Silent Lucidity

"Silent Lucidity" is a single by the American progressive metal band Queensrÿche from the 1990 album Empire. The song was the biggest hit for the band, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100[2] and at #1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.[3] The power ballad[4] was composed by lead guitarist Chris DeGarmo. Queensrÿche performed the song live at the Grammy Awards of 1992, for being nominated in the category of "Best Rock Song", and featured a supporting orchestra.[5] The song did not win the Grammy; it did however win the MTV Viewer's Choice Award for its music video. Directed by Matt Mahurin.

"Silent Lucidity"
Single by Queensrÿche
from the album Empire
ReleasedFebruary 1991
RecordedSpring 1990
Genre
Length5:47
LabelEMI America
Songwriter(s)Chris DeGarmo
Producer(s)Peter Collins
Queensrÿche singles chronology
"Best I Can"
(1990)		 "Silent Lucidity"
(1991)		 "Jet City Woman"
(1991)
Audio sample
  • file
  • help
Empire track listing
11 tracks
  1. "Best I Can"
  2. "The Thin Line"
  3. "Jet City Woman"
  4. "Della Brown"
  5. "Another Rainy Night (Without You)"
  6. "Empire"
  7. "Resistance"
  8. "Silent Lucidity"
  9. "Hand on Heart"
  10. "One and Only"
  11. "Anybody Listening?"

Because of the lyrical content, and the title of the song, it is assumed to be based on the subject of lucid dreaming. During the middle eight, a distorted voice even explains a method for this: "Visualize your dream. Record it in the present tense. Put it into a permanent form. If you persist in your efforts, you can achieve dream control." [6]

The song was recorded with sweeping orchestrations. Often the orchestra is not relegated to the background but instead is prominent such as during the second half of the instrumental section.[7]

At the end of the song (5:26), a cello or double bass plays the theme from the traditional Brahms' Lullaby — the typical English translation words being "Lullaby, and good night, go to sleep, little baby".

"Silent Lucidity" is ranked #21 on VH1's list of Greatest Power Ballads.[8]

Track listing

Original 1991 release
  1. "Silent Lucidity" – 5:49
  2. "The Mission" [Live] – 6:17
  3. "Eyes of a Stranger [Live] – 8:03

2013 Silent Lucidity: Greatest Hits EP re-release

"Silent Lucidity" was the lead song on a 4-track extended play release on April 22, 2013, subtitled "Greatest Hits".[9] It was accompanied by two other tracks from Empire plus fan-favorite "I Don't Believe in Love" from Operation: Mindcrime,[9] all four tracks being among the group's six most-frequent tracks when playing live.[10]

  1. "Silent Lucidity" (Re-recorded) - 5:45
  2. "Empire" (Re-recorded) - 5:24
  3. "Jet City Woman" (Re-recorded) - 5:22
  4. "I Don't Believe in Love" (Re-recorded) - 4:26

Chart performance

Weekly charts
Chart (1991–92) Peak
U.S. Mainstream Rock 1[2]
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 9[2]
Canada RPM 7[11]
UK Singles 34[12]
UK Singles (reissue) 18[12]

Year-end charts
Chart (1991) Position
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 69[13]
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) 82[14]

Use in pop culture
  • Several lines are sampled from Hellbound: Hellraiser II (the female voice "Help me", "Don't be scared of me" and the doctor's voice "How are we feeling today, better?")
  • This song was used in the episode "Heart" of the second season of Supernatural.
  • This song was used in the first episode of the television show The Hat Squad.

Personnel

Additional personnel

See also

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Queensrÿche | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  2. "Chart History for Queensrÿche". Billboard.com. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). Billboard Publications. p. 514.
  4. "The 40 Greatest Power Ballads". Classic Rock. February 14, 2015.
  5. "Greatest Hits". Queensryche.com. Queensrÿche. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
  6. "Silent Lucidity". queensrycheofficial.com. Queensrÿche.
  7. Queensrÿche. "Silent Lucidity".
  8. "Greatest Power Ballads". VH1.com. MTV Networks. Archived from the original on November 13, 2006. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  9. "Silent Lucidity - Greatest Hits - EP". Amazon Music. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  10. "Queensrÿche Tour statistics". Setlist.fm. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  11. "RPM Top 100 Singles - June 8, 1991" (PDF). collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  12. "Queensrÿche". officialcharts.com. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  13. "RPM 100 Hit Tracks of 1991". RPM. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  14. "1991 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. 103 (51): YE-14. December 21, 1991.
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