A Change of Seasons - The Crimson Sunrise / Innocence / Carpe Diem / The Darkest of Winters / Another World / The Inevitable Summer / The Crimson Sunset

This 23-minute epic is in the vein of progressive rock classics like "Supper's Ready" by Genesis and "2112" by Rush. It's broken up into seven movements: I. The Crimson Sunrise II. Innocence III. Carpe Diem IV. The Darkest of Winters V. Another World VI. The Inevitable Summer VII. The Crimson Sunset The lyrics were written by Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, and find him coming to terms with the death of his mother, who was killed in a November 1984 plane crash: I'll always remember The chill of November The news of the fall "I was in school the day my mom died," he explained on his website. "The teacher was giving a lesson on how you should appreciate life, and gave us a whole thing about Carpe Diem and then I went home and gave my mom a big kiss and a hug goodbye, and then she ended up getting killed that night."

Dream Theater recorded "A Change Of Seasons" for their second album, Images And Words, released in 1992, but in age of vinyl, cassette and CD, a 23-minute song would take up half the album. They wanted to make Images And Words a double album to include the song, but their label, Atco, nixed the idea. In 1995, they recorded the song again with the same producer, David Prater, and released it on an EP called A Change Of Seasons, which was filled out with a collection of live cover songs.

This section of the lyrics comes from the poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick (1591-1674): Gather ye rosebuds while ye may Old Time is still a-flying And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying