Rush lyrics you felt identified with

[Papersen]

I know there are many Rush fans here at TB.
I`ve always thought that Neil lyrics are really deep and well thought. I`ve felt identified with some of them, and they`ve expressed the way I was thinking at a certain moment of my life.

I remember a phrase written in "Working Man" tribute album, that said something like "... Rush fans have taken their lyrics as a soundtrack of their lives ..." (it`s not the exact phrase, just the idea).

The most meaningful to me are:

It's not how fast you can go
The force goes into the flow
If you pick up the beat
You can forget about the heat
...
You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don't burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you've got to last

It`s something that reminds me not to give up and that
efforts have their rewards.

When we are young
Wandering the face of the Earth
Wondering what our dreams might be worth
Learning that we're only immortal
For a limited time

Another phrase that makes me wonder about the meaning
of life and the finite time we have with it.

I directly connect that paragraph with:

You can never break the chain
There is never love without pain
A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart

Out of sync
With the rhythm of my own reactions
With the things that last
And the things that come apart
Out of sync
With love in the land of the living
A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart

I`ve had many losses in my family, so I feel quite identified
with Neil`s suffering. Every time I hear this song, I feel how bad he must have felt missing his wife and daughter.


I`d like to read some other testimonials.
I know there`re Rush lyrics that really touched many of us.

[syciprider]

I like breaking the rules. Red Barchetta.

[Muzique Fann]

'the more things change, the more they stay the same'.

probably Ayn Rand but it's still timeless.

[Eric Moesle]

Someone actually listens to the WORDS in Rush tunes???? I'm shocked . . . .

I guess I thought it would be possible someday, but I guess I always thought in the back of my mind it might be a lonely physicist or quantum mechanics engineer sitting in front of three computer screens with Rush playing in the background . . . .

[Folmeister]

"Everybody's got to deviate from the norm."

My life in a nutshell

"Subdivisions!"

[WalterBush]

All the lyrics to Analog Kid speak to me directly, or at least they did when I was first living on my own. Ditto for Subdivisions. Although I've loved Neil's ability to turn a phrase, and still enjoy his lyrics, I can't say any of them apply to me personally anymore.

[Naturekev]

Another vote for Subdivisions. I was in high school when the Signals album came out, and saw Rush for the first time on that tour. That song takes me back every time I hear it.

[Blackbird]

Originally Posted by Eric Moesle

Someone actually listens to the WORDS in Rush tunes???? I'm shocked . . . .

The words are half the fun.


"Fly By Night"

Why try? I know why
The feeling inside me says it's time I was gone
Clear head, new life ahead
I want to be king now not just one more pawn

[Chorus:]
Fly by night, away from here
Change my life again
Fly by night, goodbye my dear
My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend

Moon rise, thoughtful eyes
Staring back at me from the window beside
No fright or hindsight
Leaving behind that empty feeling inside

[Chorus]

Start a new chapter
Find what I'm after
It's changing every day
The change of a season
Is enough of a reason
To want to get away
Quiet and pensive
My thoughts aprehensive
The hours drift away
Leaving my homeland
Playing a lone hand
My life begins today

[Chorus]

[superbassman2000]

i think i'm going bald

[Gard]

I always felt the album "Presto" was very overlooked, particularly the lyrics, here are three favorites:

"Presto"

If I could wave my magic wand...

I am made from the dust of the stars
And the oceans flow in my veins
Here I hide in the heart of the city
Like a stranger coming out of the rain

The evening plane rises up from the runway
Over constellations of light
I look down into a million houses
And wonder what you're doing tonight

If I could wave my magic wand
I'd make everything all right

I'm not one to believe in magic
But I sometimes have a second sight
I'm not one with a sense of proportion
When my heart still changes overnight

I had a dream of a winter garden
A midnight rendezvous
Silver, blue and frozen silence
What a fool I was for you

I had a dream of the open water
I was swimming away out to sea
So deep I could never touch bottom
What a fool I used to be

If I could wave my magic wand
I'd set everybody free

I'm not one to believe in magic
Though my memory has a second sight
I'm not one to go pointing my finger
When I radiate more heat than light

Don't ask me
I'm just improvising
My illusion of careless flight
Can't you see
My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light

Don't ask me
I'm just sympathizing
My illusions a harmless flight
Can't you see
My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light



"Available Light"

The restless wind
Has seen all things
In every kind of light
Rising with the full moon
To go howling through the night

The sleepless wind
Has heard all things
Between the sea and sky
In the canyons of the city
You can hear the buildings cry

Oh the wind can carry
All the voices of the sea
Oh the wind can carry
All the echoes home to me

Run with wind and weather
To the music of the sea
All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Chase the wind around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

Play of light
A photograph
The way I used to be
Some half forgotten stranger
Doesn't mean that much to me

Trick of light
Moving picture
Moments caught in flight
Make the shadows darker
Or the colors shine too bright

Oh the light can carry
All the visions of the sea
Oh the light can carry
All the images to me

Run to light from shadow
Sun gives me no rest
Promise offered in the east
Broken in the west
Chase the sun around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Shadows hide the play of light
So much I want to see
Chase the light around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

I'll go with the wind
I'll stand in the light


...this is the one I identify the most now...

"Scars"

I've stood upon my mountaintop
And shouted at the sky
Walked above the pavement
With my senses amplified
I get this feeling...

All my nerves are naked wires
Tender to the touch
Sometimes super sensitive
But who can care too much?
I get this feeling...

Scars of pleasure
Scars of pain
Atmospheric changes
Make them sensitive again

Each emotional injury
Leaves behind its mark
Sometimes they come tumbling out
Like shadows in the dark
I get this feeling...

When I think about all I have seen
And all I'll never see
When I think about the people
Who have opened up to me
I get this feeling...

Snow falls deep around my house
And holds the winter light
I've heard the lions hunting
In the Serengeti night
I get this feeling...

Forests turned to factories
And river, sea, and sky
Hungry child in the desert
And the flies that cloud her eyes
I get this feeling...

Pleasure leaves a fingerprint
As surely as mortal pain
In memories they resonate
And echo back again...

Scars of pleasure
Scars of pain
Atmospheric changes
Make them sensitive again

[James Hart]

I've always had issues with hatred.... both within me and around me. Sometimes if I'm feeling like I'm loosing my harmony and feeling hate, this verse pops into my head

Quick to judge,
Quick to anger,
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand...

[SomecallmeTim]

'Open Secrets' is the one that always sticks out for me.

It went right by me
At the time it went over my head
I was looking out the window
I should have looked at your face instead

It went right by me
Just another wall
There should have been a moment
When we let our barriers fall
I never meant what you're thinking...
That's not what I meant at all.

[chorus]
Well, I guess we all have these feelings
We can't leave unreconciled
Some of them burned on our ceilings
Some of them learned as a child

The things that we're concealing
Will never let us grow
Time will do its healing
You've got to let it go

Closed for my protection
Open to your scorn
Between these two directions
My heart is sometimes torn

I lie awake with my secrets
Spinning around my head
Something that somehow escaped me
Something you shouldn't have said
I was looking out the window
I should have looked at your face instead.

[Chorus]

I find no absolution
In my rational point of view
Maybe some things are instinctive
But there's one thing you could do
You could try to understand me
I could try to understand you
You could try to understand me
I could try to understand you

[scourge]

Nobody's Hero

I always get a little choked up when I hear that song.

[crikker]

YYZ-sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Peter Squire]

Ok, this is off top of my head....

"Draw another goblet
From the cask of '43
Crimson misty memories
A hazy glimpse of me

Give me back my wonder
I've something more to give
I guess it doesn't matter
There's not much more to,
Not much more to live"

(From "Bacchus Plateau")

Yep, and Analog Kid, Lakeside Park, The Pass, Entre Nous, Afterimage, Time Stand Still....

I prefer Neil's lyrics when he's touching on everyday emotions, things we all can't get reconciled....