Neil's handwritten lyric sheets - a new collection with a few surprises...

[Jag2112]

There’s something special about seeing Neil Peart’s lyrics in his own handwriting. In a world of digital fonts and perfect alignment, these pages feel human; full of thought, hesitation, and intention. You can almost imagine him sitting quietly with a pen, shaping the words that would later become the songs so many of us grew up with. For Rush fans, these handwritten lyric sheets are more than artifacts; they’re a glimpse into Neil’s creative mind at work.

 

Now you can see all of his lyric sheets in one place with some tribute images added as well.

 

Check them out through the link below:

 

Neil Peart's Handwritten Lyric Sheets

 

Enjoy-

 

 

[laughedatbytime]

I'd be most interested if they're the ones from T4E.    

 

Especially if they are the original, with crossouts.   It'would be interesting to see if anything got crossed out from Virtuality and Dog Years, and if the original lyrics were even worse, or conversely they were actually passable and got worse, and how many dittos there are on the one for Half the World, or if there are time stamps on that one to see if it actually took more than a minute from start to finish, or maybe if the handwriting looked like it was done by a five year old.

[grep]

Nice collection page there. Thank you for putting it together and sharing. 

 

[exiled yorkie]

21 hours ago, laughedatbytime said:

I'd be most interested if they're the ones from T4E.    

 

Especially if they are the original, with crossouts.   It'would be interesting to see if anything got crossed out from Virtuality and Dog Years, and if the original lyrics were even worse, or conversely they were actually passable and got worse, and how many dittos there are on the one for Half the World, or if there are time stamps on that one to see if it actually took more than a minute from start to finish, or maybe if the handwriting looked like it was done by a five year old.

Oh how ,original independent thought and Dog Years, not lol

Edited February 5 by exiled yorkie

[PurpleHayes]

53 minutes ago, exiled yorkie said:

Oh how ,original independent thought and Dog Years, not lol

 

I always figured an actual dog wrote those lyrics. 

 

 

Seriously, this is one reason why I feel Rush mailed it in with TFE...Neil admitted he was hungover when he wrote the lyrics...but those lyrics were still accepted by Geddy in the first place.

 

Haven't listened to that CD since 1998.

Edited February 5 by PurpleHayes

[laughedatbytime]

2 hours ago, PurpleHayes said:

 

I always figured an actual dog wrote those lyrics. 

 

 

Seriously, this is one reason why I feel Rush mailed it in with TFE...Neil admitted he was hungover when he wrote the lyrics...but those lyrics were still accepted by Geddy in the first place.

 

Haven't listened to that CD since 1998.

Driven is a great song.    Other than that....

[Blue J]

On 2/4/2026 at 6:06 PM, laughedatbytime said:

I'd be most interested if they're the ones from T4E.    

 

Especially if they are the original, with crossouts.  It would be interesting to see if anything got crossed out from Virtuality and Dog Years, and if the original lyrics were even worse, or conversely they were actually passable and got worse, and how many dittos there are on the one for Half the World, or if there are time stamps on that one to see if it actually took more than a minute from start to finish, or maybe if the handwriting looked like it was done by a five year old.

 

That's the thing, to me- these are finished products that he wrote by hand after the fact. Still a treat to see, but not really the artifacts that the OP makes them out to be. 

 

"You can almost imagine him sitting with a pen, shaping the words that would later become the songs", etc- umm, no.

 

Rough drafts, with things erased/crossed out/scribbled over- yes.

 

[Jag2112]

On 2/6/2026 at 8:16 AM, Blue J said:

 

That's the thing, to me- these are finished products that he wrote by hand after the fact. Still a treat to see, but not really the artifacts that the OP makes them out to be. 

 

"You can almost imagine him sitting with a pen, shaping the words that would later become the songs", etc- umm, no.

 

Rough drafts, with things erased/crossed out/scribbled over- yes.

 

 

That's possible, but can you say for certain? If you look closely at the sheets from Hemispheres, they actually have corrections on them. If these were truly 'finished products' written after the fact, Neil likely would have started over to make them perfect. In the end, neither of us knows for sure, so why be so cynical? Just enjoy them for what they are.

[Bahamas]

To me, what is great is to see those album pages together. Folks paid a lot of money to order collections that included a few here and there, but in this way they are together. Very cool!

 

The perfect bookmark.

 

Thank you Jag2112 for posting this.

[caskof43]

Did Neil continue to hand write lyrics after GUP? 

[XanaD.E.W.]

Man, Neil was quite the talent. So neat and detailed, cool to look at. The Sir Gawain made for a good read on what could've been. 

 

Should make a book out of these handwritten lyrics. 

Edited yesterday at 03:24 PM by XanaD.E.W.