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About This Track
“Learning to Live” is the eighth and final track from Dream Theater’s 1992 album Images and Words.
The opening lines from the song are a direct lift from the book Atlas Shrugged by noted author Ayn Rand. The first phrase, “There was no time for pain, no energy for anger. Sightlessness of hatred slips away.” is paraphrase from the exact quote “He had no time for pain, no energy for anger. Within a few weeks, it was over; the blinding stabs of hatred ceased and did not return.” (p. 211 of the Centennial Edition) The next phrase in the song, “Walking through winter streets alone, he stops and takes a breath, with confidence and self-control,” is similar to the next few sentences in the book. Dream Theater is known for using movie sound clips in their songs to make a point. However, this inclusion was actually in the lyrics with no reference given to Rand or the book itself. The song itself does not seem to hold any other parallels to Atlas Shrugged and it is unknown what significance this inclusion has.
The rest of John Myung’s lyrics of the song touch on a theme regarding the AIDS virus and epidemic. Live performances of the song have been dedicated to Arthur Ashe, an early casualty of AIDS.
Like many epic progressive rock songs, Learning to Live has a somewhat unusual structure. Starting at 4:45, James LaBrie stops singing, allowing the instrumentation to continue.
Learning to Live” is the eighth and final track from Dream Theater’s 1992 album Images and Words.The opening lines from the song are a direct lift from the book Atlas Shrugged by noted author Ayn Rand. The first phrase, “There was no time for pain, no energy for anger. Sightlessness of hatred slips away.” is paraphrase from the exact quote “He had no time for pain, no energy for anger. Within a few weeks, it was over; the blinding stabs of hatred ceased and did not return.” (p. 211 of the Centennial Edition) The next phrase in the song, “Walking through winter streets alone, he stops and takes a breath, with confidence and self-control,” is similar to the next few sentences in the book. Dream Theater is known for using movie sound clips in their songs to make a point. However, this inclusion was actually in the lyrics with no reference given to Rand or the book itself. The song itself does not seem to hold any other parallels to Atlas Shrugged and it is unknown what significance this inclusion has.
The rest of John Myung’s lyrics of the song touch on a theme regarding the AIDS virus and epidemic. Live performances of the song have been dedicated to Arthur Ashe, an early casualty of AIDS.
Like many epic progressive rock songs, Learning to Live has a somewhat unusual structure. Starting at 4:45, James LaBrie stops singing, allowing the instrumentation to continue.
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Albums featuring this track
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Images and Words
Dream Theater
Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital $8.99
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $11.25
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Once in a LIVEtime (disc 2)
Dream Theater Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $11.99
- 7digital $12.99
- iTunes $11.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $6.76
- eBay Search
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Live Scenes From New York (Disc 3)
Dream Theater Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.99
- 7digital $8.99
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $11.98
- eBay Search
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Guitar Talkin' (Acoustic & Clinic)
Dream Theater Buy- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
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- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
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Shouts
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jodionline wrote:
Another great one.
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aleks1987 wrote:
Hmmm, one of the most beautiful songs in the world)))
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Melgashi wrote:
WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! [3]
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Metalli12 wrote:
WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! [2]
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lauryyn wrote:
WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!
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mrbean667 wrote:
Defo in my DT top 5.
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DerpyKong wrote:
Great song. One of DT's best.
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Yhavimoth wrote:
All around incredible playing from the entire band. A perfect closing song for one of the greatest albums of all motherfucking time.
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Pixel1928 wrote:
I'll vote for greatest song
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xmii wrote:
great song or greatest song?
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Neue_regel_ wrote:
The part from 0.00 until 11.30 is pure genius and skill
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jcmatias wrote:
this song is God transmuted into music
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ngiovinazzi wrote:
11:30 of pure musical genius.
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progman86 wrote:
This is beyond awesomeness!!!
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topfookinbuzz wrote:
0:51 - 1:12 lol sounds of victory
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Bookman1974 wrote:
Was waiting for the outro that many rave about, and it was a bit of a damp squib - perhaps there's a version where it fades out early...
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derelektrojan wrote:
@RustinRust: it is MAGIC
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jym272 wrote:
una de mis canciones favoritas de Dream Theater, por esto quise ser musico!!! just awesome!!!!!!!!!
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GreenDayJunkie wrote:
what an Outro!!!!
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Probocop wrote:
What a great song.
Track Stats
755,581 Scrobbles
119,769 Listeners
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Recent Activity
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M3ga_h3ad, FlavioLeccese, gnooomo and 4 other people loved Dream Theater – Learning to Live. 1 hour ago
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gnooomo tagged Dream Theater – Learning to Live with favorite songs and progressive metal. yesterday afternoon
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wirsing-dent, vinnyduke, jake3362 and 7 other people loved Dream Theater – Learning to Live. Wednesday evening
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RustInRush added Learning to Live to the playlist Epic Progressive Tracks (10+ Minutes). Monday morning
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RustInRush tagged Learning to Live with ‘progressive metal’. Monday morning
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BIGBASSDAVE, frostslavic, sensey_alexey and 34 other people loved Dream Theater – Learning to Live. Monday morning
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LeStrada shared Learning to Live with Color_Of_Sound. last month
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Often_Will added Learning to Live to the playlist 2009 - 50 Most Played. last month
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