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Test for Echo


jayberwanger
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I still remember exactly where I was when I first heard T4E on the radio. My first thought was "Well, they had a good run." 23 years later, I still think it's their worst record.

 

Every song starts like it's going to be the greatest Rush song ever. Then---a wave of disappointment washes over you when you hear the lyrics.

 

Fortunately, I have never experienced that wave of disappointment when listening for Test For Echo.

Me either. I have enjoyed that album since I first heard it. But then again, DOG YEARS is one of my favorite Rush songs.
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I still remember exactly where I was when I first heard T4E on the radio. My first thought was "Well, they had a good run." 23 years later, I still think it's their worst record.

 

Every song starts like it's going to be the greatest Rush song ever. Then---a wave of disappointment washes over you when you hear the lyrics.

 

Fortunately, I have never experienced that wave of disappointment when listening for Test For Echo.

Me either. I have enjoyed that album since I first heard it. But then again, DOG YEARS is one of my favorite Rush songs.

:haz:

 

I dig dog years.

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Like it or hate it, the lyrics to Half The World are more relevant now then they were 23 years ago

More relevant, no. Equally relevant, I'll give you, if only because less relevant isn't possible.

 

But more important than being equally relevant, it's equally juvenile. it would fit right in in a third grade poetry compendium. Which, even while embarrassing, would be OK if the accompaniment wasn't so banal.

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I have mixed feelings on Time & Motion. I like the music (not including that convoluted synth loop most fans seem to hate) but the lyrics make little sense . The best part is the middle "The mighty ocean dances with the moon" section

The lyrics are fantastic, imo, and represent a rare moment when Peart is being less than literal. Love the song!
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Time and motion

Wind and sun and rain

Days connect like boxcars in a train

 

Fill them up with precious cargo

Squeeze in all that you can find

 

Spontaneous elation

And the long-enduring kind

 

Time and motion

Flesh and blood and fire

Lives connect in webs of gold and razor wire

 

Spin a thread of precious contact

Squeeze in all that you can find

Spontaneous relations

And the long-enduring kind

 

 

The mighty ocean

Dances with the moon

The silent forest

Echoes with the loon

 

Time and motion

Live and love and dream

Eyes connect like interstellar beams

 

Superman in super nature

Needs all the comfort he can find

Spontaneous emotion

And the long enduring kind

 

:notworthy:

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I enjoy this record. I do not listen to it so much. But when I do, I really enjoy it. People should give this record a second (real) try! Just sit down, and truly listen to it.
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I have mixed feelings on Time & Motion. I like the music (not including that convoluted synth loop most fans seem to hate) but the lyrics make little sense . The best part is the middle "The mighty ocean dances with the moon" section

The lyrics are fantastic, imo, and represent a rare moment when Peart is being less than literal. Love the song!

It is autobiographical in nature and shows his desire to get the most of limited time and a limited life. We start with the title. Time & Motion Studies are a way to improve efficiency by observation and measurement of the individual steps. They are used typically in factories and other workplaces and have been criticized by labor unions because the emphasis on efficiency dehumanizes workers, judging them by measurable numbers and parameters.

 

Time and motion

Wind and sun and rain

Days connect like boxcars in a train

Fill them up with precious cargo

Squeeze in all that you can find

Peart did. e.g. Recall that instead of riding a bus during the last few tours like his band mates, he rode a motorcycle between gigs (to make "better" use of his time).

Spontaneous elation

And the long-enduring kind

Recall that like Geddy and Alex, he had relationships that spanned decades

 

Time and motion

Flesh and blood and fire

Lives connect in webs of gold and razor wire

Semiconductor circuits are made of very thin gold wires.

Spin a thread of precious contact

The "web" is both the worldwide web and the way in which human lives connect to each each in a complex fashion like a spiderweb.

Squeeze in all that you can find

Spontaneous relations

Recall that Peart enjoyed striking up conversations with people as he traveled backgrounds (you know, as long as they had no idea who he was and did not try to follow him home)

And the long-enduring kind

 

The mighty ocean

Dances with the moon

The silent forest

Echoes with the loon

1 Note the vast difference in size of the ocean vs. the moon, the vast forest vs. the loon and how the smaller is in play with the larger.

2 The ocean symbolizes something vast and eternal and moon symbolizes the passage of time; the eternal and the ephemeral meet and dance.

3 Here is also the stark contrast between work environment and the actual environment. Nature is not to be measured but is simply experienced.

Time and motion

Live and love and dream

Eyes connect like interstellar beams

Note the progression (Days connect,,, /Lives connect.../ Eyes connect...)

Superman in supernature

Needs all the comfort he can find

 

1 "Superman" is a translation of Übermensch, the idea introduced by philosopher Friedrich Nietzche of a being superior to other humans in terms of intellect and philosophy. The superman understands there is no absolute morality for humans. that morality is a social construction and therefore illusory. For the ordinary person there is a general dissatisfaction with the world and hence the creation of something beyond it (heaven, expounded in almost every religion).

 

We hold beliefs as a consolation

A way to take us out of ourselves

Meditation or medication

A comfort, or a promised reward

 

Peart openly said he was an agnostic and this worked well his personal beliefs. c.f. with the following from "Armor and Sword":

 

By contrast, the Superman doesn't fall under the sway of group identity and seeks his own meaning in this world (ein aus sich rollendes Rad, a wheel turning out of its own center). The superman accepts the vicissitudes of life and knows that others may not understand him and this may engender isolation or loneliness.

 

2 Superman is also an ironic reference to himself, the idea that some fans had that he was larger than life or superhuman In contrast to nature above supernature refers to the non-natural environment and demanding the superman is subject to (In this case touring and the isolation from his family), and hence the need for comfort.

Spontaneous emotion

And the long enduring kind

----

That's my take. I hope it helps.

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(A couple more thoughts:)

 

Flesh and blood and fire

"Flesh and blood" can mean

1. Human beings, especially with respect to their failings or weaknesses.

2. one's own flesh and blood. One's blood relatives, kin

"Fire" can mean "burning passion or excitement"

Connecting the two joins together humans emotionally (anticipating the next line "Lives connect in webs of gold and laser wire"

 

 

 

Superman in supernature

Needs all the comfort he can findCompare this to Dreamline (1991, 5 years befor T4E)

Like lovers and heroes

Lonely as the eagle's cry

(Here again is the same sense of isolation from Nietzche's Superman.)

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Not a billionth as annoying as the third grade lyrics.

 

I think they are very thoughtful words now Something for Nothing and Freewill that's some juvenile stuff there. Very enjoyable when I was a teenager though

The lyrics to Half the World sound like they were written for a scene in Spinal Tap where the band were dabbling at being socially relevant, but the scene was cut for being too cartoonish.

 

you're funny

nah he's just stating facts :LOL:
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"Totem" is not so good. Ditto the Internet song. Although they might improve as instrumentals. :huh:

Totem's lyrics sounds like something I'd write in middle school - In other words, bad.

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Totem is really the only dud for me off this album, other than that, I like pretty much every other song. Its a very overlooked album and just makes my top 10.
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"Totem" is not so good. Ditto the Internet song. Although they might improve as instrumentals. :huh:

Totem's lyrics sounds like something I'd write in middle school - In other words, bad.

 

"Aztec and Maya, a girl and a guy-a...Buddha and Dharma, dogma and karma...Prancer and Vixen, Donder and Blitzen..."

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