Rock Band - Rush
I never listened to Rush, but I am a big Rock Band fan and Rush is a staple. I fell in love with "Tom Sawyer" and got both of the DLC tracks ("Limelight" and "Working Man").
I really do like them, but is there a band out there with more painful lyrics? They read like a brainy, nerdy 10th grader's term paper.
Just take this bit from "Spirit of the Radio"
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
Its really just a question
Of your honesty
One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity
That is prose.
I like it, but they baffle me.
(And lord... his voice sucks.)
I really do like them, but is there a band out there with more painful lyrics? They read like a brainy, nerdy 10th grader's term paper.
Just take this bit from "Spirit of the Radio"
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
Its really just a question
Of your honesty
One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity
That is prose.
I like it, but they baffle me.
(And lord... his voice sucks.)
Comments
If you want to delete this thread, you'll be doing yourself a big favor.
*But I do give you props for putting yourself out there, man.
I really do like them, but is there a band out there with more painful lyrics? They read like a brainy, nerdy 10th grader's term paper.
Correction: a brainy, nerdy, 10-th grade term paper by a kid who read waaaay too much Ayn Rand.
Lord. If you think those lyrics are bad, pick up "Trees" or "Anagram."
For what it's worth, I thought Power Windows, Presto and Roll the Bones weren't tooooo horrible on the lyrics. Mostly. Well, sometimes.
I once read a review of a TOTO album (whatever the one after "IV" was), and the reviewer said "If they weren't such good musicians, TOTO would be the worst band in the world." His point was that the lyrics were horrrrrrrrible. I think the same is true for Rush. Yes, as well.
No, seriously.
Seriously.
Think about this: the only difference between Tenacious D lyrics and Yes lyrics is that the D is joking.
Presto and Roll the Bones weren't really their best work -- kinda the beginning of the end. Hold Your Fire was pretty good but a little too touchy-feely. I'd take a look at Xanadu (duh) or Cygnus X-1 on A Farewell to Kings; Red Sector A on Grace Under Pressure; The Analog Kid and Losing It on Signals. Fly By Night and Hemispheres weren't too bad.
The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation,
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration
Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire,
With just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory,
The echoes of old applause.
She limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door...
The writer stare with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
And streaked with tears of rage.
Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision,
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision
And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more...
Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee...
Side two of Moving Pictures -- The Camera's Eye, IMHO. is one of their better songs.
I really do like them, but is there a band out there with more painful lyrics? They read like a brainy, nerdy 10th grader's term paper.
I take it you haven't heard the two-part epic "Cygnus X-1," which tells the story of a man who achieves 2001-esque deification after piloting a spaceship through a black hole. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The early 80's stuff is probably their best, though. As for lyrics in prog rock, in Rush the lyrics are actually coherent and generally have meaning, even if the meaning is insanely cheesy. In Yes or ELP, they are completely secondary, intentionally so. Saying that Yes lyrics are unintelligent is like saying that horses are lousy at swimming.
Either way, Rush forms an important pillar of the generic Canadian culture, in which they are joined by hockey and beer. Go Canada!
There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.
The trouble with the maples,
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade.
There is trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream "Oppression!"
And the oaks just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light."
Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.
Parry -Thrust!
Red Barchetta
(The song was inspired by the futuristic short story "A Nice Morning Drive", written by Richard Foster)
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
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 machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime
Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...
Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
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 riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside
"The Trees," FTW!
Totally a coherent story, as silly as it may be. Drivel indeed, but it's certainly no worse than the faux-americana (or faux-canadiana) drivel that we know you listen to.
Totally a coherent story, as silly as it may be. Drivel indeed, but it's certainly no worse than the faux-americana (or faux-canadiana) drivel that we know you listen to.
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serrrrrrrrrrrrrrrengeti.
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serrrrrrrrrrrrrrrengeti.
I never listened to Rush, but I am a big Rock Band fan and Rush is a staple. I fell in love with "Tom Sawyer" and got both of the DLC tracks ("Limelight" and "Working Man").
I really do like them, but is there a band out there with more painful lyrics? They read like a brainy, nerdy 10th grader's term paper.
(And lord... his voice sucks.)
Been a Rush fan for a long time and Geddy's voice never bothered me. In fact until a friend of mine was describing Rush to another friend some years ago and said something about his voice I'd never had a thought about it. It's rock and roll man.
By the way, Rush are gonna be touring this year. I recommend them highly. Saw them at a packed Hollywood Bowl last year and they were nothing short of amazing. Their last album being something completely different from what they've done in the past.
Few bands in the history of R & R can boast of having such talented musicians on the same band. The few bands that do are the classics.
The Way the Wind Blows ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17W-YpXSxPs)
Now it's come to this
It's like we're back in the Dark Ages
From the Middle East to the Middle West
It's a world of superstition
Now it's come to this
Wide-eyed armies of the faithful
From the Middle East to the Middle West
Pray, and pass the ammunition
So many people think that way
You gotta watch what you say
To them and them, and others too
Who don't seem to see things the way you do
We can only grow the way the wind blows
On a bare and weathered shore
We can only bow to the here and now
In our elemental war
We can only grow the way the wind blows
We can only bow to the here and now
Or be broken down blow by blow
Now it's come to this
Hollow speeches of mass deception
From the Middle East to the Middle West
Like crusaders in unholy alliance
Now it's come to this
Like we're back in the Dark Ages
From the Middle East to the Middle West
It's a plague that resists all science
It seems to leave them partly blind
And they leave no child behind
While evil spirits haunt their sleep
While shepherds bless and count their sheep
Like a solitary pine
On a bare wind-blasted shore
We can only grow the way the wind blows
midwinter, you blasphemer.
Presto and Roll the Bones weren't really their best work -- kinda the beginning of the end.
What end? They're still making music and selling out arenas (not tiny venues or country fairs) around the world 30 plus years later.
Those are great lyrics from Signals by the way. Last year they brought back my fav from that album which is Digital Man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5lekKA-Z_0
Side two of Moving Pictures -- The Camera's Eye, IMHO. is one of their better songs.
Love the Camera Eye. Rumour has it that they may pull this one out of the vault for the coming tour.
What end? They're still making music and selling out arenas (not tiny venues or country fairs) around the world 30 plus years later.
Those are great lyrics from Signals by the way. Last year they brought back my fav from that album which is Digital Man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5lekKA-Z_0
Love the Camera Eye. Rumour has it that they may pull this one out of the vault for the coming tour.
Saw them three times. on Presto, Counterparts, and Test for Echo. I've seen a lot of live bands with exposed amps, etc., a lot bands where the band members will noodle with their instruments on stage. Never, ever, saw that with Rush. Very, very tight.
The Camera Eye
Grim-faced and forbidding,
Their faces closed tight,
An angular mass of New Yorkers
Pacing in rhythm,
Race the oncoming night,
They chase through the streets of Manhattan.
Headfirst humanity,
Pause at a light,
Then flow through the streets of the city.
They seem oblivious
To a soft spring rain,
Like an English rain
So light, yet endless
From a leaden sky.
The buildings are lost in the limitless rise.
My feet catch the pulse and the purposeful stride.
I feel the sense of possibilities,
I feel the wrench of hard realities.
The focus is sharp in the city.
Wide-angle watcher
On life's ancient tales,
Steeped in the history of London.
Mist in the streets of Westminster.
Wistful and weathered,
The pride still prevails,
Alive in the streets of the city.
Are they oblivious
To this quality?
A quality
Of light unique to
Every city's streets.
Pavements may teem with intense energy,
But the city is calm in this violent sea.
annnnnnd....
Red Sector A
All that we can do is just survive
All that we can do to help ourselves
Is stay alive...
Ragged lines of ragged grey
Skeletons, they shuffle away
Shouting guards and smoking guns
Will cut down the unlucky ones
I clutch the wire fence
Until my fingers bleed
A wound that will not heal-
A heart that cannot feel-
Hoping that the horror will recede
Hoping that tomorrow-
We'll all be freed
Sickness to insanity
Prayer to profanity
Days and weeks and months go by
Don't feel the hunger-too weak to cry
I hear the sound of gunfire
At the prison gate
Are the liberators here-
Do I hope or do I fear?
For my father and my brother-it's too late
But I must help my mother
Stand up straight...
Are we the last ones left alive?
Are we the only human beings
To survive?...
Saw them three times. Twice at Reunion in Dallas: Presto, and Counterparts -- and once at the Gorge (at George) on Test for Echo. I've seen a lot of live bands with exposed amps, etc., a lot bands where the band members will noodle with their instruments on stage. Never, ever, saw that with Rush. Very, very tight.
Very true. Believe it or not, that Presto tour was one of my all time favs. I was very young and that was my first time seeing Rush. Will never forget the giant inflatable bunnies.
Just recently I was "sponsoring" a band here in LA. Good kids, very talented. No alcohol no drugs which is amazing. lol Influences from Santana to Rage. I played them some Rush and invited the drummer and lead guitar to the show down in Irvine, CA last year. We got lucky and scored 10th row seats.
Well, the drummer was in awe of Peart and the guitar guy said he loved Lifeson because few guitar players can truly have a complete style of their own. They're both bigger Rush evangelists than I am now.
I never listened to Rush, but I am a big Rock Band fan and Rush is a staple. I fell in love with "Tom Sawyer" and got both of the DLC tracks ("Limelight" and "Working Man").
I really do like them, but is there a band out there with more painful lyrics? ............
I like it, but they baffle me.
Take another hit off the joint and it'll make more sense. Really.
You don't listen to that stuff sober, do you?
But I have always been a three man band fan forever. There's just something about this combination. Nothing lacking and nothing overdone. Just right for rock (and jazz).
Some faves I found on YouTube:
Johnny Burnette and the Rock & Roll Trio
Link Wray
Cream
Jimi Hendrix Experience
ZZ Top
The Jam
XTC Ooop, there were four, but this still rocks.
The Police
Big Black
Husker Du
The Minutemen
Nirvana, I could go on and on and on....
Three musicians who kept their identity hidden, not because they wanted the world to thing they were the reunited Beatles, but so they wouldn't loose their jobs working with symphony orchestras.
http://www.klaatu.org/
One look at the album covers and lyrics and you can tell they were still coming off their '60s high.