Stratovarius Community

In the Stratovarius song "Know The Difference" on the second Elements album there's this line:

Give me a way to accept things
I cannot change anymore
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference

Does anybody know if that's really by Stratovarius?



On the record "Serenity" by the hardcore-punk band Blood for Blood there's a voice in the intro which says:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things
That I cannot change
The courage to change the things that I can
And the wisdom to know the difference

Sounds quite the same, doesn't it? Maybe it's some old saying? Does anybody know more?

i did a little google search on it:

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change those things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference. (Reinhold Niebuhr 1892-1971)

but i also found something which i think is quite...errrr...interesting...

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." This is the universal prayer of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a loose knit society of men and women who share their experiences, strengths and hopes to help them overcome their common problem on alcoholism.

Alcoholics Anonymous?

but is a good prayer...

and it can be used to more things besides to be the prayer of AA, this one have a lot of meanings

I think it's centuries/millenia old and originates in the Far East.

I'm not absolutely certain, though.

It is a great&meaningful saying regardless of where it came from.
We should be glad TT adapted it into Strato's songs.
The saying is very true--if only we all could make it a part of our lives&philosophy, I think we all might be happier for it.

Yes, I've heard it quite a few times before 'Know The Difference'. It's an old, old saying.

Syren.S wrote:i did a little google search on it:

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change those things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference. (Reinhold Niebuhr 1892-1971)

yes, that's true, it's an old prayer, and yes, Stratovarius are not the first who adapted it into a song.
Anyway, sad that the refrain of this song is so... "stressful" cuz Timo had to sing so high. It really sounds out of tune. But the rest of it is cool, the absolutely best part of the song is the calm and cool keyboard solo after the guitar and the keys have played that fast part.

stratohawk wrote: Anyway, sad that the refrain of this song is so... "stressful" cuz Timo had to sing so high. It really sounds out of tune. But the rest of it is cool, the absolutely best part of the song is the calm and cool keyboard solo after the guitar and the keys have played that fast part.

Completely agreed! Man, this refrain sucks, probably tho worts Strato (Timo?) has ever made... well, to me it's easily the worst StratoSong...

i kinda like that song...

Terrific song without no sense. Worst song from pt.2, but pt.1 has even worse songs.

Stratofanius wrote:Terrific song without no sense. Worst song from pt.2, but pt.1 has even worse songs.

Err... It's terrific but sucks anyway???

Bones wrote:

Stratofanius wrote:Terrific song without no sense. Worst song from pt.2, but pt.1 has even worse songs.

Err... It's terrific but sucks anyway???

Well, I fix it: IT'S HORRIBLE SONG.

Oh ok haha

I simply love Elements albums, both part I and II are very good for me.

Personally, Know The Difference is one of my faves in Elements albums

I like only the keyboard solo in that song. It's too fast. They should have done more mid tempo songs to Elements-albums.

BTW I think that tempo in 'Find Your Own Voice' is more faster than in 'Speed Of Light' so maybe that's the fastest stratosong ever

Bones wrote:BTW I think that tempo in 'Find Your Own Voice' is more faster than in 'Speed Of Light' so maybe that's the fastest stratosong ever

Yeah, and I think that Speed of Light isn't even very fast. Strato has many songs that are faster than it: Find Your Own Voice, No Turning Back, Learning to Fly, Millenium, Freedom, Glory of the World, Stratofortress, Phoenix and maybe few others. Of course no one of them are as good as Speed of Light, imho
And oh yeah, some parts of Holy Light are very fast

yep. I just wanted to mention it 'cos people always keep telling that Speed Of Light is the fastest stratosong and I think it isn't.

Bones wrote:yep. I just wanted to mention it 'cos people always keep telling that Speed Of Light is the fastest stratosong and I think it isn't.

Maybe ppl remembers just that on the DVD Tolkki is saying that Speed of Light was their fastest song. But of course that was at THAT time. Later like Fanius said, they´ve done even faster songs.

Back on topic: In my opinion Know the Difference is a weak song. It gives nothing new and the plastic Karmila sounds are one of the worst ever on this song. The sounds sucks so much that I nearly start :puke:

But I like the key solo too.

Different opinio of my friend up here , i' think is the best song of E2, maybe becouse i love this album, i don't know really, the people hate it, i understand those people but...i like the fucking album!!!!

eternity_strato wrote:I simply love Elements albums, both part I and II are very good for me.

Personally, Know The Difference is one of my faves in Elements albums

Same here.