I Walk Beside You (with the Octavarium Orchestra) - Live at Radio City Music Hall, New York City, NY, 4/1/2006

This song is about always being there for someone. "I walk beside you" is saying I'll back you up in your decisions and support you.

Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci wrote the lyric. Along with drummer Mike Portnoy, he wrote most of the lyrics for the band, although lead singer James LaBrie wrote the words to the Octavarium track "Sacrificed Sons," which deals with 9/11. "I Walk Beside You" is one of the more accessible Dream Theater songs, running just 4:29 (very short by their standards) with a standard pop song structure and a straightforward lyric about interpersonal relations. After their previous album, the metal-heavy Train of Thought, they wanted to put some songs on Octavarium that could get airplay. This one sounds as close to U2 as Dream Theater would ever come.