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Red Lenses - a deeper discussion

toymaker

By toymaker,
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Red Lenses: the most experimental Rush song?  

17 members have voted

  1. 1. Is Red Lenses the most experimental song Rush has recorded?

    • Yes - Red Lenses is the most significant departure from the type of music Rush was playing at the time
      3
    • No - every album is a new experiment
      6
    • No - it's a bit of a departure, but it's similar enough to the style of many of their other songs
      7
    • Yes - it's the most experimental and among the worst songs they've recorded
      0
    • No - it's just another failed quasi-musical experiment, just like _____________
      1

  2. 2. What is the message of the song?

    • It's about Western civilization's blind fear and ignorance of and hatred for the "Red Menace" during the Cold War
      8
    • It's about how anger can be productive whereas sadness is pointless
      1
    • It's just a rant about how many irritating people and practices there our in our society.
      1
    • It's about none of these things.
      7

  3. 3. Is it possible to have this discussion without someone beatin' up poor old Neil?

    • yes
      7
    • no
      10

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toymaker

toymaker

Posted
Posted (edited)
Apologies if this has been done. I'm truly interested since people are discussing the merits of the song in another post. Edited by toymaker
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Narps

Narps

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The chances of the last question being answered "yes" has increased some just recently so I have heard....
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bathory

bathory

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this is weird. I knew a dude who wrote an essay about red lenses for a college english class

 

I noticed the other day that he'd deleted me from facebook, which is fine because all he ever talked about was synth-era rush (his favorite album of all time was power windows) and pokemon

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RushBoingo

RushBoingo

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Love the song, don't look too much into the lyrics. I love the weird alienating music fitting the lyrics I do understand though. And then it comes to one of my favorite Rush instrumental breaks. So many places visited in this song. So underappreciated.
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savagegrace26

savagegrace26

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http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/main/RushInspirations.htm

 

"T.S. Eliot, 1888-1965

Not only did his poetry inspire Neil with specific lyrics, his style of writing also partially inspired the writing style used for "red lenses"."

 

"John Dos Passos, 1896-1970

The title of three Rush songs come from his writings. His style of writing also partially inspired the writing style used by Neil for "red lenses" (see above entry for T.S. Eliot)."

 

"The National Midnight Star" was a trashy tabloid (similar to actual tabloids National Enquirer and The Star) which had made its way to television. Publisher Rawl Withers (Eugene Levy) figured that by being on television he could avoid litigation. The song "red lenses" pays homage to the National Midnight Star (its true!).

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EagleMoon

EagleMoon

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I don't think it's that much of a deviation from anything else they've ever done. To me it's more about anger in its various forms.
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WorkingAllTheTime

WorkingAllTheTime

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Posted
It's a quirky song with a hint of intellectual analysis as a play on our common social perceptions of "red". The music is just Geddy (really, Geddy did all of that 80s stuff, not Alex) playing around. The lyrics are just Neil being Neil. Kind of like Neil once said, "Hey, let me write a song about what it would be like if trees behaved like people.", I think he said "Hey, let me write a song that is a funny little play on the context of 'red' in our lexicon." The problem, of course, is Neil thinks about trees and uses words like lexicon. That just seems to piss some people off.
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treeduck

treeduck

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Posted

Please don't mind me asking this, but what is "metal" about Red Lenses? I'm honestly coming up blank here.

You need to go back and spend a few hours over the next few weeks listening to the song and come back to me in a month or two.

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len(songs)

len(songs)

Posted
Posted (edited)

Please don't mind me asking this, but what is "metal" about Red Lenses? I'm honestly coming up blank here.

You need to go back and spend a few hours over the next few weeks listening to the song and come back to me in a month or two.

You mean like I have for the last month?

 

Look, i've given it due reflection, but it still hurts my said trying to find absolution in my rational point of view:

 

RED LENSES IS NOT METAL

Edited by len(songs)
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treeduck

treeduck

Posted
Posted

Please don't mind me asking this, but what is "metal" about Red Lenses? I'm honestly coming up blank here.

You need to go back and spend a few hours over the next few weeks listening to the song and come back to me in a month or two.

You mean like I have for the last month?

I think you need another few, then take a long break from it and come back to it later.

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Narps

Narps

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Can't say i like it....then again you won't see me say many nice things about p/g

 

Mick

Now I am confused with what you like and don't like.... :eh: :blah: len!! :cool:
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Narps

Narps

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Posted

Can't say i like it....then again you won't see me say many nice things about p/g

 

Mick

I like the retro shirt they have now in the Rush Backstage club.

Me too. Cool shirt....
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bluefox4000

bluefox4000

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Can't say i like it....then again you won't see me say many nice things about p/g

 

Mick

Now I am confused with what you like and don't like.... :eh: :blah: len!! :cool:

 

First of all wrong thread......didn't realize this was the deeper discussion thread. Thought was the simple like or dislike thread, lol. oh well.

 

2nd len was right. i love all 80's rush....save for p/g

 

Mick

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Narps

Narps

Posted
Posted

Can't say i like it....then again you won't see me say many nice things about p/g

 

Mick

Now I am confused with what you like and don't like.... :eh: :blah: len!! :cool:

:smoke:

I didn't realize I needed a filing system when I joined here.... :codger:
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toymaker

toymaker

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Nobody told me about pop quizzes! Is this for college credit........an internship or something.

 

I see Red

This poll hurts my head.

No pressure. Just goofin' around, as usual.

I like polls. (Don't say that out loud.)

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That One Guy

That One Guy

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Definitely not their most experimental song ever, not by a country mile. "What is their most experimental song" would be a good thread though. I couldn't put a name on it.
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goose

goose

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Can't say i like it....then again you won't see me say many nice things about p/g

 

Mick

I like the retro shirt they have now in the Rush Backstage club.

http://u.rockthisthing.com/image/500/500/RURTRGLGUP030_000.jpg

 

But I like this one...

 

http://u.rockthisthing.com/image/500/500/RUPWRGLVIN036_000.jpg

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Segue Myles

Segue Myles

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Posted

Can't say i like it....then again you won't see me say many nice things about p/g

 

Mick

 

I love it all. I have no idea how you couldn't haha!

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