Neil Peart’s place within the pantheon of rock greats was secured by his progressive drumming with Rush; however no much less awe-inspiring was his proficiency as a lyricist. A voracious devourer of the written phrase, his data spanned the literary canon from the classics to non-fiction that embraced each topic below the solar, and past. In 2020 Prog author Chris McGarel – who was impressed by Peart to realize his grasp’s diploma in English Literature – chosen 10 of essentially the most evocative Rush lyrics.
Anthem (Fly By Night time, 1975)
Beneath, Between And Behind was the primary lyric to fall from Peart’s pen, but it surely was Anthem that the world would hear first. The lead observe from Fly By Night time introduced a brand new Rush with a thunderous name to arms.
Impressed by Ayn Rand’s novella of the identical title, Anthem is a hymn to individualism (‘Reside for your self / There’s nobody else extra price residing for’) and opened a seam that might be mined to its depths on the epic 2112, inflicting controversy and prompting Peart later to distance himself from Rand’s philosophy. As a gap salvo, Anthem hit its goal.
The Timber (Hemispheres, 1978)
This pastoral parable of oaks and maples would additionally court docket controversy. A childlike, Tolkien-esque story of anthropomorphism, it takes a sinister flip because the bushes of the forest are saved equal ‘by hatchet, axe and noticed.’
The genius of The Timber lies in its literary simplicity, masking its political allegory within the plain language of fable. Its perceived anti-Communist message (‘So the maples fashioned a union / And demanded equal rights’) would immediate some to lazily dub Rush as “crypto-fascist” – a label they’d battle to shrug off for some years.
Freewill (Everlasting Waves, 1980)
The theme of individualism would resurface in Freewill. Once more the lyrics work on a number of ranges, alluding each to self-determination and agnosticism: ‘You may select a prepared information / In some celestial voice / In case you select to not resolve / You continue to have made a alternative.’
The drummer articulates a musicality that few lyricists can muster – the sound is as essential because the semantics. Its strains are suffering from alliteration: ‘phantom fears,’ ‘kindness that may kill,’ ‘sufferer of venomous destiny,’ ‘planet of playthings.’ Phrases have been Peart’s playthings and he was having enjoyable with this one.
Limelight (Transferring Photos, 1981)
Considered one of Rush’s most recognisable songs, due to Alex Lifeson’s basic riff, Limelight is a half-cautionary, half-celebratory warning from the entrance strains of superstar, reflecting as a lot on our need for fame as on Peart’s personal unease residing within the digital camera’s eye.
‘All of the world’s certainly a stage’ riffs on Shakespeare, and on the title of Rush’s 1976 dwell album. As with Hamlet, look and actuality are set in opposition (‘Those that want to appear / Those that want to be’) in a catchy refrain that belies the complexity of the philosophical query inside. Peart was the rationale Rush may rock whereas referencing Bertrand Russell and Elizabethan drama.
Subdivisions (Alerts, 1982)
City planning is an unlikely foundation for a rock track, however Peart nonetheless makes use of the them to forge an anthem for disaffected youth. The refrain, ‘Conform or be solid out,’ has chimed with thousands and thousands around the globe.
If 1981’s radio hit Tom Sawyer caricatured the aloof swagger of a teenage rocker, then Subdivisions captures the stereotypical Rush fan: the misfit or the category nerd, not sure of themselves and of their place on this planet as considered from labyrinthine and sterile suburban sprawl.
Peart’s deliberate overuse of rhyme captures that mundanity and frustration: ‘Any escape would possibly assist to easy / The unattractive fact / However the suburbs haven’t any charms to assuage / The stressed goals of youth.’
Between The Wheels (Grace Underneath Strain, 1984)
Grace Underneath Strain incorporates a few of Peart’s finest writing. Its eight songs seize the 80s zeitgeist of Chilly Warfare paranoia, holocaust – each nuclear and precise – societal worry and the lack of particular person id via expertise.
The summation of those issues is Between The Wheels, a track much more related now within the age of rolling information saturation (‘Absorbing the cathode rays’; ‘Vibrant photos flashing by / Like windshields in direction of a fly.’)
Financial despair and dystopian future are juxtaposed in opposition to the American Dream: ‘We are able to fall from rockets’ pink glare / All the way down to “Brother, are you able to spare?” / One other conflict – one other wasteland / And one other misplaced era.’
Territories (Energy Home windows, 1985)
The risks of nationalism are tackled in Territories, one other track that appears extra related right this moment than in 1985. ‘Higher the pleasure that resides / In a citizen of the world / Than the pleasure that divides / When a vibrant rag is unfurled,’ Peart writes, railing in opposition to the tribal ‘drunken and passionate pleasure’ whipped up by populist leaders.
He asks in regards to the worth of invading different lands if you’ll inevitably find yourself complaining in regards to the house comforts you left behind: ‘Higher folks – higher meals – and higher beer.’
Mission (Maintain Your Fireplace, 1987)
An perception into Peart’s inventive course of, his striving for perfectionism. he describes experiencing artwork and eager for the power to conceive these work or music or structure.
‘I want I had that intuition / I want I had that drive.’ As in Limelight he warns in regards to the ‘unique and unusual’ lifetime of the inventive particular person: ‘We every pay a superb value / For our visions of paradise.’
Dreamline (Roll The Bones, 1991)
Wanderlust is a recurring theme, as evidenced by Peart’s many travelogues. In Dreamline he observes: ‘We’re solely at house after we’re on the run.’ The track is a metaphor for looking for one thing higher. Higher meals? Higher beer? Maybe – but additionally the higher self.
Dreamline speaks of bodily journeys in addition to the roads we journey as folks, of dream realisations, escaping the suburban maze, or the banality of ‘Middletown,’ or hitting the path like a ghost rider. ‘We’re solely immortal for a restricted time’ is a witticism worthy of Oscar Wilde or Mark Twain.
The Backyard (Clockwork Angels, 2012)
Clockwork Angels is Rush’s solely idea album. It’s a sci-fi steampunk story – but it surely’s tough to not learn its last observe as autobiographical. ‘The arrow flies when you breathe / The hours tick away / The cells tick away’ are the phrases of somebody dealing with their mortality and searching again on their life: ‘The treasure of a life is a measure of affection and respect.’ Neil Peart earned ours.
