Cryptic Rush lyrics

[Freewill87]

We all know the lyrical content of Rush more straigthtforward songs are. We know what the Tom Sawyers, Limelights, and Spirit of Radios are all about. So what Rush lyric do you have absolutely no clue what they are talking about? What lyric keeps you up and night and make you wonder what peart was getting at? I like lyrics that are not entirely clear and open to interpretation. I have found that these are some of my favorite lyrics. Here are some rush songs that Im not entirely sure what they are about

 

Distant Early Warning - I have heard how this is about the Cold War from Canada's perspective, and the threat of nuclear annihilation, and that explanation definitely makes a lot of sense with the heavy water reference among others. However, I have always felt that there is a far more personal under current to to the lyrics of the song. the second verse seems to be not talking about nations or the cold war at all ("Left and rights of passage , black and whites of youth") plus the chorus sounds like a total plea to a friend or lover or something. And whats with this take a page from the red book? This has always confused me

 

Digital Man - Okay this one sounds like Peart threw a lot lot of stuff together that sounded cool because it rhymed. Whats with all this zion, babylon, black sedan stuff? I have no idea where to even start with this one. Is this even supposed make sense or just sound cool? (They totally succeeded with the latter IMO)

 

Stick It Out - Someone on facebook told me this was about politics. If it is I totally missed the point. Seems to me it is peart saying that you shouldn't be afraid to to speak your mind, and sometimes even get a little angry when your defending what you know is right. I love this theme, and love the lyrics.

 

New World Man - Ditto with Digital Man, but to a lesser extent

 

Secret Touch - Seems to be about longing for someone you love. Unrequited love perhaps? Would love to hear some opinions

 

There are bunch more. Lyrics I don't get or just find odd or strangely touching. Hopefully this will get a discussion going and you guys can comment on these or add other songs you don't get

 

[LeaveMyThingAlone]

Great topic and for me, there are many. I have never listened to Rush because of Neil's lyrics. I listen to Rush because of their amazing musicianship.

 

Neil has written some amazingly eloquent songs like most of Snakes and Arrows, Counterparts, etc....but there are a lot of songs I just say WTF to....

 

Time and Motion....Spin a thread of precious contact, squeeze in all that you can find, spontaneous elation and the long enduring kind....huh?

 

Chain Lightning...Sun Dogs fire on the Horizon Meteor rain stars across the night

 

What exactly are these songs about and those specific lyrics?

 

There's more for me, but I'll leave it there for now

[Grapes_under_pressure]

earthshine was the first rush song i ever heard about a year ago, and i still dont know all the words off by heart, what i do know and when i read the lyrics, i still couldnt understand what it was about!! it has got the lovers tarot card on the CD booklet but what has it got to do with lovers?

[gedfan]

QUOTE (Freewill87 @ Aug 13 2007, 11:40 PM)

We all know the lyrical content of Rush more straigthtforward songs are. We know what the Tom Sawyers, Limelights, and Spirit of Radios are all about. So what Rush lyric do you have absolutely no clue what they are talking about?  What lyric keeps you up and night and make you wonder what peart was getting at?  I like lyrics that are not entirely clear and open to interpretation.  I have found that these are some of my favorite lyrics.  Here are some rush songs that Im not entirely sure what they are about Distant Early Warning - I have heard how this is about the Cold War from Canada's perspective, and the threat of nuclear annihilation, and that explanation definitely makes a lot of sense with the heavy water reference among others.  However, I have always felt that there is a far more personal under current to to the lyrics of the song.  the second verse seems to be not talking about nations or the cold war at all ("Left and rights of passage , black and whites of youth")  plus the chorus sounds like a total plea to a friend or lover or something.  And whats with this take a page from the red book?  This has always confused me Digital Man - Okay this one sounds like Peart threw a lot lot of stuff together that sounded cool because it rhymed.  Whats with all this zion, babylon, black sedan stuff?  I have no idea where to even start with this one.  Is this even supposed make sense or just sound cool?  (They totally succeeded with the latter IMO) Stick It Out - Someone on facebook told me this was about politics.  If it is I totally missed the point.  Seems to me it is peart saying that you shouldn't be afraid to to speak your mind, and sometimes even get a little angry when your defending what you know is right.  I love this theme, and love the lyrics. New World Man - Ditto with Digital Man, but to a lesser extent Secret Touch - Seems to be about longing for someone you love.  Unrequited love perhaps?  Would love to hear some opinions There are bunch more.  Lyrics I don't get or just find odd or strangely touching.  Hopefully this will get a discussion going and you guys can comment on these or add other songs you don't get

I can't speak to Digital Man, or New World Man, though I thought Neil ended up writing one of those songs loosely relating to each member--i.e. Digital Man (Alex); New World Man (Neil); and the Analog Kid (Geddy).

 

...but as for the chorus in Distant Early Warning:

 

On one level the chorus in DEW does sound like a lover's or a friend's plea, but I believe it is more based upon the relationship between a father and a son. I say this because of the "Absalom! Absalom! Absalom!" Geddy shouts out at the end. Absalom was the son of King David, and in the Old Testament, Absalom leaves his father's side and eventually mounts a battle/war against him. David orders his soldiers not to lay a hand on his son, but during battle, Absalom gets caught and suspended in a tree. The soldiers, heeding David's orders, blow darts into Absalom and kill him (but they didn't lay a hand on him!). Upon hearing the news of Absalom's death, David cries out: "Absalom, Absalom, my son, Absalom, would I have died for thee!"

 

So, in context of the Old Testament story, DEW seems like a post-modern kind of take on, or at least cold war allusion to the biblical story. Thus, I think the chorus in DEW is probably loosely based on the father-son relationship between King David and his son Absalom.

 

As for Secret Touch, I kind of thought it was related to Neil's new relationship with Carrie.

 

Don't really know about Stick it Out.

 

 

[Grapes_under_pressure]

i can totally see neil as the new world man, but i havnt heard digital man or anlogue kid. i suck. i have a virgin megastore card and i havnt used it yet! what am i thinking (RUSHes out to buy a new CD) Edited August 14, 2007 by Wolf42

[Screvato]

QUOTE (LeaveMyThingAlone @ Aug 14 2007, 12:50 AM)

Chain Lightning...Sun Dogs fire on the Horizon Meteor rain stars across the night

A sun dog is an optical phenomenon where sunlight passes through ice crystals in clouds. It happens most often near sunset. I remember reading somewhere that Neil got the idea for lyrics after watching the sunset and stars after sundown with his daughter and just spending time with her.

[GeddysMullet]

I think Distant Early Warning intends to draw parallels between nations in cold conflict and troubled relationships, but I can only hear it as personal in the plea-to-a-loved-one sense, because it reminds me very strongly of such a relationship in my own life. That might also be why I go back and forth between wanting to listen to that song a lot, and not being able to stand to hear it.

 

Meanwhile, "A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission." Okay, yeah, I get the general intention behind that line, and it sounds cool, but dude, if you think about it, it makes absolutely no sense. A lot of Rush lyrics are like that, though -- they evoke a feeling and/or sound cool despite (or perhaps because of) being cryptic.

 

I think it's good when songs are open to interpretation. My favourite part of the Snakes And Arrows documentary is when Geddy talks about how sometimes to him a song is about something that is totally different from what it's about to Neil, and how that's okay with both of them. That, too, I think, is part of the magic.

[GeddyRulz]

"Distant Early Warning" is/was a political agreement between the nations of Canada and America. If Russia were to send a nuclear missile toward America, the shortest distance would be "over the top" of the globe, and past Canada. Canada agreed to send a "distant early warning" to America if one were coming.

 

Keeping this in mind, the song is about the relationship between the two countries - Canada and the United States. Rush, being a Canadian band, sings the song from the point of view of Canada, particularly the choruses:

 

The world weighs on my shoulders,

But what am I to do?

You sometimes drive me crazy,

But I worry about you.

I know it makes no difference to what you're going through,

But I see the tip of the iceberg, and I worry about you.

 

A Russian missile is on its way, and Canada is sending a DEW to the U.S., although America "sometimes drives (Canada) crazy."

[theanalogkid]

There is a non-sanctioned book by an author named Price that delves into the philosophy of Peart's lyrics and the general theme that ties many songs together.

I'm not sure whether it is bullshit or not, but nonetheless it is an interesting read. I found it on Amazon and it has helped me to understand many songs and their themes (whether or not Peart meant them that way or not).

[Digital Man]

Here's a fun read.....

 

Lyric analysis

 

[Show Don't Tell]

What gets me is how Geddy says that 'Double Agent' is demented. Now, I'm not sure if he means that because of the music -- it may sound wierd? Or if it is just that voice? Maybe. But if he means lyrically demented... I'm not sure he understands what Neil is trying to say. Heck, I might not understand what he's trying to say. But I have a pretty plausible interpretation.

 

 

Where would you rather be?

Anywhere but here

When will the time be right?

Anytime but now

 

(What this is saying is that he'd rather be anywhere but where he is now. That is to say, out of this situation.)

 

On the edge of sleep,

I was drifting for half the night

Anxious and restless,

pressed down by the darkness

Bound up and wound up so tight

So many decisions, a million revisions

Caught between darkness and light...

 

(So many decisions. And taking the theme of Counterparts into consideration, this probably means that he's mulling over whether to go ahead with a relationship with this other person, or to forget about it. He's figuring out possible outcomes of both options. Hence, "Caught between darkness and light". Counterparts, right? Sort of like you hit a fork in the road.)

 

Wilderness of mirrors

World of polished steel

Gears and iron chains

Turn the grinding wheel

I run between the shadows

Some are phantoms, some are real

 

(Like his brain is working, and some things deceive him. He is confused.)

 

Where would you rather be?

Anywhere but here

When will the time be right?

Anytime but now

The doubt and the fear

I know would all disappear

Anywhere but here

 

(Like in the first verse. If he could be anywhere but in this situation, all his doubt and fear would disappear.)

 

On the edge of sleep,

I heard voices behind the door

The known and the nameless,

familiar and faceless

My angels and my demons at war

Which one will lose - depends on what I choose

Or maybe which voice I ignore...

 

(Angles and demons at war [again, counterparts]. Basically, his mind is in conflict. And he has to make the choice. The voices could also be referring to his conscience. [e.g. cartoons with the angel and evil spirits standing on someones shoulder, telling them what they should do.] So it's all his decision whether to go with this person.)

 

Wilderness of mirrors

Streets of cold desire

My precious sense of honor

Just a shield of rusty wire

I hold against the chaos -

And the cross of holy fire

 

(He's being tempted by people. Like in the dark parts of town where all the prostitutes are. He has some honor, but it's weak -- like a rusty wire. But he still holds it against all of the chaos like that.)

 

Wilderness of mirrors

So easy to deceive

My precious sense of rightness

Is sometimes so naive

So that which I imagine

Is that which I believe

 

(It's deceiving sometimes when you make choices. Sometimes what looks right, or seems right according to your sense it wrong. And it is foolish.)

 

On the edge of sleep, I awoke to a sun so bright

Rested and fearless, cheered by your nearness

I knew which direction was right

The case had been tried by the jury inside

The choice between darkness and light...

 

(In the end he makes the right decision. The good decision, since he wakes up to a light. Whoever he's in love with is by his side. He saw the right path -- he knew which direction was the right way. The case had been tried by the jury inside -- the final decision had been made. The choice between darkness and light -- whether to maintain this relationship. And he did.)

[rickyrob]

QUOTE (Screvato @ Aug 14 2007, 04:11 PM)

QUOTE (LeaveMyThingAlone @ Aug 14 2007, 12:50 AM) Chain Lightning...Sun Dogs fire on the Horizon Meteor rain stars across the night A sun dog is an optical phenomenon where sunlight passes through ice crystals in clouds. It happens most often near sunset. I remember reading somewhere that Neil got the idea for lyrics after watching the sunset and stars after sundown with his daughter and just spending time with her. Sundog's Fire

[rickyrob]

QUOTE (Wolf42 @ Aug 14 2007, 06:54 AM)

earthshine was the first rush song i ever heard about a year ago, and i still dont know all the words off by heart, what i do know and when i read the lyrics, i still couldnt understand what it was about!! it has got the lovers tarot card on the CD booklet but what has it got to do with lovers?

Earthshine

 

An eclipse of the moon by the Earth

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/rickyrob/DSCN0530-1.jpg

 

photo taken by yours truly March this year

[Sam Bhattacharya]

How about the rap in "Roll The Bones." Best rap I ever heard, but I can't figure out all of it. LOL.

 

 

Jack -- relax.

Get busy with the facts.

No zodiacs or almanacs,

No maniacs in polyester slacks.

Just the facts.

Gonna kick some gluteus max.

It's a parallax -- you dig?

You move around

The small gets big. It's a rig

It's action -- reaction

Random interaction.

So who's afraid

Of a little abstraction?

Can't get no satisfaction

From the facts?

You better run, homeboy

A fact's a fact

From Nome to Rome, boy.

 

What's the deal? Spin the wheel.

If the dice are hot -- take a shot.

Play your cards. Show us what you got

What you're holding.

If the cards are cold,

Don't go folding.

Lady Luck is golden;

She favours the bold. That's cold

Stop throwing stones

The night has a thousand saxophones. So get out there and rock,

And roll the bones.

Get busy!

 

Roll the bones

Edited August 14, 2007 by Sam Bhattacharya

[PassTheAmmunition]

QUOTE (theanalogkid @ Aug 14 2007, 12:16 PM)

(whether or not Peart meant them that way or not).

and this is the key to this entire thread and the post earlier by Geddy'sMullet: the beauty is in the interpretation. I find a lot of Rush song lyrics to be cryptic - or at least, to inspire me to interpret them in my own way. Some are relatively straightforward I suppose, but the validity of the lyrics for each of us will be slightly different.

 

To Geddy'sMullet's post - in the example of Distant Early Warning, I personally also relate much more to the 'plea to a loved-one' aspect in [You sometimes drive me crazy / but I worry about you / I know it makes no difference / to what youre going through / But I see the tip of the iceberg / and I worry about you] than I do to any other conceivable lyrical theme Neil might have meant, and as you so rightly pointed out in the S&A documentary, thats what makes this whole thing so cool; it means different things to different ears...

 

 

[rushfanNlv]

QUOTE (rickyrob @ Aug 14 2007, 10:23 AM)

QUOTE (Screvato @ Aug 14 2007, 04:11 PM) QUOTE (LeaveMyThingAlone @ Aug 14 2007, 12:50 AM) Chain Lightning...Sun Dogs fire on the Horizon Meteor rain stars across the night A sun dog is an optical phenomenon where sunlight passes through ice crystals in clouds. It happens most often near sunset. I remember reading somewhere that Neil got the idea for lyrics after watching the sunset and stars after sundown with his daughter and just spending time with her. Sundog's Fire WOW!   That is freakin' cool as hell. I would love to see that in person once.   Thanks for posting that.

[rickyrob]

QUOTE (Sam Bhattacharya @ Aug 14 2007, 07:29 PM)

How about the rap in "Roll The Bones." Best rap I ever heard, but I can't figure out all of it. LOL. Jack -- relax. Get busy with the facts. No zodiacs or almanacs, No maniacs in polyester slacks. Just the facts. Gonna kick some gluteus max. It's a parallax -- you dig? You move around The small gets big. It's a rig It's action -- reaction Random interaction. So who's afraid Of a little abstraction? Can't get no satisfaction From the facts? You better run, homeboy A fact's a fact From Nome to Rome, boy. What's the deal? Spin the wheel. If the dice are hot -- take a shot. Play your cards. Show us what you got What you're holding. If the cards are cold, Don't go folding. Lady Luck is golden; She favours the bold. That's cold Stop throwing stones The night has a thousand saxophones. So get out there and rock, And roll the bones. Get busy! Roll the bones

all about chances and taking them

[workingcinderellaman]

QUOTE (PassTheAmmunition @ Aug 14 2007, 01:30 PM)

QUOTE (theanalogkid @ Aug 14 2007, 12:16 PM) (whether or not Peart meant them that way or not). and this is the key to this entire thread and the post earlier by Geddy'sMullet: the beauty is in the interpretation. I find a lot of Rush song lyrics to be cryptic - or at least, to inspire me to interpret them in my own way. Some are relatively straightforward I suppose, but the validity of the lyrics for each of us will be slightly different.   To Geddy'sMullet's post - in the example of Distant Early Warning, I personally also relate much more to the 'plea to a loved-one' aspect in [You sometimes drive me crazy / but I worry about you / I know it makes no difference / to what youre going through / But I see the tip of the iceberg / and I worry about you] than I do to any other conceivable lyrical theme Neil might have meant, I bought a vinyl GUP the day it came out. I ran home and listened to it on my friend's stereo. 'Distant Early Warning' was the first song I heard and I also took it to be a personal message from one to another, but being Rush, I figured it was deeper than that. Then I saw the music video (the one with the kid riding the missile) and I figured it was talking to the whole world about being on the brink of nuclear war. (everything in eighties was about that) I had never heard the Canada early warning thing until I read this thread. That makes sense though. I agree you take songs to mean what you want, but it's also nice to know what the author was thinking.

[SunlightOnChrome]

I think that the bottom line to this is, Rush lyrics mean what you think they mean. That is the beauty of bands like Rush, the songs work on many different levels. I like to listen to bands like AC/DC and ZZ Top once in a while, but it is no mystery what their songs are about, sex and/or partying. That is fine if you just want something rockin' to listen to sometimes. I prefer something that will make me think a little.

But once in a while I want to hear Godzilla or for Those About to rock.

[Freewill87]

QUOTE

Here's a fun read..... Lyric analysis wink.gif wink.gif wink.gif

 

lol that was an interesting link... Hey everyone... no more thinking, this person has figured out the secret to every rush song. They are all about LSD! Seriously though, I think this is an example of taking the "personal interpretation" philosophy and basically going to extremes by taking everything out of context. Using this persons logic, I could argue that Natural Science is about shopping for produce, or Xanadu is about playing Monopoly.

[Score Out]

QUOTE (Freewill87 @ Aug 13 2007, 11:40 PM)

We all know the lyrical content of Rush more straigthtforward songs are. We know what the Tom Sawyers, Limelights, and Spirit of Radios are all about. So what Rush lyric do you have absolutely no clue what they are talking about? What lyric keeps you up and night and make you wonder what peart was getting at? I like lyrics that are not entirely clear and open to interpretation. I have found that these are some of my favorite lyrics. Here are some rush songs that Im not entirely sure what they are about Distant Early Warning - I have heard how this is about the Cold War from Canada's perspective, and the threat of nuclear annihilation, and that explanation definitely makes a lot of sense with the heavy water reference among others. However, I have always felt that there is a far more personal under current to to the lyrics of the song. the second verse seems to be not talking about nations or the cold war at all ("Left and rights of passage , black and whites of youth") plus the chorus sounds like a total plea to a friend or lover or something. And whats with this take a page from the red book? This has always confused me Digital Man - Okay this one sounds like Peart threw a lot lot of stuff together that sounded cool because it rhymed. Whats with all this zion, babylon, black sedan stuff? I have no idea where to even start with this one. Is this even supposed make sense or just sound cool? (They totally succeeded with the latter IMO) Stick It Out - Someone on facebook told me this was about politics. If it is I totally missed the point. Seems to me it is peart saying that you shouldn't be afraid to to speak your mind, and sometimes even get a little angry when your defending what you know is right. I love this theme, and love the lyrics. New World Man - Ditto with Digital Man, but to a lesser extent Secret Touch - Seems to be about longing for someone you love. Unrequited love perhaps? Would love to hear some opinions There are bunch more. Lyrics I don't get or just find odd or strangely touching. Hopefully this will get a discussion going and you guys can comment on these or add other songs you don't get

Stick It Out

Neil Peart ("Counterparts Radio Premiere"): It's just a play on the words, really. "Stick It Out" meaning both a kind of arrogant display, "stick it out", but also the endurance thing; if you have a difficult thing to endure, stick it out and you get to the end. It was the pun on both of those, really, so again the duality in the song is a bit leaning both ways. The sense of forbearance, of holding back, and also the idea of fortitude: stick it out, you know, survive. But that was more of a piece of fun, that song I would say, both lyrically and musically it verges on parody, and that was one I think we just had fun with, and lyrically I certainly did, too. "Stick it out" and "spit it out" and all that was just a bit of word play.

 

SECRET TOUCH - Pretty autobiographical about Neil's losses and finding love again. When one door closes, another door opens.

 

About the rap section in "Roll The bones"

According to Neil Geddy Lee does the rap section.

" Yeah, that started off as a lyrical experiment for me; I was hearing some of the better rap writers, among whom I would include like LL Cool J or Public Enemy, musicality apart, just as writers, it was really interesting. And it struck me that it must be a lot of fun to do that; all those internal rhymes and all that wordplay and everything. That's meat and potatoes for a lyricist; it's stuff you love to do and can seldom get away with being so cute in a rock song. So I thought, "Well, I'll give it a try," and I submitted actually I think the song "Roll The Bones" without that section to the other guys and got them to like it, and said, "Well, I have this other thing I've been working on, and see what you think." You know, not knowing how they'd respond, but I'd had the fun of doing it and I've been rejected before; my notebook's full of things that haven't made it too, so that was the situation there. And they got excited about the idea, but then how to treat it was the other question, and we did think of trying to get a real rapper in to do it, and we even experimented with female voices, and ultimately found that that treated version of Geddy's voice was the most satisfying as creating the persona that we wanted to get across, and was also the most satisfying to listen to. And with the female voice in it, it wasn't as nice texturally going by, where Geddy's voice treated like that became a nice low frequency sound, and you could listen to it just as a musical passage without having to key in on the lyrics or anything, just let the song go by you. And it was pleasant to the ear, so I think that was probably one of the big factors in choosing that. We'd even been in contact with people like Robby Robertson; we thought we'd like to try his voice on it and had contacted his office, and so on. John Cleese we thought of; we were going to do it as a joke version, get John Cleese in it: "Jack, relax." Get him to camp it up, but again from the musicality and longevity factors, that would have got tired quickly; that's the trouble with jokes."

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (Digital Man @ Aug 14 2007, 10:38 AM)

Here's a fun read..... Lyric analysis

Thanks DM, I haven't looked at that information in a LOOOONG time.

 

The guy who wrote this is a total fruit loop. This is what you get when you do way too much LSD and have a highly analytical, highly educated mind, you get a big steaming load of bullshit. I've done LSD and this guy is just projecting his obsessions into Neil Peart's lyrics. The guy is definitely a frosted flake.

[wordsmith]

What are "the most beautiful words I could ever say?" I feel dumb for having to ask, but I simply don't get that line.

[Fridge]

I must confess as to puzzlement why people would find Rush lyrics cryptic? True, there are a few clever play on words, but in the vast majority of cases they are pretty straightforward.

[PariahDog]

QUOTE (GeddysMullet @ Aug 14 2007, 10:43 AM)

I think it's good when songs are open to interpretation.  My favourite part of the Snakes And Arrows documentary is when Geddy talks about how sometimes to him a song is about something that is totally different from what it's about to Neil, and how that's okay with both of them.  That, too, I think, is part of the magic.

It's funny how people can take different meanings from a song. For me, "Freewill" is a very straightforward and even blatant expression of Neil's agnostic/atheistic beliefs. But a good friend of mine in high school (who was very religous) was convinced that "Freewill" has the opposite meaning. For him, when Neil says "you can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice" he's actually encouraging you to do this, as in "You CAN choose to believe in God! That would be a great choice for you! Go for it!" This was an early lesson for me on how much a person's views and beliefs can shape the way they view the world around them.