish or just too scared to face it. It's one of the biggest regrets of my life. »
• David Ellefson - « I'm here to confess with you that what I did, was wrong... And I'm asking for your forgiveness… »
• Steve Hogarth - « The only unforgivable thing hauls itself out of bed, looks over my shoulder at the bloody English weather… »
• Joe Satriani - « I really regret not being able to see my friend Andy… »
• Mikael Åkerfeldt - « One of my best friends who's the godfather of my daughter, he asked me to sing or play something at his wedding, and I turned it down because I was busy and too much of a chickenshit to do it...And I feel sorry for that, because it was a very very close friend of mine... »
• Steven Wilson - « So, I wanted to apologize to anyone that I've upset or offended.. they're just words, it's just an opinion, but unfortunately, I tend to express it as a fact, and that's kind of arrogant. Isn't it? »
• Jon Anderson - « I think it's the betrayal...it still haunts me. »
• Neal Morse - « I'm sorry for what I did back then... I was a different person. I really was and I'm so sorry. I wish it wouldn't have happened, but it did, and I'm sorry. Forgive me. I'm sorry... »
• Daniel Gildenlöw - « I guess I'm simply sorry for being me and not you. I so often wish you could be here with me to show me the way... »

La toute fin de la chanson comprend également deux dialogues finaux :

• David Ellefson - « You're only as sick as your secrets, but the truth shall set you free… »
• Corey Taylor - « The truth is the truth, so all you can do is live with it. »

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