Pull Me Under

"Pull Me Under" is the debut single by Dream Theater from their 1992 album Images and Words. It is also featured on the Live at the Marquee CD, Once in a LIVEtime CD, Live at Budokan CD and DVD, the Images and Words: Live in Tokyo VHS and DVD, and the Live at Luna Park DVD. It received positive critical reception and extensive MTV rotation.^[1] Widely considered to be Dream Theater's signature song, Rolling Stone ranked it number No. 91 on their list of the 100 greatest heavy metal songs.^[2]

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Overview

During development, the song held the working title "Oliver's Twist". In a radio interview, Mike Portnoy stated that "...it was just an 8 and a half minute song, and it was just a fluke for MTV and radio play to happen."^{[citation needed]}

The song's abrupt ending was modified in their Greatest Hits compilation. When asked about the abrupt ending while at a drum clinic in Atlanta in 1999, Mike Portnoy explained "We had all this tension, and it just kept building and building, and we had no idea where to take it, you know? So we decided to just pull the plug on it, like The Beatles did with 'She's So Heavy'."^{[citation needed]}^[3]

The song was released as a promotional single and as a music video. Based on a shortened version of the song at 4:48 in length, the video alternates between clips of the band performing and an obscure storyline. The band members were reportedly unhappy with the storyline, saying that it doesn't have anything to do with the song's subject matter.^{[citation needed]}

Because it was the only Dream Theater single to achieve such success, "Pull Me Under" is the "hit" referred to in the Dream Theater compilation Dream Theater's Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs).

Lyrics

Lyricist Kevin Moore refers to Shakespeare's Hamlet, as told from Prince Hamlet's point of view.^[4] The lyrics allude heavily to the play, echoing Hamlet's desire to give in to his urge to gain revenge for his father at the cost of his own sanity. Over the final moments of the song, James LaBrie can be heard singing the song's only direct quote from the play: "O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt". Therein, Prince Hamlet is pleading for escape from his mortal trappings.

O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!

—Prince Hamlet in Hamlet, Act I Scene II^[5]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Kevin Moore, except where noted; all music is composed by Dream Theater

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Pull Me Under"	8:11

UK promo vinyl
No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
2.	"Metropolis Part I - The Miracle and the Sleeper"	John Petrucci	9:30

US promo CD (PRCD 4724-2)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Pull Me Under" (Edit)	5:54
2.	"Pull Me Under" (LP Version)	8:11

US promo CD (PRCD 4928)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Pull Me Under" (MTV Version)	4:49
2.	"Pull Me Under" (Edit)	6:01

Personnel

James LaBrie – background vocals, lead vocals
Kevin Moore – keyboards
John Myung – bass
John Petrucci – guitars
Mike Portnoy – drums, percussion

Credits

David Prater – production

Charts

Chart (1992)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks^[6]^[7]	10

Releases

CD single, promo – Atco Records PRCD 4624-2, US 1992
Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM single, promo – Rock Ahead SAM 1030, UK 1992
CD single, promo – Atco Records PRCD 4724-2, US 1992
CD single, promo – Atco Records PRCD 4928, US 1992

References

^ Richter, Allan (August 22, 2004). "A Long Island Sound by Way of Topographic Oceans". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
^ A.B. (March 13, 2023). "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
^ Drumeo. The Iconic Drumming Behind “Pull Me Under” - Dream Theater Song Breakdown. youtube.com. Event occurs at 3:30. One idea I had in the studio was at the very end let's just yank the carpet out from underneath the track. And I kind of ripped it off from the end of side one of Abbey Road, same thing where it has all these sound effects building and building and building, it's just an ostinato part, and then it just stops
^ Thaler, Englebert (2008). Teaching English Literature. UTB. p. 163. ISBN 978-3-8252-2997-9.
^ Hamlet: Act I, Scene II.
^ Pull Me Under at AllMusic. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
^ Christa Titus. "Dream Theater Causing 'Chaos' With New Album". Billboard Magazine. Archived from the original on January 18, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2009.

v t e Dream Theater
John Petrucci John Myung James LaBrie Jordan Rudess Mike Portnoy Mike Mangini Kevin Moore Chris Collins Charlie Dominici Steve Stone Derek Sherinian
Studio albums	When Dream and Day Unite Images and Words Awake Falling into Infinity Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Train of Thought Octavarium Systematic Chaos Black Clouds & Silver Linings A Dramatic Turn of Events Dream Theater The Astonishing Distance over Time A View from the Top of the World
Live releases	Live at the Marquee Once in a LIVEtime Live Scenes from New York Live at Budokan Score Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 Live at Luna Park Breaking the Fourth Wall Distant Memories – Live in London
Compilations	Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs)
EPs	A Change of Seasons
Videos	Images and Words: Live in Tokyo 5 Years in a Livetime Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York Live at Budokan Score Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 Live at Luna Park Breaking the Fourth Wall Distant Memories – Live in London
Singles	"Pull Me Under" "Metropolis—Part I: 'The Miracle and the Sleeper'" "Another Day" "The Silent Man" "Wither" "On the Backs of Angels" "The Enemy Inside" "Along for the Ride" "The Looking Glass"
Other songs	"A Mind Beside Itself" "Space-Dye Vest" "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" "Twelve-step Suite" "Stream of Consciousness" "Octavarium" "Illumination Theory"
Other	Discography Songs by lyricist The Majesty Demos G3 Gigantour The Human Equation Roadrunner Records The Studio Albums 1992–2011 Liquid Tension Experiment
Category

William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Characters

Soliloquies

Words and phrases

Terminology

Influence

Performances

Moscow Art Theatre (1911–1912)
Richard Burton (1964)

On screen

Adaptations

Films	The Rest Is Silence (1959) The Bad Sleep Well (1960) Ophelia (1963) Johnny Hamlet (1968) One Hamlet Less (1973) The Angel of Vengeance – The Female Hamlet (1977) Strange Brew (1983) Hamlet Goes Business (1987) The Lion King (1994) Let the Devil Wear Black (1999) The Banquet (2006) Doubt (2009) Karmayogi (2012) Haider (2014) Hamlet A.D.D. (2014) Hemanta (2016) Ophelia (2018) The Lion King (2019)
Novels	Hamlet Had an Uncle (1940) Too, Too Solid Flesh (1989) Gertrude and Claudius (2000) Dating Hamlet (2002) The Dead Fathers Club (2006) Something Rotten (2007) Hamlet's Father (2008) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008)
Plays	Hamletmachine (1977) Dogg's Hamlet (1979) Fortinbras (1991)
Musicals	Rockabye Hamlet (1973)
Television	Hamlet (Australian TV, 1959) Hamlet at Elsinore (BBC, 1964) Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (BBC, 1980) Hamlet (BBC 2, animated, 1992) Hamlet (BBC 2, 2009)

Parodies

Songs

"My Robin is to the greenwood gone" (16th century)
"Pull Me Under" (1992)
"Song for Athene" (1997)

Opera/classical

Hamlet (Thomas)
Amleto (Faccio)
Hamlet (Tchaikovsky)
Tristia (Berlioz)
Die Hamletmaschine (Rihm)
Hamlet (Dean)

In popular culture

Films	To Be or Not to Be (1942) A Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrduša Donja (1973) To Be or Not to Be (1983) Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) Highlander II: The Quickening (1991) Last Action Hero (1993) Renaissance Man (1994) In the Bleak Midwinter (1995) War (2002) Hamlet 2 (2008) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (2009) Three Days (2012)
Plays	Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) Stage Blood (1974) I Hate Hamlet (1991) To Be or Not to Be (2008)
Novels	Hamlet, Revenge! (1937) Theatre of War (1994) "The Undiscovered" (1997) The Shakespeare Stealer (1998) Interred with Their Bones (2007) Hamnet (2020)
Television	"The Producer" (1966) "The Conscience of the King" (1966) "Born to Be King" (1983) "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" (2001) Slings & Arrows (2003)
Video games	Last Action Hero (1993) Hamlet (2010) Elsinore (2019)
Books	Asterix and the Great Crossing The Seagull Sharpe's Havoc

Art

This page was last edited on 1 February 2024, at 18:08

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