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Test For Echo was initially the title of a Max Webster song


RushFanForever
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I'm aware that Max Webster lyricist Pye Dubois co-wrote the song 'Test For Echo' with Geddy, Alex, and Neil.

 

Dubois also co-wrote 'Tom Sawyer', 'Force Ten' and 'Between Sun & Moon'.

 

Last night, I was reading my out-of-print copy of Live Magnetic Air : The Unlikely Saga of the Superlative Max Webster.

 

On page 139, Dubois is discussing the origins of the Max Webster song 'Beyond The Moon' from 1978.

 

“There are Max Webster songs, then there is Beyond The Moon; there are many a Max Webster lyric, then there is the Beyond The Moon lyric. Beyond The Moon is diametrically opposed to any other Max songs. It stands apart because it has to stand as my political statement of the... the destruction of my culture. I believed computers would do us in, just as any other addiction, including cocaine; I knew pollution would do us in, and in our infancy as a planet, ‘acid' (rain or otherwise) was warping the foetus. I saw a culture vacuous and venal - a shoe culture! Yeah! Shoes! etc. etc. Cure: vitamin clouds—yeah! Sell us vitamins. Profit from placebos! The initial title was Test For Echo until I gave myself a slap and then slotted in another 'moon' song. Test For Echo was good. I like the "canary in the mine" potential/ambiguity, but..."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfD-6-VDzY4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHUCJblUcFA

Edited by RushFanForever
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Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it.

 

Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool.

Edited by Geddyleegenes
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Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it.

 

Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool.

 

Page 216-17 of the book.

 

"It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!"

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Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it.

 

Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool.

 

Page 216-17 of the book.

 

"It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!"

 

Thank you, RushFanForever. That helped a bit. I always wondered what Buster Keaton and Buster Crabbe had ever done to Max Webster.

 

And the the "screw the feeders" part: What's wrong with nice people trying to feed the starving? Now I know what he actually meant!

 

I always knew the "Uncle Sam's time..." was a negative thing about the United States. I think Dubois would like real Americans. Not the politicians or the corporation jerks.

 

I'd still like to know what he did with that fist though.

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Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it.

 

Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool.

 

Page 216-17 of the book.

 

"It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!"

 

I don't think Wordsworth or Keats have anything to worry about.....

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I love Pye Dubious' lyrics. Reminds me a lot like Beefheart lyrics/poetry.

 

On the road

The heart is slow

The mind is not clocked

The feet are sore

The hands and eyes are quick

To stop the world

 

On the road

Confirms something about yourself

Confirms something about your mold--some say it's freedom

Freedom some say

Is when you get back home

 

Fights and rights

Embassies and fantasies

One street towns with stop lights

One stop streets with no towns--

I don't need the patter

I don't need assistance

To review the show...

 

I want to keep my pearly whites

I don't want my shirts to keep a fit

I want a good steak once in a while

A checkered cab to go once in style--

Freedom some say

Is when you get back home

 

Howls of laughter

Sights and sounds

Movies and groupies

One day lover

Next day down--

I'd like to keep my pearly whites

And have a little stride in life...

 

I'd be sometimes late

I'd be sometimes early

And surely once in a while I'd like to be alone

 

One day aggressive

One day shy

One day permissive

One day sly...

 

On the road confirms something about myself

Confirms something about my storm--

Some say it needs freedom

Freedom some say

Is after the storm

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Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it.

 

Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool.

 

Page 216-17 of the book.

 

"It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!"

 

Thank you, RushFanForever. That helped a bit. I always wondered what Buster Keaton and Buster Crabbe had ever done to Max Webster.

 

And the the "screw the feeders" part: What's wrong with nice people trying to feed the starving? Now I know what he actually meant!

 

I always knew the "Uncle Sam's time..." was a negative thing about the United States. I think Dubois would like real Americans. Not the politicians or the corporation jerks.

 

I'd still like to know what he did with that fist though.

 

It's possible the fist in an empty field refers to those solidarity posters, like black power, that show a fist against an empty background, or "field"

 

fposter,small,wall_texture,product,750x1000.u3.jpg

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Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it.

 

Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool.

 

Page 216-17 of the book.

 

"It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!"

 

Thank you, RushFanForever. That helped a bit. I always wondered what Buster Keaton and Buster Crabbe had ever done to Max Webster.

 

And the the "screw the feeders" part: What's wrong with nice people trying to feed the starving? Now I know what he actually meant!

 

I always knew the "Uncle Sam's time..." was a negative thing about the United States. I think Dubois would like real Americans. Not the politicians or the corporation jerks.

 

I'd still like to know what he did with that fist though.

 

It's possible the fist in an empty field refers to those solidarity posters, like black power, that show a fist against an empty background, or "field"

 

fposter,small,wall_texture,product,750x1000.u3.jpg

 

Now that's a thought!

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