Happy Birthday to one of the greatest bass players around
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a special song about Geddy’s birthday
My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits for cake
Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old cake
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining cake
A brilliant red velvet cake
From a better vanished time
I frost up the willing cake
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly bake
Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge
Well-weathered spatula
Hot metal and candles
The scented country air
Sunlight on cake
The blur of the plate
Every nerve a cake
Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air cake
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To eat the deadly cake
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase
Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the bakery
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside about a lovely cake
And we all know where he learned to love baseball - WGN TV and Harry Caray and my Cubbies lolHe celebrated his 70th in his 2nd row seats at the Blue Jays game.
You beat me to it!Saw him at the Blue Jays/Angels game last night. As any self-respecting Jays fan would know (and Geddy’s a superfan), there’s no better place to be on your birthday!![]()
And we all know where he learned to love baseball - WGN TV and Harry Caray and my Cubbies lol
. That said, Geddy is a Toronto kid, born in 1953. The Blue Jays were founded in 1976, and the Montreal Expos in 1969, so (like me but two years older) Geddy has spent most of his adult life with baseball in Canada—whether he was paying attention or not, early on. I grew up on the east coast watching Red Sox baseball, while lots of my Ontario friends were Detroit Tigers fans. (We share a dislike for the Yankees!
) However, I was in the Toronto ballpark by the Jays' second season—including the two World Series—and never looked back. I get a real kick that another bassist (him great, me not) is so dedicated to the Blue Jays. I was just in TO for a game and was disappointed that he wasn't there that night, not that I would have sought him out, but it would just have been cool to be in the ballpark together enjoying the game. (In fairness, it was 9-1 for the Padres that night, but still...God rest the Professora special song about Geddy’s birthday
My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits for cake
Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old cake
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining cake
A brilliant red velvet cake
From a better vanished time
I frost up the willing cake
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly bake
Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge
Well-weathered spatula
Hot metal and candles
The scented country air
Sunlight on cake
The blur of the plate
Every nerve a cake
Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air cake
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To eat the deadly cake
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase
Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the bakery
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside about a lovely cake