Jump to content

Virtuality - what's with the hate?


Earthshine_sf
 Share

Recommended Posts

Breaking it down:

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Oh, I get it. He's talking about how our imaginations can run wild and go anywhere they want to in this magical land of the internet! How creative! Mr. Rogers would be so proud. And what a clever analogy by calling the lost ship "Fantasy." It means we're fantasizing and going wherever we want to... IN OUR MINDS! Wow! Forget Rocinante, I want to travel on the lost ship fantasy. That would be FANTASTIC!

 

Net boy, net girl

 

Yes, we're on THE INTERNET, so we're net boys and net girls. Net like internet! And even if we're adults, we become as little children mesmerized by all that we see. What a brilliant line/concept! It makes songs like Red Barchetta and Hemispheres seem like rambling teenage poetry by comparison.

 

Send your signal 'round the world

 

That's just so touching! I can touch THE WHOLE WORLD! :o :)

 

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

That's just so beautiful! And I love the reference to the old Yellow Pages commercials about letting your fingers do the walking. And I will be set free! Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last!

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

 

What a beautiful sentiment. I can take any impulse I have and send it around the globe... with just the press of a button!

 

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

God, I just love the reference to a message and the sea - it's like putting a message in a bottle and hoping one day that some special person opens it and knows exactly how I feel! I have so many feelings, and I love to express my feelings, but now in this modem/cyber world, my feelings are expressed instantaneously. I'm free! I'm freeeee! And freedom, is a taste, of reality!

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

 

I get it, the space is pixellated because it's on a COMPUTER SCREEN! It's not really space, but the space our minds can occupy in our imaginations! How magical!

 

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

 

I love the use of the word grafitti, because not only can you write on the internet, but you can do art! I love being creative! I love doing art! And it's all about exchanging, about sharing. I LOVE sharing! And who is this mysterious disembodied race - well, it hardly matters, does it? It's all in our wondrous imaginations! :wub:

 

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Now that I'm set free, I can embrace anything, anyone and anywhere in my omniscient magical tower where puppy dogs can fly and rainbows extend off into infinity! My virtual hands are overflowing with the whole of the space-time continuum available at the edges of my fingertips. Awesome!

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

 

I just love the continual use of the word virtual. It's real, and yet it's not real. It exists ON THE INTERNET, and WE CAN BE A PART OF IT! It just makes me want to put on some music ON MY COMPUTER and dance around the room with complete abandon! I love music - it makes me so happy!

 

Press this key

And you can play along

 

And it's all available on my keyboard. And I can play. I love to play! It's FUN, and it's just so PLAYFUL!

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

 

Now that is BEAUTIFUL! I'm flying! And I never even left my chair. I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky! Excuse me while I kiss the sky! Let me preen my beautiful angelic wings!

 

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

I can't wait to get back on my computer (oh wait, I'm already on one) to see what amazing things I can see next! I'm seeing amazing things RIGHT NOW! :D

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

 

What a touching sentiment. We can connect through our computers, like two bums who live on trains and enjoy the heart to heart human connection of waving to each other, for in that wave is encompassed the whole of their humanity; their shared experiences, their joys, their heartaches, regret, hope, longing, and yes, even love.

 

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

This is arguably the most intelligent and beautiful part of the whole song. See, it's a woman, but she's not real - she's a fantasy; smiling so delicately in the rain. I can almost smell her perfume (is that Chanel #5 I detect?), and I can imagine how wonderful are her full lips, how tender her kisses would be, and how electric her touch! Thankfully, no one ever figured how to do porn on the internet or these lyrics could be misconstrued into something a little less than savory. Reading them at face value, however, they're beautiful! I want to meet this woman, but alas I cannot. She's like the beautiful and mysterious woman in the red dress from the Matrix. I can only reach out with my fingertips and grasp... this virtual world beyond where anything can happen!

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

I can feel the love, the connection, the endless possibilities! I am engulfed in beauty!

Edited by rushgoober
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Breaking it down:

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Oh, I get it. He's talking about how our imaginations can run wild and go anywhere they want to in this magical land of the internet! How creative! Mr. Rogers would be so proud. And what a clever analogy by calling the lost ship "Fantasy." It means we're fantasizing and going wherever we want to... IN OUR MINDS! Wow! Forget Rocinante, I want to travel on the lost ship fantasy. That would be FANTASTIC!

 

Net boy, net girl

 

Yes, we're on THE INTERNET, so we're net boys and net girls. Net like internet! And even if we're adults, we become as little children mesmerized by all that we see. What a brilliant line/concept! It makes songs like Red Barchetta and Hemispheres seem like rambling teenage poetry by comparison.

 

Send your signal 'round the world

 

That's just so touching! I can touch THE WHOLE WORLD! :o :)

 

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

That's just so beautiful! And I love the reference to the old Yellow Pages commercials about letting your fingers do the walking. And I will be set free! Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last!

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

 

What a beautiful sentiment. I can take any impulse I have and send it around the globe... with just the press of a button!

 

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

God, I just love the reference to a message and the sea - it's like putting a message in a bottle and hoping one day that some special person opens it and knows exactly how I feel! I have so many feelings, and I love to express my feelings, but now in this modem/cyber world, my feelings are expressed instantaneously. I'm free! I'm freeeee! And freedom, is a taste, of reality!

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

 

I get it, the space is pixellated because it's on a COMPUTER SCREEN! It's not really space, but the space our minds can occupy in our imaginations! How magical!

 

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

 

I love the use of the word grafitti, because not only can you write on the internet, but you can do art! I love being creative! I love doing art! And it's all about exchanging, about sharing. I LOVE sharing! And who is this mysterious disembodied race - well, it hardly matters, does it? It's all in our wondrous imaginations! :wub:

 

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Now that I'm set free, I can embrace anything, anyone and anywhere in my omniscient magical tower where puppy dogs can fly and rainbows extend off into infinity! My virtual hands are overflowing with the whole of the space-time continuum available at the edges of my fingertips. Awesome!

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

 

I just love the continual use of the word virtual. It's real, and yet it's not real. It exists ON THE INTERNET, and WE CAN BE A PART OF IT! It just makes me want to put on some music ON MY COMPUTER and dance around the room with complete abandon! I love music - it makes me so happy!

 

Press this key

And you can play along

 

And it's all available on my keyboard. And I can play. I love to play! It's FUN, and it's just so PLAYFUL!

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

 

Now that is BEAUTIFUL! I'm flying! And I never even left my chair. I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky! Excuse me while I kiss the sky! Let me preen my beautiful angelic wings!

 

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

I can't wait to get back on my computer (oh wait, I'm already on one) to see what amazing things I can see next! I'm seeing amazing things RIGHT NOW! :D

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

 

What a touching sentiment. We can connect through our computers, like two bums who live on trains and enjoy the heart to heart human connection of waving to each other, for in that wave is encompassed the whole of their humanity; their shared experiences, their joys, their heartaches, regret, hope, longing, and yes, even love.

 

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

This is arguably the most intelligent and beautiful part of the whole song. See, it's a woman, but she's not real - she's a fantasy; smiling so delicately in the rain. I can almost smell her perfume (is that Chanel #5 I detect?), and I can imagine how wonderful are her full lips, how tender her kisses would be, and how electric her touch! Thankfully, no one ever figured how to do porn on the internet or these lyrics could be misconstrued into something a little less than savory. Reading them at face value, however, they're beautiful! I want to meet this woman, but alas I cannot. She's like the beautiful and mysterious woman in the red dress from the Matrix. I can only reach out with my fingertips and grasp... this virtual world beyond where anything can happen!

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

I can feel the love, the connection, the endless possibilities! I am engulfed in beauty!

 

 

Annnnnddddddddd my entire day just got made.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Breaking it down:

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Oh, I get it. He's talking about how our imaginations can run wild and go anywhere they want to in this magical land of the internet! How creative! Mr. Rogers would be so proud. And what a clever analogy by calling the lost ship "Fantasy." It means we're fantasizing and going wherever we want to... IN OUR MINDS! Wow! Forget Rocinante, I want to travel on the lost ship fantasy. That would be FANTASTIC!

 

Net boy, net girl

 

Yes, we're on THE INTERNET, so we're net boys and net girls. Net like internet! And even if we're adults, we become as little children mesmerized by all that we see. What a brilliant line/concept! It makes songs like Red Barchetta and Hemispheres seem like rambling teenage poetry by comparison.

 

Send your signal 'round the world

 

That's just so touching! I can touch THE WHOLE WORLD! :o :)

 

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

That's just so beautiful! And I love the reference to the old Yellow Pages commercials about letting your fingers do the walking. And I will be set free! Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last!

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

 

What a beautiful sentiment. I can take any impulse I have and send it around the globe... with just the press of a button!

 

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

God, I just love the reference to a message and the sea - it's like putting a message in a bottle and hoping one day that some special person opens it and knows exactly how I feel! I have so many feelings, and I love to express my feelings, but now in this modem/cyber world, my feelings are expressed instantaneously. I'm free! I'm freeeee! And freedom, is a taste, of reality!

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

 

I get it, the space is pixellated because it's on a COMPUTER SCREEN! It's not really space, but the space our minds can occupy in our imaginations! How magical!

 

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

 

I love the use of the word grafitti, because not only can you write on the internet, but you can do art! I love being creative! I love doing art! And it's all about exchanging, about sharing. I LOVE sharing! And who is this mysterious disembodied race - well, it hardly matters, does it? It's all in our wondrous imaginations! :wub:

 

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Now that I'm set free, I can embrace anything, anyone and anywhere in my omniscient magical tower where puppy dogs can fly and rainbows extend off into infinity! My virtual hands are overflowing with the whole of the space-time continuum available at the edges of my fingertips. Awesome!

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

 

I just love the continual use of the word virtual. It's real, and yet it's not real. It exists ON THE INTERNET, and WE CAN BE A PART OF IT! It just makes me want to put on some music ON MY COMPUTER and dance around the room with complete abandon! I love music - it makes me so happy!

 

Press this key

And you can play along

 

And it's all available on my keyboard. And I can play. I love to play! It's FUN, and it's just so PLAYFUL!

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

 

Now that is BEAUTIFUL! I'm flying! And I never even left my chair. I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky! Excuse me while I kiss the sky! Let me preen my beautiful angelic wings!

 

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

I can't wait to get back on my computer (oh wait, I'm already on one) to see what amazing things I can see next! I'm seeing amazing things RIGHT NOW! :D

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

 

What a touching sentiment. We can connect through our computers, like two bums who live on trains and enjoy the heart to heart human connection of waving to each other, for in that wave is encompassed the whole of their humanity; their shared experiences, their joys, their heartaches, regret, hope, longing, and yes, even love.

 

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

This is arguably the most intelligent and beautiful part of the whole song. See, it's a woman, but she's not real - she's a fantasy; smiling so delicately in the rain. I can almost smell her perfume (is that Chanel #5 I detect?), and I can imagine how wonderful are her full lips, how tender her kisses would be, and how electric her touch! Thankfully, no one ever figured how to do porn on the internet or these lyrics could be misconstrued into something a little less than savory. Reading them at face value, however, they're beautiful! I want to meet this woman, but alas I cannot. She's like the beautiful and mysterious woman in the red dress from the Matrix. I can only reach out with my fingertips and grasp... this virtual world beyond where anything can happen!

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

I can feel the love, the connection, the endless possibilities! I am engulfed in beauty!

 

 

Annnnnddddddddd my entire day just got made.

 

:LOL:

 

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/rushgoober5/rushgoober2/banana3.gif http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/rushgoober5/rushgoober2/banana30.gif http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/rushgoober5/rushgoober2/banana3.gif http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/rushgoober5/rushgoober2/banana30.gif http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/rushgoober5/rushgoober2/banana3.gif http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/rushgoober5/rushgoober2/banana30.gif http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/rushgoober5/rushgoober2/banana3.gif

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

I'd say that the lyrics to Virtuality are approximately equally as goofy as most of Counterparts.

 

Not even close. Counterparts lyrics are occasionally slightly awkward, and Neil is tackling subjects they never had before, but the messages of the songs are really great and they never bothered me. The lyrics to VIrtuality were a bit goofy at best when the song first came out, but it's aged horrendously, and if anything gets worse and worse with each passing year.

 

I know it's a controversial method to demonstrate what I'm talking about, but here are the lyrics - might as well put it right out there. I was just going to select the most egregious parts of the song, but unfortunately the lyrics in the entire song are culpable. If you can read this without throwing up in your mouth a little, you truly have a stronger constitution than I. We can only hope Rush never sinks so low again.

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your signal 'round the world

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

Press this key

And you can play along

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

http://sausandesigns.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif

 

I'm sorry, but all you did here was prove that the lyrics to Virtuality are goofy, not that most of the ones on Counterparts aren't! Although, you're right, awkward is a better word for the lyrics on Counterparts than goofy, with a modifier of "extremely" rather than "slightly."

 

"Painfully contrived" is a good phrase to describe both sets of lyrics, though :yes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

I'd say that the lyrics to Virtuality are approximately equally as goofy as most of Counterparts.

 

Not even close. Counterparts lyrics are occasionally slightly awkward, and Neil is tackling subjects they never had before, but the messages of the songs are really great and they never bothered me. The lyrics to VIrtuality were a bit goofy at best when the song first came out, but it's aged horrendously, and if anything gets worse and worse with each passing year.

 

I know it's a controversial method to demonstrate what I'm talking about, but here are the lyrics - might as well put it right out there. I was just going to select the most egregious parts of the song, but unfortunately the lyrics in the entire song are culpable. If you can read this without throwing up in your mouth a little, you truly have a stronger constitution than I. We can only hope Rush never sinks so low again.

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your signal 'round the world

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

Press this key

And you can play along

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

http://sausandesigns.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif

 

I'm sorry, but all you did here was prove that the lyrics to Virtuality are goofy, not that most of the ones on Counterparts aren't! Although, you're right, awkward is a better word for the lyrics on Counterparts than goofy, with a modifier of "extremely" rather than "slightly."

 

"Painfully contrived" is a good phrase to describe both sets of lyrics, though :yes:

 

:eyeroll:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Broke out T4E today and gave it a spin just for this song. In the context of the music the lyrics aren't as terrible as memory makes them. Not strong by any stretch but the music is slamming, enough so to get the thumbs up from me.

 

The Color of Right is one where Neil struggled...I mean struggled....to try and get a point across but is just sucks. Just does. Music could have been pretty good but it's just dragged down by such goofy, oddball lyrics. Kinda like The Big Wheel from RTB, good lyrics & pretty good music but ruined, totally f***ing ruined, by that weak-ass chorus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

I'd say that the lyrics to Virtuality are approximately equally as goofy as most of Counterparts.

 

Not even close. Counterparts lyrics are occasionally slightly awkward, and Neil is tackling subjects they never had before, but the messages of the songs are really great and they never bothered me. The lyrics to VIrtuality were a bit goofy at best when the song first came out, but it's aged horrendously, and if anything gets worse and worse with each passing year.

 

I know it's a controversial method to demonstrate what I'm talking about, but here are the lyrics - might as well put it right out there. I was just going to select the most egregious parts of the song, but unfortunately the lyrics in the entire song are culpable. If you can read this without throwing up in your mouth a little, you truly have a stronger constitution than I. We can only hope Rush never sinks so low again.

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your signal 'round the world

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

Press this key

And you can play along

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

http://sausandesigns.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif

 

I'm sorry, but all you did here was prove that the lyrics to Virtuality are goofy, not that most of the ones on Counterparts aren't! Although, you're right, awkward is a better word for the lyrics on Counterparts than goofy, with a modifier of "extremely" rather than "slightly."

 

"Painfully contrived" is a good phrase to describe both sets of lyrics, though :yes:

 

And the thing is, we could similarly break down every song on CP, (and probably most other songs). The difference would be that we wouldn't look like such asses doing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

I'd say that the lyrics to Virtuality are approximately equally as goofy as most of Counterparts.

 

Not even close. Counterparts lyrics are occasionally slightly awkward, and Neil is tackling subjects they never had before, but the messages of the songs are really great and they never bothered me. The lyrics to VIrtuality were a bit goofy at best when the song first came out, but it's aged horrendously, and if anything gets worse and worse with each passing year.

 

I know it's a controversial method to demonstrate what I'm talking about, but here are the lyrics - might as well put it right out there. I was just going to select the most egregious parts of the song, but unfortunately the lyrics in the entire song are culpable. If you can read this without throwing up in your mouth a little, you truly have a stronger constitution than I. We can only hope Rush never sinks so low again.

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your signal 'round the world

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

Press this key

And you can play along

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

http://sausandesigns.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif

 

I'm sorry, but all you did here was prove that the lyrics to Virtuality are goofy, not that most of the ones on Counterparts aren't! Although, you're right, awkward is a better word for the lyrics on Counterparts than goofy, with a modifier of "extremely" rather than "slightly."

 

"Painfully contrived" is a good phrase to describe both sets of lyrics, though :yes:

 

And the thing is, we could similarly break down every song on CP, (and probably most other songs). The difference would be that we wouldn't look like such asses doing it.

 

Come on, man, nothing more at ALL to say about my breakdown of the song above? I worked so hard on it! :P

 

And there are VERY few Rush songs that lend themselves so easily to being torn apart like that lyrically. Virtuality is, if not at the very bottom of the barrel, certainly circling the drain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I could not say it better. This whole album suffered lyrically. from the perp walk to net boy net girl...

 

There are a lot of great musical moments on this album but lyrically, it is their least engaging.

-dance around my totem pole?

 

Virtuality is one of the best riffs Alex did. Sad that those lyrics are there. To me, this is not the biggest flop though. The cheesy alliteration in the title track and the silly rhyming make it one of the most difficult of their tunes to listen to. I know what they were trying to achieve, but Dog Years is ridiculous...in fact, it is recockulous. It is difficult for me to believe that the same man who wrote the lyrics to these songs did the rest of the catalog.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I never realized how bad TfE was until I read this thread.

I don't hate the album, but Driven is the only song I would consider a favorite.

On other weaker albums I could at least name 2-3 really good songs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I think the song speaks to us now even more than it did at the time. Great music and, while "net boy and net girl" is uncomfortable, the song's lyrics have aged amazingly well to become far more relevant now than they were at the time. I've never understood the hate for T4E.

 

 

Aged amazingly well? :facepalm:

 

 

Edited in to add - aren't you always going on about hating the lyrics to Counterparts, and suddenly VIRTUALITY has great lyrics? Those are ten times more goofy than anything on CP!

 

I'd say that the lyrics to Virtuality are approximately equally as goofy as most of Counterparts.

 

Not even close. Counterparts lyrics are occasionally slightly awkward, and Neil is tackling subjects they never had before, but the messages of the songs are really great and they never bothered me. The lyrics to VIrtuality were a bit goofy at best when the song first came out, but it's aged horrendously, and if anything gets worse and worse with each passing year.

 

I know it's a controversial method to demonstrate what I'm talking about, but here are the lyrics - might as well put it right out there. I was just going to select the most egregious parts of the song, but unfortunately the lyrics in the entire song are culpable. If you can read this without throwing up in your mouth a little, you truly have a stronger constitution than I. We can only hope Rush never sinks so low again.

 

Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea

Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy

I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land

I can see the footprints in the virtual sand

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your signal 'round the world

Let your fingers walk and talk

And set you free

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your impulse 'round the world

Put your message in a modem

And throw it in the Cyber Sea

 

Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space

Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race

I can save the universe in a grain of sand

I can hold the future in my virtual hand

 

Let's dance tonight

To a virtual song

Press this key

And you can play along

 

Let's fly tonight

On our virtual wings

Press this key

To see amazing things

 

Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains

Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain

I can smell her perfume

I can taste her lips

I can feel the voltage from her fingertips

 

Net boy, net girl

Send your heartbeat round the world

 

http://sausandesigns.com/forum/images/smilies/puke.gif

 

I'm sorry, but all you did here was prove that the lyrics to Virtuality are goofy, not that most of the ones on Counterparts aren't! Although, you're right, awkward is a better word for the lyrics on Counterparts than goofy, with a modifier of "extremely" rather than "slightly."

 

"Painfully contrived" is a good phrase to describe both sets of lyrics, though :yes:

 

And the thing is, we could similarly break down every song on CP, (and probably most other songs). The difference would be that we wouldn't look like such asses doing it.

 

Come on, man, nothing more at ALL to say about my breakdown of the song above? I worked so hard on it! :P

 

And there are VERY few Rush songs that lend themselves so easily to being torn apart like that lyrically. Virtuality is, if not at the very bottom of the barrel, certainly circling the drain.

 

I swear, you two will never have the same opinion with Rush except them being awesome. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was listening to this two days ago and Good Lord the lyrics are sooooo cheesy but I LOVE the music.

 

If the lyrics in a song are really bad, like they are here, I just can't get past them to even notice the music. And if I do, it almost makes it worse.

 

It's like having a delicious hamburger that's smothered in velveeta cheese. I can tell that the hamburger is yummy underneath, but all I really taste is gooey, disgusting processed cheese and the hamburger is completely wasted.

 

Maybe if I could scrape off the cheese the hamburger could be saved, but you can't exactly make Virtuality an instrumental. ;)

 

Throw all the other shit away and start with the beef! That why I listen to Rush.. For the beef! Sometimes I don't even notice the lyrics. In fact I've even tried to memorize lyrics to certain songs but I need to restart the song over and over because I keep getting distracted by the music!

 

Try it! You can start with, ahem.. vapor trails ;) lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Musically good, lyrically bad. I hated the lyrics back in '96, and they certainly haven't aged well. "Net boy, net girl" is an uber cringe-worthy chorus.

 

I could not say it better. This whole album suffered lyrically. from the perp walk to net boy net girl...

 

There are a lot of great musical moments on this album but lyrically, it is their least engaging.

-dance around my totem pole?

 

Virtuality is one of the best riffs Alex did. Sad that those lyrics are there. To me, this is not the biggest flop though. The cheesy alliteration in the title track and the silly rhyming make it one of the most difficult of their tunes to listen to. I know what they were trying to achieve, but Dog Years is ridiculous...in fact, it is recockulous. It is difficult for me to believe that the same man who wrote the lyrics to these songs did the rest of the catalog.

 

I've never heard this one before! I'm going to have to remember it. I actually snorted in amusement as I read it. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I never realized how bad TfE was until I read this thread.

Don't let the negativity in this thread brainwash you. When it first came out, I thought it was stronger than Counterparts. Of course that opinion changed, but I still like it a lot. It's a solid album IMO. Virtuality's chorus is not good, but that's the worst thing I'll say about it. Good songs everywhere on this album. People look to Sirius.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always liked the song. Lyrically, it fit very well with what was going on at the time as the internet was bursting into the mainstream. The lyrics still hold up great today as the internet is a bigger part of our lives then anyone could've imagined back when the whole thing started becoming huge in the mid 90s. It's almost as if Neil was able to tell the future because now more than ever people connect through the internet then they do face to face.

 

Spot on! The "net boy, net girl" part is tacky even for someone like me, whose first language is not English. But as time went on I thought a song about how the internet affects our lives grew more and more relevant, And I´ve always had a similar feeling about certain Rush lyrics, especially those from the 80´s onwards. For instance, "it´s the fool on television getting paid to play the fool", off of Big Money, sums up in a very concise and direct way what people do on those reality shows nowadays.

 

Tacky lyrics aside, T4E is a great album, full of cool riffs which were not completly saturated as those from VT. I even like Dog Years, and again, the horrible lyrics are somewhat mitigated by the fact that I don´t necessarily think in English when I listen to music.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was listening to this two days ago and Good Lord the lyrics are sooooo cheesy but I LOVE the music.

 

If the lyrics in a song are really bad, like they are here, I just can't get past them to even notice the music. And if I do, it almost makes it worse.

 

It's like having a delicious hamburger that's smothered in velveeta cheese. I can tell that the hamburger is yummy underneath, but all I really taste is gooey, disgusting processed cheese and the hamburger is completely wasted.

 

Maybe if I could scrape off the cheese the hamburger could be saved, but you can't exactly make Virtuality an instrumental. ;)

 

Throw all the other shit away and start with the beef! That why I listen to Rush.. For the beef! Sometimes I don't even notice the lyrics. In fact I've even tried to memorize lyrics to certain songs but I need to restart the song over and over because I keep getting distracted by the music!

 

Try it! You can start with, ahem.. vapor trails ;) lol

 

There are certain bands where I can ignore the lyrics and focus on the music or the composition - to an extent, but not Rush. If the lyrics don't work, the song for me is toast. Shoot, just the narration in The Necromancer kills the song for me, and there's some kick ass music in that song... but... I can't listen to it. I just can't get past it.

Edited by rushgoober
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was listening to this two days ago and Good Lord the lyrics are sooooo cheesy but I LOVE the music.

 

If the lyrics in a song are really bad, like they are here, I just can't get past them to even notice the music. And if I do, it almost makes it worse.

 

It's like having a delicious hamburger that's smothered in velveeta cheese. I can tell that the hamburger is yummy underneath, but all I really taste is gooey, disgusting processed cheese and the hamburger is completely wasted.

 

Maybe if I could scrape off the cheese the hamburger could be saved, but you can't exactly make Virtuality an instrumental. ;)

 

Throw all the other shit away and start with the beef! That why I listen to Rush.. For the beef! Sometimes I don't even notice the lyrics. In fact I've even tried to memorize lyrics to certain songs but I need to restart the song over and over because I keep getting distracted by the music!

 

Try it! You can start with, ahem.. vapor trails ;) lol

 

There are certain bands where I can ignore the lyrics and focus on the music or the composition - to an extent, but not Rush. If the lyrics don't work, the song for me is toast. Shoot, just the narration in The Necromancer kills the song for me, and there's some kick ass music in that song... but... I can't listen to it. I just can't get past it.

 

There are quite a few Rush lyrics I've had to overcome to be able to enjoy the song. I find that generally, good music overcomes weak lyrics at lot more easily than good lyrics overcome weak music, and that's fortunate in the case of Rush because Neil's lyrics are very hit-and-miss, often even within the same song. "Virtuality" has some cool music in the verses, and most of the lyrics are serviceable, but that chorus is unutterably weak both musically and lyrically, and the bridge is no great shakes either, so as a whole song it falls short. I imagine it's a song that I would have liked better live (though sadly, that didn't help "Stick It Out"), but it was never going to be one of Rush's best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was listening to this two days ago and Good Lord the lyrics are sooooo cheesy but I LOVE the music.

 

If the lyrics in a song are really bad, like they are here, I just can't get past them to even notice the music. And if I do, it almost makes it worse.

 

It's like having a delicious hamburger that's smothered in velveeta cheese. I can tell that the hamburger is yummy underneath, but all I really taste is gooey, disgusting processed cheese and the hamburger is completely wasted.

 

Maybe if I could scrape off the cheese the hamburger could be saved, but you can't exactly make Virtuality an instrumental. ;)

 

Throw all the other shit away and start with the beef! That why I listen to Rush.. For the beef! Sometimes I don't even notice the lyrics. In fact I've even tried to memorize lyrics to certain songs but I need to restart the song over and over because I keep getting distracted by the music!

 

Try it! You can start with, ahem.. vapor trails ;) lol

 

There are certain bands where I can ignore the lyrics and focus on the music or the composition - to an extent, but not Rush. If the lyrics don't work, the song for me is toast. Shoot, just the narration in The Necromancer kills the song for me, and there's some kick ass music in that song... but... I can't listen to it. I just can't get past it.

 

There are quite a few Rush lyrics I've had to overcome to be able to enjoy the song. I find that generally, good music overcomes weak lyrics at lot more easily than good lyrics overcome weak music, and that's fortunate in the case of Rush because Neil's lyrics are very hit-and-miss, often even within the same song. "Virtuality" has some cool music in the verses, and most of the lyrics are serviceable, but that chorus is unutterably weak both musically and lyrically, and the bridge is no great shakes either, so as a whole song it falls short. I imagine it's a song that I would have liked better live (though sadly, that didn't help "Stick It Out"), but it was never going to be one of Rush's best.

 

I'm definitely the oppostie. I can overlook weaker music if the lyrics rock in a song.

 

I found your phrase "had to overcome to be able to enjoy the song" an interesting choice of words. I usually find if I have to overcome the lyrics there's a problem with the lyrics and chances are I won't be able to overcome it. That said, there are Rush songs I didn't dig originally lyrically that grew on me, like I See Red and Kid Gloves from CP, but for the most part if the lyrics just don't work for me at first, they're not going to magically improve.

Edited by rushgoober
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was listening to this two days ago and Good Lord the lyrics are sooooo cheesy but I LOVE the music.

 

If the lyrics in a song are really bad, like they are here, I just can't get past them to even notice the music. And if I do, it almost makes it worse.

 

It's like having a delicious hamburger that's smothered in velveeta cheese. I can tell that the hamburger is yummy underneath, but all I really taste is gooey, disgusting processed cheese and the hamburger is completely wasted.

 

Maybe if I could scrape off the cheese the hamburger could be saved, but you can't exactly make Virtuality an instrumental. ;)

 

Throw all the other shit away and start with the beef! That why I listen to Rush.. For the beef! Sometimes I don't even notice the lyrics. In fact I've even tried to memorize lyrics to certain songs but I need to restart the song over and over because I keep getting distracted by the music!

 

Try it! You can start with, ahem.. vapor trails ;) lol

 

There are certain bands where I can ignore the lyrics and focus on the music or the composition - to an extent, but not Rush. If the lyrics don't work, the song for me is toast. Shoot, just the narration in The Necromancer kills the song for me, and there's some kick ass music in that song... but... I can't listen to it. I just can't get past it.

 

There are quite a few Rush lyrics I've had to overcome to be able to enjoy the song. I find that generally, good music overcomes weak lyrics at lot more easily than good lyrics overcome weak music, and that's fortunate in the case of Rush because Neil's lyrics are very hit-and-miss, often even within the same song. "Virtuality" has some cool music in the verses, and most of the lyrics are serviceable, but that chorus is unutterably weak both musically and lyrically, and the bridge is no great shakes either, so as a whole song it falls short. I imagine it's a song that I would have liked better live (though sadly, that didn't help "Stick It Out"), but it was never going to be one of Rush's best.

 

I'm definitely the oppostie. I can overlook weaker music is the lyrics rock in a song.

 

I found your phrase "had to overcome to be able to enjoy the song" an interesting choice of words. I usually find if I have to overcome the lyrics there's a problem with the lyrics and chances are I won't be able to overcome it. That said, there are Rush songs I didn't dig originally lyrically that did grow on me, like I See Red and Kid Gloves from CP, but for the most part if the lyrics just don't work for me at first, they're not going to magically improve.

 

It's not that the lyrics improve for me as words in and of themselves, but that they sometimes take on additional meanings after many listens, or after the song features in experiences or events in my life. "Had to overcome" is perhaps a somewhat harsh description, in that I've never listened to lyrics in a deliberate attempt to learn to understand or like them as if it was an obligation, but sometimes lyrics do take quite a while to reach me. Some lyrics never do reach me, and some remain cringeworthy to me no matter how much I love the music, but unless they're in some way personally offensive to me, not liking lyrics doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment nearly as much as not liking music does.

 

There are instances that go the other way -- where I come to like the music as a result of liking the lyrics, but that's much less common for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...