The Count of Tuscany

It's a true story that happened to John Petrucci when he was travelling. He met the "count", who took him for a car ride, introduced him to his brother and showed him a chapel. The count told him stories and legends. However, John was very frightened and thought he would die. But the count realises he is scared and tells him not to be, saying he got the wrong impression of him.

"Now wait a minute man That's not how it is You must be confused That isn't who I am Please don't be afraid"

Then he says he's free to leave and tell everyone about his experience.

That's what i gathered anyway. =]

This is a far stretch, and I'm almost certain they didn't intend it to be so, but I see the ending as a metaphor for someone going through the stages of dying, with a few imperfections.

"

"

"Could this be the end? Is this the way I die? Sitting here alone No one by my side

I don't understand I don't feel that I deserve this What did I do wrong? I just don't understand"

At first they're afraid, in denial, and slightly angry. They're presented with the idea that they're dying in the first stanza, and then they show denial by saying that they don't understand, and anger with the fact that they feel like they don't deserve to die.

"Give me one more chance Let me please explain It's all been circumstance I'll tell you once again

You took me for a ride Promising a vast adventure Next thing that I know I'm frightened for my life"

Then they're clearly bargaining. Being frightened for their life could be spun as to saying they're feeling depressed. But other than this far stretch, depression is missing from the stages, though it could be seen somewhat in the first two stanzas, or just in the somewhat depressing tone of the lyrics in the first 4 stanzas.

"Now wait a minute man That's not how it is You must be confused That isn't who I am

Please don't be afraid I would never try to hurt you This is how we live Strange although it seems Please try to forgive

The chapel and the saint The soldiers and the wine The fables and the tales All handed down through time

Of course you're free to go Go and tell the world my story Tell about my brother Tell them about me

The Count of Tuscany"

Then the very end is clearly acceptance, but you have to read it as if it's all being said by the same person, rather than the second half of the ending be the Count talking to Petrucci. You can also see the fact that they're satisfied with their life when they say that's just how they live and reminiscing about aspects of the past and encouraging people to tell his story, signifying that he is happily and ungregrettably allowing it to end. Obviously, it's a really far stretch, but you could sorta get that out of the song. It sure matches the music a lot better when you imagine that it's about someone coming to terms with their impending death.

As the lyrics do state "Several years ago..."

JP was an adult when this happened. But he was scared for good reason. Pay particular attention to the lines:

Maybe you'll recall A cannibal curator A character inspired By my brother's life.

The Count of Tuscany is taking him to the man that the character HANNIBAL LECTER was based off of. Yea, you know, the elegant psycopath from "The Silence of the Lambs"? (In the second film "Hannibal" he becomes the new curator of the Capponi Library under the name "Dr. Fell")

The reason JP was frightened was because he thought he was going to be KILLED, SLAUGHTERED, AND EATEN. I'd say that's a good enough reason as any to be afraid as a grown man!

These are the actual lyrics, taken from the booklet in the album.

Several years ago In a foreign town Fa away from home I met the Count of Tuscany

A young eccentric man Bred from royal blood Took me for a ride Across the open country side

Get into my car Let's go for a drive Along the way I'll be your guide Just step inside

Maybe you recall A cannibal curator A character inspired by my brother's life

Winding through the hills The city far behind On and on we drove Down narrow streets and dusty roads

At last we came upon A picturesque estate On sprawling emerald fields An ancient world of times gone by

Let me introduce My brother A bearded gentleman Historian Sucking on his pipe Distinguished accent Making me uptight No accident

I want to stay alive Everything about this place Just doesn't feel right I I don't want to die Suddenly I'm frightened for my life

I want to say goodbye This could be the last time You see me alive I I may not survive Knew it From the moment we arrived

Would you like to see Our secret holy place? I come here late at night To pray to him by candlelight Then peering through the glass I saw with disbelief Still dressed in royal clothes The saint behind the alter

History recalls During times of war Legend has been traced Back inside these castle walls

Where soldiers came to hide In barrels filled with wine Never to escape These tombs of oak Are where they died

Come and have a taste A rare vintage All the finest wines Improve with age

I want to stay alive Everything about this place Just doesn't feel right I I don't want to die Suddenly I'm frightened for my life

I want to say goodbye This could be the last time You see me alive I I may not survive Knew it From the moment we arrived

Could this be the end? Is this the way I die? Sitting here alone No one by my side

I don't understand I don't feel that I deserve this What did I do wrong? I just don't understand

Give me one more chance Let me please explain It's all been circumstance I'll tell you once again

You took me for a ride Promising a vast adventure Next thing that I know I'm frightened for my life

Now wait a minute man That's not how it is You must be confused That isn't who I am

Please don't be afraid I would never try to hurt you This is how we live Strange although it seems Please try to forgive

The chapel and the saint The soldiers and the wine The fables and the tales All handed down through time

Of course you're free to go Go and tell the world my story Tell about my brother Tell them about me

The Count of Tuscany

This epic is obviously about JP getting scared by a count. Also its DP's last song of their 'so-called' last album. The ending is so epic and I think I may be overreading this but in a way it sort of relates to the end of the band. "Of course you're free to go/Go and tell the world my story" this is of course the count saying JP can go but it could be about the band saying go tell your friends about us. Tell them how amazing we are. "The fables and the tales/All handed down through time" This is about all the stories the count told but it could also be about most of the band's songs, since most of them are tales about people.

i dont know, i might be over analyzing but since this IS their last epic (or so they say..) that could be true.

Here's my interpretation of the song as an homage to Edgar Allan Poe (at least in inspiration). I'm not sure if this is what the above poster's talking about, but I think it makes sense.

The intro to the song:

Seven years ago
In a foreign town
Far away from home
I met the Count of Tuscany

A young eccentric man
Bred from royal blood
Took me for a ride
Across the open countryside

Reminds me quite a bit of the intro to "The Fall of the House of Usher". A little later the comparison continues but is inverted:

At last we came upon
A picturesque estate
On sprawling emerald fields
An ancient world
Of times gone by

Whereas the Usher estate was dead, with rotted trees and such, the Count's estate is "Picturesque" and specifically "sprawling emerald". This selection is curious, because emphasized at the end of the House of Usher is the description of the land surrounding the house as a "deep and dank tarn" (A tarn being a large, mostly stagnant-water lake), so here we have contrast between an open field and a closed body of water, the former free and alive and the latter restricted and dead. The "I" choruses later on echo the sentiment of the protagonist in Usher, emphasizing a sense of the place just not feeling right and being afraid for his life while his guide (Usher in the Poe story, the Count here) is unmoved.

Then we seem to get a switch to another of Poe's stories, "The Cask of Amontillado". The skeleton of the saint seems to be another inversion of the story -- instead of the Poe story, where we have a drunkard (Fortunato) chained up behind a brick wall at the end as a punishment(The protagonist of this story, Montresor, was also a mason, which might be a cross-reference from here to A Rite of Passage), we have a saint behind a glass wall for the purposes of prayer. The same allusion runs with the wine stanzas below in a little mix with the plot of "The Masque of the Red Death" (Which could explain the booklet artwork, at least in the Special Edition, of the red picture of the man in the hood accompanying the lyrics to this song). These stanzas below:

Could this be the end?
Is this the way I die?
Sitting here alone?
No one by my side

I don't understand
I don't feel that I deserve this
What did I do wrong?
I just don't understand

Give me one more chance
Let me please explain
It's all been circumstance
I'll tell you once again

You took me for a ride
Promising a vast adventure
Next thing that I know
I'm frightened for my life

Mirror Fortunato's situation after being chained up and imprisoned in Montresor's dungeon, but in another inversion, the Count lets him go instead of keeping our protagonist locked up.

And from here we get to the ocean sounds at the end of the story. They seem to me to be a reflection of a poem of Poe's called "Annabel Lee", which is set in a seaside location and happened to be the last of Poe's poems before his death, as the sounds are the last on the album.

Thematically, Petrucci could be using the inversions to reject Poe's dark and tragic view of life, illuminating a "people are better than they seem" theme in contrast to Poe's "people are worse than they seem" themes running through his work.

I could be (and I probably am) overreading this, but if I'm right, the raven on the album cover would make a whole bunch more sense, wouldn't it? (And of course I'm not saying that it isn't, as Petrucci said, based on an encounter he personally had, but the details he chooses to write about suggests that he knows his Poe).

In addition, the booklet has a total of 116 written lines for this song. Taking those and adding in the spoken line by Portnoy ("Let me please explain", echoing James) and adding in all the "Whoas" after the last line of the song counted from the "Whoa" and not the "-oa"s after each one (There are 8), the song comes out to 125 total lines, the exact length of Poe's "The Raven".

Aside from nomad and the person who posted about the interview statement, I think everyone is taking the wrong track with this song. Even if it was loosely based upon an actual incident that occurred to him, as according to the interview, it's not impossible that he added in some further meaning when turning it into a song. If there is any, then, along the lines of nomad, what occurred to me almost immediately upon listening to it is that it (the count) is a parable for life. A person goes through life scared and afraid, thinking that life is out to get him, trying to 'take him for a ride', but in the end, life isn't trying to hurt you, its just happenstance. He may have drawn on personal experience and history for creating stories to illustrate this, but thats what seems to be the overall meaning to me.

And yeah, that last six minutes is awesome, I keep coming back to it.

Amazing, even if the lyrics are funny.

I think there might be some veiled reference to "the count of monte cristo" by A. Dumas... naturally, that's just my opinion...

As the album's longest track, Wilson calls "The Count of Tuscany" "the monster", comparing it to "A Change of Seasons" and cited Pink Floyd as a possible influence.[9] Petrucci wrote the lyrics about a count that frightened him while he visited Tuscany.

That's from wiki... i think its funny that a man as big as JP could be scared. And he was dumb enough to get in the car with a count?

I think the count is probably someone he knows. But, either way, it is so badass that he had an experience that could lead to something this epic.