A Mind Beside Itself is a twenty minute, twenty-eight second-long song by progressive metal band Dream Theater, off the album Awake. On the album it consisted of three tracks: an instrumental track called "Erotomania," the ten-minute "Voices", and the acoustic "The Silent Man." All lyrics were written by John Petrucci, and "Silent Man" was composed by him as well. In the decade since its release, its lyrics have proven somewhat impenetrable, though they obviously seem to deal with religion. Progressive metal (shortened to prog, or prog metal when differentiating from progressive rock) is a heavy brand of progressive rock which is characterized by the use of complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, and intricate and virtuosic instrumental playing. ... Dream Theater: (left to right) John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, James LaBrie Jordan Rudess and John Myung. ... Awake is a 1994 album from progressive metal band Dream Theater. ... John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is the guitarist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. ...

The first part, Erotomania, is an instrumental which bridges the musical space between ambience and heavy metal. It also carries certain musical themes from the rest of the song, as well as from Space-Dye Vest, another song on the album. Ambient music is a loosely defined musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, rock and roll, modern classical music, reggae, traditional, world and even noise. ... Heavy metals, in chemistry, are chemical elements of a particular range of atomic weights. ...

Part two, Voices seems to suggest that schizophrenia might be enhanced by blind religious devotion, as it is apparently written through the eyes of a scizophrenic who believes that angels and demons are speaking to him. The music suggests that the character is experiencing extreme distress, which suggests that perhaps he is at least partly aware that the voices are only a figment of his disorder.

Many consider the third part, "The Silent Man" to be a separate entity from the rest. Musically it represents a sharp shift from Voices into an almost folk rock territory. The lyrics are also much simpler, and the song follows a traditional verse-chorus structure. It does, however, connect to the theme, and seems to suggest that the fate described in Voices can be avoided if we support each other in our faith. As per the usual Dream Theater formula, the clearest statement of the song's meaning is found here, at the end. Bob Dylans folk-rock album, Blonde On Blonde Folk-rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and rock music. ...