Most visually descriptive lyrics?

[Lost In Xanadu]

My daughter needs to to a presentation on the lyrics of a song... wants to do Rush.

 

Which song has the most vivid images, easiest to translate into an image presentation?

[Snaked]

First thing that came to my mind...

 

 

A hot and windy August afternoon

Has the trees in constant motion

With a flash of silver leaves

As they're rocking in the breeze

 

The boy lies in the grass with one blade

Stuck between his teeth

A vague sensation quickens

In his young and restless heart

And a bright and nameless vision

Has him longing to depart

 

You move me -

You move me -

With your buildings and your eyes

Autumn woods and winter skies

You move me -

You move me -

Open sea and city lights

Busy streets and dizzy heights

You call me -

You call me -

 

The fawn-eyed girl with sun-browned legs

Dances on the edge of his dream

And her voice rings in his ears

Like the music of the spheres

 

The boy lies in the grass, unmoving

Staring at the sky

His mother starts to call him

As a hawk goes soaring by

The boy pulls down his baseball cap

And covers up his eyes

 

Too many hands on my time

Too many feelings -

Too many things on my mind

When I leave I don't know

What I'm hoping to find

When I leave I don't know

What I'm leaving behind...

[Lost In Xanadu]

First thing that came to my mind...

 

 

A hot and windy August afternoon

Has the trees in constant motion

With a flash of silver leaves

As they're rocking in the breeze

 

The boy lies in the grass with one blade

Stuck between his teeth

A vague sensation quickens

In his young and restless heart

And a bright and nameless vision

Has him longing to depart

 

You move me -

You move me -

With your buildings and your eyes

Autumn woods and winter skies

You move me -

You move me -

Open sea and city lights

Busy streets and dizzy heights

You call me -

You call me -

 

The fawn-eyed girl with sun-browned legs

Dances on the edge of his dream

And her voice rings in his ears

Like the music of the spheres

 

The boy lies in the grass, unmoving

Staring at the sky

His mother starts to call him

As a hawk goes soaring by

The boy pulls down his baseball cap

And covers up his eyes

 

Too many hands on my time

Too many feelings -

Too many things on my mind

When I leave I don't know

What I'm hoping to find

When I leave I don't know

What I'm leaving behind...

 

Funny, first one I thought of too

[theanalogmiddleagedman]

Me too. I totally visualize this each time I hear it.

 

I kind of imagine Red Barchetta, too.

[Chicken hawk]

The trees has a kind of a neat story..easy lyrics.

[snowdogged]

The Camera Eye is pretty visually descriptive.

 

 

Grim-faced and forbidding,

Their faces closed tight,

An angular mass of New Yorkers

Pacing in rhythm,

Race the oncoming night,

They chase through the streets of Manhattan.

Headfirst humanity,

Pause at a light,

Then flow through the streets of the city.

 

They seem oblivious

To a soft spring rain,

Like an English rain

So light, yet endless

From a leaden sky.

 

The buildings are lost in the limitless rise.

My feet catch the pulse and the purposeful stride.

 

I feel the sense of possibilities,

I feel the wrench of hard realities.

The focus is sharp in the city.

 

Wide-angle watcher

On life's ancient tales,

Steeped in the history of London.

 

Mist in the streets of Westminster.

Wistful and weathered,

The pride still prevails,

Alive in the streets of the city.

 

Are they oblivious

To this quality?

A quality

Of light unique to

Every city's streets.

 

Pavements may teem with intense energy,

But the city is calm in this violent sea.

[Union 5-3992]

Clockwork Angels ain't bad. I made art for it (looks down)

[eshine]

Red Barchetta

[ShlappinDahBass]

Natural Science would be interesting.

[MMCXII]

witch hunt

[snowdogged]

First thing that came to my mind...

 

 

A hot and windy August afternoon

Has the trees in constant motion

With a flash of silver leaves

As they're rocking in the breeze

 

The boy lies in the grass with one blade

Stuck between his teeth

A vague sensation quickens

In his young and restless heart

And a bright and nameless vision

Has him longing to depart

 

You move me -

You move me -

With your buildings and your eyes

Autumn woods and winter skies

You move me -

You move me -

Open sea and city lights

Busy streets and dizzy heights

You call me -

You call me -

 

The fawn-eyed girl with sun-browned legs

Dances on the edge of his dream

And her voice rings in his ears

Like the music of the spheres

 

The boy lies in the grass, unmoving

Staring at the sky

His mother starts to call him

As a hawk goes soaring by

The boy pulls down his baseball cap

And covers up his eyes

 

Too many hands on my time

Too many feelings -

Too many things on my mind

When I leave I don't know

What I'm hoping to find

When I leave I don't know

What I'm leaving behind...

 

Funny, first one I thought of too

I'm surprised that the first one that came to you was not Xanadu? That probably is there most visually descriptive song now that I think of it.

 

"To seek the sacred river Alph

To walk the caves of ice

To break my fast on honey dew

And drink the milk of paradise..."

 

I had heard the whispered tales

Of immortality

The deepest mystery

From an ancient book. I took a clue

I scaled the frozen mountain tops

Of eastern lands unknown

Time and Man alone

Searching for the lost --- Xanadu

 

Xanadu --- To stand within The Pleasure Dome

Decreed by Kubla Khan

To taste anew the fruits of life

The last immortal man

To find the sacred river Alph

To walk the caves of ice

Oh, I will dine on honey dew

And drink the milks of Paradise

 

A thousand years have come and gone

But time has passed me by

Stars stopped in the sky

Frozen in an everlasting view

Waiting for the world to end

Weary of the night

Praying for the light

Prison of the lost --- Xanadu

 

Xanadu --- Held within The Pleasure Dome

Decreed by Kubla Khan

To taste my bitter triumph

As a mad immortal man

Nevermore shall I return

Escape these caves of ice

For I have dined on honey dew

And drunk the milk of Paradise

[snowdogged]

Nope, Losing it is the best one, now!

 

 

"Losing It"

 

The dancer slows her frantic pace

In pain and desperation

Her aching limbs and downcast face

Aglow with perspiration

 

Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire

With just the briefest pause

The flooding through her memory

The echoes of old applause

 

She limps across the floor

And closes her bedroom door...

 

The writer stare with glassy eyes

Defies the empty page

His beard is white, his face is lined

 

And streaked with tears of rage

 

Thirty years ago, how the words would flow

With passion and precision

But now his mind is dark and dulled

By sickness and indecision

 

And he stares out the kitchen door

Where the sun will rise no more...

 

Some are born to move the world

To live their fantasies

But most of us just dream about

The things we'd like to be

Sadder still to watch it die

Than never to have known it

For you, the blind who once could see

The bell tolls for thee...

[Freedom]

I think Countdown is a contender:

 

Lit up with anticipation

We arrive at the launching site

The sky is still dark, nearing dawn

On the Florida coastline

 

Circling choppers slash the night

With roving searchlight beams

This magic day when super-science

Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams

 

Floodlit in the hazy distance

The star of this unearthly show

Venting vapours, like the breath

Of a sleeping white dragon

 

Crackling speakers, voices tense

Resume the final count

All systems check, T minus nine

As the sun and the drama start to mount

 

The air is charged

A humid, motionless mass

The crowds and the cameras,

The cars full of spectators pass

Excitement so thick you could cut it with a knife

Technology...high, on the leading edge of life

 

The earth beneath us starts to tremble

With the spreading of a low black cloud

A thunderous roar shakes the air

Like the whole world exploding

 

Scorching blast of golden fire

As it slowly leaves the ground

Tears away with a mighty force

The air is shattered by the awesome sound

 

Like a pillar of cloud

The smoke lingers high in the air

In fascination

With the eyes of the world

We stare...

[snowdogged]

This is a deep and complex one. Discovery from 2112. It describes a place but better it describes the sound of the guitar and of music and how it makes you feel, which can be argued that it is not visually descriptive but I picture it in my head every time I listen to it so it is visually descriptive to me.

 

 

 

[iII. Discovery]

 

'... Behind my beloved waterfall, in the little room that was hidden beneath the cave, I

Found it. I brushed away the dust of the years, and picked it up, holding it reverently in

My hands. I had no idea what it might be, but it was beautiful...'

 

'... I learned to lay my fingers across the wires, and to turn the keys to make them sound

Differently. As I struck the wires with my other hand, I produced my first harmonious sounds

And soon my own music! How different it could be from the music of the Temples! I can't wait

To tell the priests about it!...'

 

What can this strange device be?

When I touch it, it gives forth a sound

It's got wires that vibrate and give music

What can this thing be that I found?

 

See how it sings like a sad heart

And joyously screams out it's pain

Sounds that build high like a mountain

Or notes that fall gently like rain

 

I can't wait to share this new wonder

The people will all see it's light

Let them all make their own music

The Priests praise my name on this night

[RushBoingo]

Dreamline and Carnies paint a good picture

[AnalyticalEngine]

The first song that comes to mind for me is The Necromancer

 

I. Into Darkness

 

As grey traces of dawn tinge the eastern sky, the three travelers, men of

Willow Dale, emerge from the forest shadow. Fording the River Dawn, they turn

south, journeying into the dark and forbidding lands of the Necromancer.

Even now the intensity of his dread power can be felt, weakening the body and

saddening the heart. Ultimately they will become empty, mindless spectres,

stripped of will and soul. Only their thirst for freedom gives them hunger for

vengeance...

 

Silence shrouds the forest

as the birds announce the dawn.

Three trav'llers ford the river

and southward journey on.

The road is lined with peril,

and the air is charged with fear.

The shadow of his nearness

weighs like iron tears.

 

 

II. Under the Shadow

 

Shreds of black cloud loom in overcast skies;

the Necromancer keeps watch with his magic prism eyes.

He views all his lands and is already aware

Of the three helpless invaders

trapped in his lair...

 

Broading in the tower,

watching o'er his land,

holding ev'ry creature,

helplessly they stand.

 

Gaze into his prisms,

knowing they are near.

Lead them to the dungeons.

Spectres numb with fear,

they bow defeated.

[Animate]

Jacobs Ladder

 

 

The clouds prepare for battle

In the dark and brooding silence.

Bruised and sullen stormclouds

Have the light of day obscured.

Looming low and ominous

In twilight premature

Thunderheads are rumbling

In a distant overture...

 

All at once, the clouds are parted.

Light streams down in bright unbroken beams...

 

Follow men's eyes as they look to the skies.

The shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams...

[Maverick]

Might be Red Barchetta for me.

[Animate]

Might be Red Barchetta for me.

 

yeah, really hard to beat Red Barchetta. So many images in it., well weathered leather, hot metal and oil, the sun and country air, sunlight on chrome, blur of the landscape.... what the heck, might as well type out the whole song while I am at it...

[Thunder Bay Rush]

You could almost pick anything from the 70s and early 80s. Losing It, for me, is a very descriptive lyric. Makes me sad reading it, really.

[Nate1647]

Manhattan Project

[tx_rush]

assuming she is probably in grade school, I think countdown might be a really good one

[barney_rebel]

Losing It

[circumstantial tree]

Lakeside Park

[JohnnyBlaze]

My daughter needs to to a presentation on the lyrics of a song... wants to do Rush.

 

Which song has the most vivid images, easiest to translate into an image presentation?

 

There are plenty of songs to choose from but it depends on what grade it's for. I can't imagine a class of 5th graders being too interested in the lyrics/imagery for Red Barchetta (even though I was at the time). In 6th grade I did a speech on The Trees. I got an A [surely because I was into it and prepped well] but my class didn't seem too jazzed about it. If she wants to make it more personal then I'd suggest Time Stand Still with a bunch of family & friend photos...the theme of that song lends itself to those kinds of images. PLUS, people like to look at themselves if the image is in a positive ((and humorous)) light. So, if some of your daughter's classmates are in those pics then it'll likely be a success. I think something like Time Stand Still is something that essentially everyone can relate to. The audience is an all-too forgotten, important item when considering speech topics.

 

But basically, the older the class is the more your daughter CAN'T go wrong I think.