"Stream of Consciousness" is a song by American progressive metal band

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

, appearing on their 2003 album ''

Train of Thought The train of thought or track of thought refers to the interconnection in the sequence of ideas expressed during a connected discourse or thought, as well as the sequence itself, especially in discussion how this sequence leads from one idea to a ...

''. The song lasts for 11 minutes and 16 seconds. The song appears as the sixth song on the album, as a direct continuation of Vacant. The song gets its name from an early working title for the album '' Falling into Infinity'', and the parallel between the concepts of "stream of consciousness" and "train of thought". The song "Lines in the Sand" (from '' Falling into Infinity'') contains the lyrics "In the ''stream of consciousness'', there is a river crying." The song is a popular inclusion in Dream Theater's live shows and appears on the live album and DVD '' Live at Budokan''.

Songwriting contest

While Dream Theater were in the studio in 2003, recording what would become ''Train of Thought'', they wondered what an outsider would make of their descriptions for how certain sections of the unfinished songs sounded. These descriptions were used on arrangement charts to help with structuring the song before it was recorded. "Stream of Consciousness" had sections described as "

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, ''Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colo ...

Setup", " U.K. Rise", "Straight Groove x2", etc. They wondered what would happen if someone were given just these descriptions and had to come up with what they believed the finished song would sound like, so they issued a challenge to Dream Theater fans through their websites and message boards to do just that.

Drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Mike Portnoy posted photographs of the above-mentioned arrangement charts for "SOC" (the full title was not revealed to contestants, and may have been known only as "Suck Our Cocks"The writing of Train of Thought
(timestamp 6:58)), as well as Jordan Rudess' MIDI conductor charts which contained tempos, time signatures and other details for each section of the song. The entries would be judged on songwriting excellence and closeness to the real "Stream of Consciousness", as judged by the band members themselves, and the prize for the winner included having their song played over the PA before Dream Theater concerts, four backstage passes to any Dream Theater show on that tour, a signed copy of the upcoming ''Train of Thought'', and three releases from Portnoy's YtseJam Records. The contest began and after a number of months dozens of entries had been received. The band listened to and judged the entries over the course of the next world tour, and the winner was announced to be a composition by Andy Rowland and Ant Law. Impressed by the caliber of entries in the contest, Dream Theater released a CD of their favorite entries through the Dream Theater International Fan Club. In 2007, this CD was put up on the internet as fake rehearsal tracks labeled as "Systematic Chaos Working Demos" or "Systematic Chaos Instrumental Demos".

Contest winners/album track list

#Andy Rowland & Ant Law – ''SOC'' (12:15) #Daisuke Kurosawa – ''Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid'' (10:58) #Linear Sphere – ''Scent of Carbonite'' (11:19) #Richard Campbell – ''SOC'' (11:12) #Brian Wherry – ''SOC'' (10:59) #

Redemption Redemption may refer to: Religion * Redemption (theology), an element of salvation to express deliverance from sin * Redemptive suffering, a Roman Catholic belief that suffering can partially remit punishment for sins if offered to Jesus * Pi ...

– ''SOC'' (10:50) #Eric Clemenzi – ''SOC'' (10:29)

Personnel

* John Petrucci – guitar * Jordan Rudess –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* John Myung –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

* Mike Portnoy –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

* Bredius, Mark
Dream Theater – The Official Site
(Retrieved September 22, 2006.) * Portnoy, Mike

(Transcription). (Retrieved September 22, 2006.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stream Of Consciousness (Song) Rock instrumentals Stream of Consciousness Dream Theater songs