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Your least favorite song lyrics Neil have ever written?


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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 ow

Oh...dear.

Oh...dear II...
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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

I like the title track just fine.
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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

 

The "all is for the best" bit really grates on my nerves. Other than that, it just seems really juvenile. Not something I would have ever have thought Neil would write.

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I like everything about CA (title track)...I think it's the standout song on the album. The Anarchist a close second.

 

But yes, for the most part the "concept" to the album feels too much like a bare bones outline lyric wise.

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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

 

I WANT to really like CA but just can't warm up to it because of what you pointed out. Alex and Geddy can still come up with good riffs and song "parts"...the main riff to the Anarchist and Seven Cities Of Gold are killer for example...but once Geddy starts singing over it,especially with his current voice, I lose interest in listening to the rest. Plus, I can't make out a single word he's saying on many of the songs. There's a part of the title song where he sounds like he's singing over a speaker phone and I can't make out ANY OF IT. That doesn't make for a good listen for anyone, big fan or casual fan or new fan.

 

So basically, I like the storyline Neil came up with but the music sounds disjointed and hookless. Like Geddy just got the lyrics for the first time and was trying to invent a melody as he sang over the backing track.

 

I wonder how much better this all would've sounded with his younger voice circa 1980

Edited by jnoble
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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

 

I WANT to really like CA but just can't warm up to it because of what you pointed out. Alex and Geddy can still come up with good riffs and song "parts"...the main riff to the Anarchist and Seven Cities Of Gold are killer for example...but once Geddy starts singing over it,especially with his current voice, I lose interest in listening to the rest. Plus, I can't make out a single word he's saying on many of the songs. There's a part of the title song where he sounds like he's singing over a speaker phone and I can't make out ANY OF IT. That doesn't make for a good listen for anyone, big fan or casual fan or new fan.

 

So basically, I like the storyline Neil came up with but the music sounds disjointed and hookless. Like Geddy just got the lyrics for the first time and was trying to invent a melody as he sang over the backing track.

 

I wonder how much better this all would've sounded with his younger voice circa 1980

 

"I lack their smiles and their diamonds, I lack their happiness and love. I envy them for all those things I never got my fair share of, my fair share of."

 

This what you mean? Yeah, I had no idea what the lyrics were on first listen...

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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

 

I WANT to really like CA but just can't warm up to it because of what you pointed out. Alex and Geddy can still come up with good riffs and song "parts"...the main riff to the Anarchist and Seven Cities Of Gold are killer for example...but once Geddy starts singing over it,especially with his current voice, I lose interest in listening to the rest. Plus, I can't make out a single word he's saying on many of the songs. There's a part of the title song where he sounds like he's singing over a speaker phone and I can't make out ANY OF IT. That doesn't make for a good listen for anyone, big fan or casual fan or new fan.

 

So basically, I like the storyline Neil came up with but the music sounds disjointed and hookless. Like Geddy just got the lyrics for the first time and was trying to invent a melody as he sang over the backing track.

 

I wonder how much better this all would've sounded with his younger voice circa 1980

 

Also, totally agree with the fact that it sounds like he just got the lyrics and improvised over the track. I always got that vibe too, even though I absolutely love CA to death.

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Neil has written some really cool lyrics, but there are a lot of misses out there

 

Chemistry

Hard to get too fired up about the subject matter here. Seems to me it's Chemistry and also seems to me it's a rock song, not a science class

 

Test for Echo (almost the whole album)

Really interesting how there are so many misses on this album lyrically. I don't know if it's because Neil was working on a new drumming style and mailed in the lyrics or what, but it's not his finest moment. Test for Echo the song has way too many words and Geddy is trying to fit in too much. Half the World is, um, redundant. Totem-Really don't want to hear what Neil has wrapped around his totem pole. Time and Motion loses me. Have no idea what it's about. Dog Years has been beaten to death, Virtuality may have the most cringe worth moment with the modem thing.

 

 

Far Cry-It's a Far Cry from the world we thought we'd inherit. Ok, but Instead of telling us about how disappointed you are about the world you inherited give us some answers. Otherwise, it's just complaining

 

Armor and Sword-Similar to Test for Echo. Neil is trying to tell us too much here. Just a lot for poor Geddy to take on

 

I think Signals is overrated mainly because of the lyrics. Besides Chemistry, there's Analog Kid, New World Man, and Digital Man. Who are all these guys and why is Rush singing about them? Is Analog the son of Digital and where does New World fit in the family tree? I get and appreciate that he's trying to write more personal lyrics about people but it's a bit confusing.

 

Hand Over Fist-Not sure what's going on here but I know it's partly about Rock, Paper, Scissors? So, yeah, based on that it makes the list

Chain Lightning-Another one that completely loses me. No one seems to know what it's all about.

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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 ow

Oh...dear.

Oh...dear II...

It should've been an instrumental. It would've set you free.

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When I was a teen I thought Peart's lyrics were excellent. This was of course due to comparisons with the vast majority of radio which were variations of the same themes of girls/cars/parties/toughness. The latter rehashes are so typical that they must exist just so the vocalist can contribute to the sound. Rush was a popular radio exception to this so I never considered how the lyrics were sometimes too forced, obvious, or silly.

 

My adult ears have never seen Peart as anything remotely close excellent, but he does sometimes write well and he always writes better than the majority of rock artists. I guess the fact that he is trying to sound clever is the thing that makes his 'better' lyrics more annoying than some simplistic party anthem.

 

I must disagree with the comment above about Chain Lightning. It's one of my favorite lyrics from Peart, and the meaning is clear to me, or at least I think it is. About how events natural, physical, and emotional grow exponentially with an outside force involved. For example how a sunset can go from nice to phenomenal just because you share the sight with someone.

 

I believe he said he was inspired by watching sun dogs with his daughter.

 

But this thread is about suck, and although I like some of these songs the lyrics are not good- Dog Years, Half the World, Virtuality (ugh), Speed of Love, Neurotica's chorus is bad, but the rest is okay.

 

I think I agree about the 90's consensus here. But I really love CA. I think it stands above anything since at least Power Windows. I see the album as the lyrical partner to Fountain of Lamneth. Sort of the same song, the story of a life youth to elder. It works for me.

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Emotion Detector

 

When we lift the covers from our feelings

 

*Squeal sound of a record needle being lifted up really fast*

 

Right then, that's quite enough of that!

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Neil has written some really cool lyrics, but there are a lot of misses out there

 

Chemistry

Hard to get too fired up about the subject matter here. Seems to me it's Chemistry and also seems to me it's a rock song, not a science class

 

I believe that was written by all 3 of them. I love it btw...

 

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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

 

I WANT to really like CA but just can't warm up to it because of what you pointed out. Alex and Geddy can still come up with good riffs and song "parts"...the main riff to the Anarchist and Seven Cities Of Gold are killer for example...but once Geddy starts singing over it,especially with his current voice, I lose interest in listening to the rest. Plus, I can't make out a single word he's saying on many of the songs. There's a part of the title song where he sounds like he's singing over a speaker phone and I can't make out ANY OF IT. That doesn't make for a good listen for anyone, big fan or casual fan or new fan.

 

So basically, I like the storyline Neil came up with but the music sounds disjointed and hookless. Like Geddy just got the lyrics for the first time and was trying to invent a melody as he sang over the backing track.

 

I wonder how much better this all would've sounded with his younger voice circa 1980

 

Very good post

 

I completely agree

 

 

 

 

 

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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

 

I WANT to really like CA but just can't warm up to it because of what you pointed out. Alex and Geddy can still come up with good riffs and song "parts"...the main riff to the Anarchist and Seven Cities Of Gold are killer for example...but once Geddy starts singing over it,especially with his current voice, I lose interest in listening to the rest. Plus, I can't make out a single word he's saying on many of the songs. There's a part of the title song where he sounds like he's singing over a speaker phone and I can't make out ANY OF IT. That doesn't make for a good listen for anyone, big fan or casual fan or new fan.

 

So basically, I like the storyline Neil came up with but the music sounds disjointed and hookless. Like Geddy just got the lyrics for the first time and was trying to invent a melody as he sang over the backing track.

 

I wonder how much better this all would've sounded with his younger voice circa 1980

 

Very good post

 

I completely agree

 

I call this the funeral dirge.

 

 

And it's one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of CA anymore after the initial rush of the release. The Anarchist musically a fantastic song. Lyrically it's ok, but the vocals just bring it down...

 

Lyrically and vocally CA overall just hasn't stood the test of time for me.

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The entire Clockwork Angels album lyrics sound so 'shoe-horned' into the music.

 

Crap lyrics for a rather crappy album.

 

I WANT to really like CA but just can't warm up to it because of what you pointed out. Alex and Geddy can still come up with good riffs and song "parts"...the main riff to the Anarchist and Seven Cities Of Gold are killer for example...but once Geddy starts singing over it,especially with his current voice, I lose interest in listening to the rest. Plus, I can't make out a single word he's saying on many of the songs. There's a part of the title song where he sounds like he's singing over a speaker phone and I can't make out ANY OF IT. That doesn't make for a good listen for anyone, big fan or casual fan or new fan.

 

So basically, I like the storyline Neil came up with but the music sounds disjointed and hookless. Like Geddy just got the lyrics for the first time and was trying to invent a melody as he sang over the backing track.

 

I wonder how much better this all would've sounded with his younger voice circa 1980

 

Very good post

 

I completely agree

 

I call this the funeral dirge.

 

 

And it's one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of CA anymore after the initial rush of the release. The Anarchist musically a fantastic song. Lyrically it's ok, but the vocals just bring it down...

 

Lyrically and vocally CA overall just hasn't stood the test of time for me.

And there actually hasn't been much of a "test of time" since it hasn't even reached 5 years

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Unfortunatly starting with Vapor Trails, the majority of Neil's lyrics on the ensuing albums (including in story form on Clockwork Angels) pretty much consist of complaining about how the world is mean and religion is scary. That's pretty much it. I'll give him an understanding pass on Vapor Trails for his personal losses and tragedy...he wanted to blow off steam and express himself for what he went through and I really like a lot of the lyrics and songs on that album.... but stretching it out to the following two albums got tedious and predictable to me. It's like "OK Neil, we get it. Life is hard and everything stinks" :codger: :eyeroll: Edited by jnoble
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All of Clockwork Angels.

 

I sort of like the title song...it's epic and big sounding. But it goes on far too long. They shouldve cut about a minute and a half or more out of it.

 

Sure but we're talking lyrics here, not the music.

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All of Clockwork Angels.

 

I sort of like the title song...it's epic and big sounding. But it goes on far too long. They shouldve cut about a minute and a half or more out of it.

 

Sure but we're talking lyrics here, not the music.

 

Why are you assuming I wouldnt have minded some of the lyrics in that song getting trimmed too? ;)

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