very cool! I saw Jeff with Satriani and Vai in the G3 tour about 5 years ago.

Never could have just a part of it
I always need more to get by
Getting right down to the heart of it
The root of all evil has been running my whole life

This is LONG, but i thought some of you might enjoy reading the lyrics of the 12-Step Suite (also called the AA Saga) by Dream Theater. The song is now complete:

The Glass Prison

[I. REFLECTION]

Cunning, Baffling, Powerful
Been beaten to a pulp
Vigorous, Irresistible
Sick and tired and laid low
Dominating, Invincible
Black-out, loss of control
Overwhelming, Unquenchable
Im powerless, have to let go

I cant escape it
It leaves me frail and worn
Can no longer take it
Senses tattered and torn

Hopeless surrender
Obsessions got me beat
Losing the will to live
Admitting complete defeat

Fatal Descent
Spinning around
Ive gone too far
To turn back round

Desperate attempt
Stop the progression
At any length
Lift this obsession

Crawling to my glass prison
A place where no one knows
My secret lonely world begins

So much safer here
A place where I can go
To forget about my daily sins

Life here in my glass prison
A place I once called home
Fall in nocturnal bliss again

Chasing a long lost friend
I no longer can control
Just waiting for this hopelessness to end

[II. RESTORATION]

Run - fast from the wreckage of the past
A shattered glass prison wall behind me
Fight - past walking through the ashes
A distant oasis before me

Cry - desperate crawling on my knees
Begging God to please stop the insanity
Help me - Im trying to believe
Stop wallowing in my self pity

Weve been waiting for you my friend
The writings been on the wall
All it takes is a little faith
You know youre the same as us all

Help me - I cant break out this prison all alone
Save me - Im drowning and Im hopeless on my own
Heal me - I cant restore my sanity alone

Enter the door
Desperate
Fighting no more
Help me restore
To my sanity
At this temple of hope

I need to learn
Teach me how
Sorrow to burn
Help me return
To humanity
Ill be fearless and thorough
To enter this temple of hope

Believe
Transcend the pain
Living the life
Humility
Opened my eyes
This new odyssey
Of rigorous honesty

Serenity
That I never knew
Soundness of mind
Helped me to find
Courage to change
All the things that I can

Well help you perform this miracle
But you must set your past free
You dug the hole, but you cant bury your soul
Open your mind and youll see

Help me - I cant break out this prison all alone
Save me - Im drowning and Im hopeless on my own
Heal me - I cant restore my sanity alone

[III. REVELATION]

Way off in the distance I saw a door
I tried to open
I tried forcing with all of my will but still
The door wouldnt open

Unable to trust in my faith
I turned and walked away
I looked around, felt a chill in the air
Took my will and turned it over

The glass prison which once held me is gone
A long lost fortress
Armed only with liberty
And the key of my willingness

Fell down on my knees and prayed
Thy will be done
I turned around, saw a light shining through
The door was wide open


This Dying Soul

[IV. Reflections of Reality (Revisited)]

Hello, Mirror - so glad to see you my friend, its been a while
Searching, Fearless - where do I begin to heal this wound of self-denial

Face yourself man!
Brace yourself man! and trace your hell back

Youve been blinded, living like a one way cold existence all the while
Now its time to stare the problem right between the eyes you long lost child

I wanna feel your body breaking
Wanna feel your body breaking and shaking and left in the cold
I want to heal your conscience making a change to fix this dying soul

Born into this world a broken home
Surrounded by love yet all alone
Forced into a life thats split in two
A mother and a father both pulling you

Then you had to deal with loss and death
Everybody thinking they know best
Coping with this shit at such an age
Can only fill a kid with pain and rage

Family disease pumped through your blood
Never had the chance you thought you could
Running all the while with no escape
Turning all that pain in to blame and hate

Living on your own by twenty one
Not a single care and having fun
Consuming all the life in front of you
Burning out the fuse and smoking the residue

Possessive obsessions selfish childish games
Vengeful resentments
Passing all the blame

Living out a life of decadence
Acting without thought of consequence
Spreading all your lies from coast to coast
While spitting on the ones that matter most

Running power mad with no control
Fighting for the credit they once stole
No one can ever tell you what to do
Ruling others' lives while the cant stand the thought of you

A living reflection seen from miles away
A hopeless affliction having run astray
I wanna feel your body breaking
Wanna feel your body breaking and shaking and left in the cold
I want to heal your conscience making a change to fix this dying soul
This dying soul

Now that you can see all you have done
Its time to take that step into the kingdom
All your sins will only make you strong
And help you break right through the prison wall

[V. Release]

Come to me my friend (Listen to me)
Ill help this torture end (Help to set me free)
Let your ego go (I cant carry this load)
You cant go through this alone (I feel so hopeless and exposed)
Youll find your peace of mind (Give me some direction)
You can no longer hide (Break out of this isolation)
Let humility (Openness, honesty)
And become what you can be (A healing tranquility)

Help me
Save me
Heal me
I cant break out of this prison all alone

These tormenting ghosts of yesterday
Will vanish when exposed
You cant hold onto your secrets
Theyll only send you back alone

Your fearless admissions
Will help expel your destructive obsessions
With my help I know you can
Be at one with God and man

Hear me
Believe me
Take me
Im ready to break through this prison wall


The Root of All Evil

VI. Ready

Proud enough for you to call me arrogant
Greedy enough to be labeled a thief
Angry enough for me to go and hurt a man
Cruel enough for me to feel no grief

Never could have just a part of it
I always need more to get by
Getting right down to the heart of it
The root of all evil has been running my whole life

Dirty enough for me to lust
Leaving nothing left to trust
Jealous enough to still feel envious
Lazy enough to sleep all day
And let my life just waste away
Selfish enough to make you wait for me

Driven blindly by our sins
Misled so easily
Entirely ready to leave it behind
Im begging to break free

Take all of me
The desires that keep burning deep inside
Cast them all away
And help to give me strength to face another day
I am ready
Help me be what I can be

VII. Remove

Self-centered fear has got a hold of me
Clutching my throat
Self righteous anger running all through me
Ready to explode

Procrastination paralyzing me
Wanting me dead
These obsessions that keep haunting me
Wont leave my head

Help to do for me what I cant do myself
Take this fear and pain
I cant break out of this prison all alone
Help me break these chains

Humility now my only hope
Wont you take all of me
Heal this dying soul

I can feel my body breaking
I can feel my body breaking
Im ready to let it all go
I can feel my body shaking
Right down to the foundation
The root of it all

Take all of me
The desires that keep burning deep inside
Cast them all away
And help to give me strength to face another day
I am ready
Help me be what I can be
I am ready
Come to me
Take me away


Repentance

[VIII. Regret]

Hello Mirror, so glad to see you my friend
its been a while...

Staring at the empty page before me
All the years of wreckage running through my head
Patterns of my life I thought adorned me
Revealing hurtful shame and deep lament

Overwhelming sorrow now absorbs me
As the pen begins to trace my darkest past
Signs throughout my life
that should have warned me
Of all the wrongs Ive done for which I must repent

I once thought it better to regret
Things that I have done than havent
Sometimes youve got to be wrong
And learn the hard way
Sometimes youve got to be strong
When you think its too late

Staring at the finished page before me
All the damage now so clear and evident
Thinking about the dreaded task in store for me
A bitter fear at the thought of my amends

Hoping that the step will help restore me
To face my past and ask for forgiveness
Cleaning up my dirty side of this unswept street
Could this be the beginning of the end?

I once thought it better to regret
Things that I have done than havent
Sometimes youve got to be wrong
And learn the hard way
Just when youre through hanging on
Youre saved

[IX. Restitution]

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.

Youre only as sick as your secrets, but the truth shall set you free...

The truth is the truth, so all you can do is live with it.


The Shattered Fortress

[X. Restraint]

Freedom calls my name
Serenity keeps me sane
Happiness it dulls the pain

Honest to see my place
Open to other ways
Willingness to understand

Justice but do not judge
Courtesy for others flaws
Kindness its not that hard

Self-restraint of tongue and pen
Inventory my daily bread
Analysis let down your guard

Look in the mirror
What do you see?
The shattered fortress
That once bound me

Fateful ascent
Through darkest fires
Ive found the path
To take me higher

Youre smart enough for me to trust go live your life now
Just keep these steps in your life and youll know how
If youre not sure, ask yourself
Have I done to them
As I would have them do to me?

Look in the mirror
Whats that you see?
The shattered fortress
Fly now be free

Fateful ascent
Through darkest fires
Ive found the path
To take me higher

I once thought it better to be right
But now I have finally seen the light
Sometimes youve got to be wrong
And learn from mistakes
I live with serenity now
Not self-righteous hate

[XI. Receive]

(Help me be a channel of Thy peace
That were there is hatred, I may bring love
That were there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
That were there is discord, I may bring harmony
That were there is error, I may bring truth
That were there is doubt, I may bring faith)

Now that you can see all you have done
(That were there is despair, I may bring hope
That were there is shadow, I may bring light)

Its time to take that step into the kingdom
(That were there is sadness, I may bring joy)

All your sins will help to make you strong
(That I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted
That I may seek to understand, rather than to be understood)

And help you break right through the prison wall
(That I may seek to love, rather than to be loved,
for it is by self-forgetting that one finds,
it is by forgiving that one is forgiven)

Keep all of me
The desires that once burned me deep inside
Help me live today
And help to give me grace
To carry out your ways

I am ready
Help me be all I can be
I am ready
Help guide me and keep me free


[XII. Responsible]

I am responsible
When anyone, anywhere
Reaches out for help
I want my hand to be there

I am responsible
When anyone, anywhere
Reaches out for help
I want my hand to be there