This Is the Life

This track from Dream Theater's 11th album, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, was a collaboration between guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Petrucci told Musicradar.com the story of the tune: "I demoed this song early on and brought it to the band. I had an idea for a ballad, but when I sent it to the guys I definitely said that I was open to anything, all thoughts and suggestions. I worked a lot with Jordan on bringing the middle bridge section to another place. He's such a master at coming up with the coolest chord and melodic movements. It cascades in ways that you don't expect, the way the chords are modulating and moving. From the demo process, we kept a Moog solo that Jordan did – I absolutely love it."

Petrucci told MusicRadar how the song's title was inspired by a bumper sticker: "The title came about one day when I was driving in the city with my mom. My sister was about to have a baby. So we were stopped at a light behind this pickup truck, and on the truck was a bumper sticker in Spanish that I interpreted as 'This is the life.' At the same time, I was playing the song for my mom. Right then, I looked at her and said, 'That's the title of the song: This Is The Life.'"