-------- Permanent Waves (1980) -------- -------- The Spirit Of Radio -------- Begin the day With a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive Plays the song that's so elusive And the magic music makes your morning mood Off on your way Hit the open road There is magic at your fingers For the Spirit ever lingers Undemanding contact In your happy solitude. Invisible airwaves Crackle with life Bright antennae bristle With the energy Emotional feedback On a timeless wavelength Bearing a gift beyond price Almost free All this machinery Making modern music Can still be open-hearted Not so coldly charted It's 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 For the words of the profits, Are written on the studio wall, Concert hall Echoes with the sounds Of salesmen. -------- Permanent Waves (1980) -------- -------- Freewill -------- There are those who think that life Has nothing left to chance With a host of holy horrors To direct our aimless dance A planet of playthings We dance on the strings Of powers we cannot perceive The stars aren't aligned Or the gods are malign Blame is better to give than receive You can choose a ready guide In some celestial voice If you choose not to decide You still have made a choice You can choose from phantom fears And kindness that can kill I will choose a path that's clear I will choose free will. There are those who think that They were dealt a losing hand The cards were stacked against them They weren't born in Lotus-Land. All pre-ordained A prisoner in chains A victim of venomous fate Kicked in the face You can't pray for a place In Heaven's unearthly estate Each of us A cell of awareness Imperfect and incomplete Genetic blends With uncertain ends On a fortune hunt That's far too fleet -------- Permanent Waves (1980) -------- -------- Jacobs Ladder -------- The clouds prepare for battle In the dark and brooding silence Bruised and sullen stormclouds Have the light of day obscured Looming low and ominous In twilight premature Thunderheads are rumbling In a distant overture All at once, The clouds are parted Light streams down In bright unbroken beams Follow men's eyes As they look to the skies The shifting shafts of shining Weave the fabric of their dreams -------- Permanent Waves (1980) -------- -------- Entre Nous -------- We are secrets to each other Each one's life a novel No-one else has read Even joined in bonds of love We're linked to one another By such slender threads We are planets to each other Drifting in our orbits To a brief eclipse Each of us a world apart Alone and yet together Like two passing ships Just between us I think it's time for us to recognize The differences we sometimes fear to show Just between us I think it's time for us to realize The spaces in between Leave room for you and I to grow We are strangers to each other Full of sliding panels An illusion show Acting well-rehearsed routines Or playing from the heart? It's hard for one to know We are islands to each other Building hopeful bridges On a troubled sea Some are burned or swept away Some we would not choose But we're not always free -------- Permanent Waves (1980) -------- -------- Different Strings -------- Who's come to slay the dragon Come to watch him fall? Making arrows out of pointed words Giant killers at the call Too much fuss and bother Too much contradiction And confusion Peel away the mystery Here's a clue to some real motivation All there really is The two of us And we both know why we've come along Nothing to explain It's a part of us To be found within a song What happened to our innocence Did it go out of style? Along with our naivet No longer a child Different eyes see different things Different hearts Beat on different strings But there are times For you and me When all such things agree -------- Permanent Waves (1980) -------- -------- Natural Science -------- I.Tide Pools When the ebbing tide retreats Along the rocky shoreline It leaves a trail of tidal pools In a short-lived galaxy Each microcosmic planet A complete society A simple kind mirror To reflect upon our own All the busy little creatures Chasing out their destinies Living in their pools They soon forget about the sea Wheels within wheels In a spiral array A pattern so grand And complex Time after time We lose sight of the way Our causes can't see Their effects II.Hyperspace A quantum leap forward In time and in space The universe learned to expand The mess and the magic Triumphant and tragic A mechanized world, out of hand Computerized clinic For superior cynics Who dance to a synthetic band In their own image Their world is fashioned No wonder they don't understand Wheels within wheels In a spiral array A pattern so grand And complex Time after time We lose sight of the way Our causes can't see Their effects III. Permanent Waves Science, like Nature Must also be tamed With a view towards its preservation Given the same State of integrity It will surely serve us well Art as expression Not as market campaigns Will still capture our imaginations Given the same State of integrity It will surely help us along The most endangered species The honest man Will still survive annihilation Forming a world State of integrity Sensitive, open and strong. Wave after wave Will flow with the tide And bury the world as it does Tide after tide Will flow and recede Leaving life to go on As it was -------- Moving Pictures (1981) -------- -------- Tom Sawyer -------- A modern-day warrior Mean mean stride Today's Tom Sawyer Mean mean pride Though his mind is not for rent Don't put him down as arrogant His reserve, a quiet defense Riding out the day's events The river What you say about his company Is what you say about society -Catch the mist Catch the myth -Catch the mystery Catch the drift The world is the world is Love and life are deep Maybe as his skies are wide Today's Tom Sawyer He gets high on you And the space he invades He gets by on you No, his mind is not for rent To any god or government. Always hopeful, yet discontent He knows changes aren't permanent But change is What you say about his company Is what you say about society -Catch the witness Catch the wit -Catch the spirit Catch the spit The world is the world is Love and life are deep Maybe as his eyes are wide Exit the warrior Today's Tom Sawyer He gets high on you And the energy you trade He gets right on to The friction of the day -------- Moving Pictures (1981) -------- -------- Limelight -------- Living on a lighted stage Approaches the unreal For those who think and feel In touch with some reality Beyond the gilded cage Cast in this unlikely role, Ill-equipped to act With insufficient tact One must put up barriers To keep oneself intact Living in the Limelight The universal dream For those who wish to seem Those who wish to be Must put aside the alienation Get on with the fascination The real relation The underlying theme Living in a fisheye lens Caught in the camera eye I have no heart to lie I can't pretend a stranger Is a long-awaited friend All the world's indeed a stage And we are merely players Performers and portrayers Each another's audience Outside the gilded cage -------- Moving Pictures (1981) -------- -------- Red Barchetta -------- My uncle has a country place, that no-one knows about He says it used to be a farm, before the Motor Law 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 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 Adrenalin 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 -------- Moving Pictures (1981) -------- -------- Yyz -------- Music:Geddy LeeandNeil Peart Instrumental -------- Moving Pictures (1981) -------- -------- The Camera Eye -------- I 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 Head-first 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 their 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 II Wide-angle watcher On life's ancient tales Steeped in the history of London Green and grey washes In a wispy white veil 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 -------- Moving Pictures (1981) -------- -------- Witch Hunt -------- The night is black Without a moon The air is thick and still The vigilantes gather on The lonely torchlit hill Features distorted in the flickering light The faces are twisted and grotesque Silent and stern in the sweltering night The mob moves like demons possessed Quiet in conscience, calm in their right Confident their ways are best The righteous rise With burning eyes Of hatred and ill-will Madmen fed on fear and lies To beat, and burn, and kill They say there are strangers, who threaten us In our immigrants and infidels They say there is strangeness, too dangerous In our theatres and bookstore shelves That those who know what's best for us Must rise and save us from ourselves Quick to judge, Quick to anger Slow to understand Ignorance and prejudice And fear Walk hand in hand -------- Moving Pictures (1981) -------- -------- Vital Signs -------- Unstable condition: A symptom of life, In mental, And environmental change Atmospheric disturbance The feverish flux, Of human interface And interchange The impulse is pure Sometimes our circuits get shorted, By external interference Signals get crossed And the balance distorted By internal incoherence A tired mind become a shape-shifter Everybody need a mood lifter Everybody need reverse polarity Everybody got mixed feelings About the function and the form. Everybody got to deviate From the norm An ounce of perception A pound of obscure Process information At half speed Pause: Rewind replay Warm memory chip Random-sample Hold the one you need Leave out the fiction The fact is; This friction Will only be worn by persistence Leave out conditions Courageous convictions Will drag the dream into existence A tired mind become a shape-shifter Everybody need a soft filter Everybody need reverse polarity Everybody got mixed feelings About the function and the form Everybody got to elevate From the norm -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- New World Man -------- He's a rebel and a runner He's a signal turning green He's a restless young romantic Wants to run the big machine He's got a problem with his poisons But you know he'll find a cure He's cleaning up his systems To keep his nature pure Learning to match the beat of the Old World man Learning to catch the heat of the Third World man He's got to make his own mistakes And learn to mend the mess he makes He's old enough to know what's right But young enough not to choose it He's noble enough to win the world But weak enough to lose it He's a New World man He's a radio receiver Tuned to factories and farms He's a writer and arranger And a young boy bearing arms He's got a problem with his power With weapons on patrol He's got to walk a fine line And keep his self-control Trying to save the day for the Old World man Trying to pave the way for the Third World man He's not concerned with yesterday He knows constant change is here today He's noble enough to know what's right But weak enough not to choose it He's wise enough to win the world But fool enough to lose it He's a New World man -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- Subdivisions -------- Sprawling on the fringes of the city In geometric order An insulated border In between the bright lights And the far unlit unknown Growing up it all seems so one-sided Opinions all provided The future pre-decided Detached and subdivided In the mass production zone Nowhere is the dreamer Or the misfit so alone Subdivisions In the high school halls In the shopping malls Conform or be cast out Subdivisions In the basement bars In the backs of cars Be cool or be cast out Any escape might help to smooth The unattractive truth But the suburbs have no charms to soothe The restless dreams of youth Drawn like moths we drift into the city The timeless old attraction Cruising for the action Lit up like a firefly Just to feel the living night Some will sell their dreams for small desires Or lose the race to rats Get caught in ticking traps And start to dream of somewhere To relax their restless flight Somewhere out of a memory Of lighted streets on quiet nights -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- The Analog Kid -------- A hot and windy August afternoon Has the trees in constant motion With a flash of silver leaves As they're rocking in the breeze The boy lies in the grass with one blade Stuck between his teeth A vague sensation quickens In his young and restless heart And a bright and nameless vision Has him longing to depart You move me You move me With your buildings and your eyes Autumn woods and winter skies You move me You move me Open sea and city lights Busy streets and dizzy heights You call me You call me The fawn-eyed girl with sun-browned legs Dances on the edge of his dream And her voice rings in his ears Like the music of the spheres The boy lies in the grass, unmoving Staring at the sky His mother starts to call him As a hawk goes soaring by The boy pulls down his baseball cap And covers up his eyes Too many hands on my time Too many feelings Too many things on my mind When I leave I don't know What I'm hoping to find When I leave I don't know What I'm leaving behind -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- Chemistry -------- Signals transmitted Message received Reaction making impact Invisibly Elemental telepathy Exchange of energy Reaction making contact Mysteriously Eye to I Reaction burning hotter Two to one Reflection on the water H to O No flow without the other Oh but how Do they make contact With one another? Electricity? Biology? Seems to me it's Chemistry Emotion transmitted Emotion received Music in the abstract Positively Elemental empathy A change of synergy Music making contact Naturally One, two, three Add without subtraction Sound on sound Multiplied reaction H to O No flow without the other Oh but how Do we make contact With one another? -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- Digital Man -------- His world is under observation We monitor his station Under faces and the places Where he traces points of view He picks up scraps of conversation Radio and radiation From the dancers and romancers With the answers but no clue He'd love to spend the night in Zion He's been a long while in Babylon He'd like a lover's wings to fly on To a tropic isle of Avalon His world is under anaesthetic Subdivided and synthetic His reliance on the giants In the science of the day He picks up scraps of information He's adept at adaptation Cause for strangers and arrangers Constant change is here to stay He's got a force field and a flexible plan He's got a date with fate in a black sedan He plays fast forward for as long as he can But he won't need a bed He's a digital man -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- The Weapon -------- We've got nothing to fear but fear itself? Not pain or failure, not fatal tragedy? Not the faulty units in this mad machinery? Not the broken contacts in emotional chemistry? With an iron fist in a velvet glove We are sheltered under the gun In the glory game on the power train Thy kingdom's will be done And the things that we fear Are a weapon to be held against us He's not afraid of your judgement He knows of horrors worse than your Hell He's a little bit afraid of dying But he's a lot more afraid of your lying And the things that he fears Are a weapon to be held against him Can any part of life be larger than life? Even love must be limited by time And those who push us down that they might climb Is any killer worth more than his crime? Like a steely blade in a silken sheath We don't see what they're made of They shout about love, but when push comes to shove They live for the things they're afraid of And the knowledge that they fear Is a weapon to be used against them -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- Losing It -------- 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 stares 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 -------- Signals (1982) -------- -------- Countdown -------- Lit up with anticipation We arrive at the launching site The sky is still dark, nearing dawn On the Florida coastline Circling choppers slash the night With roving searchlight beams This magic day when super-science Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams Floodlit in the hazy distance The star of this unearthly show Venting vapours, like the breath Of a sleeping white dragon Crackling speakers, voices tense Resume the final count All systems check, T minus nine As the sun and the drama start to mount The air is charged a humid, motionless mass The crowds and the cameras, The cars full of spectators pass Excitement so thick you could cut it with a knife Technology high, on the leading edge of life The earth beneath us starts to tremble With the spreading of a low black cloud A thunderous roar shakes the air Like the whole world exploding Scorching blast of golden fire As it slowly leaves the ground Tears away with a mighty force The air is shattered by the awesome sound Like a pillar of cloud, the smoke lingers High in the air In fascination with the eyes of the world We stare -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- Distant Early Warning -------- An ill wind comes arising Across the cities of the plain There's no swimming in the heavy water No singing in the acid rain Red alert Red alert It's so hard to stay together Passing through revolving doors We need someone to talk to And someone to sweep the floors Incomplete Incomplete The world weighs on my shoulders But what am I to do? You sometimes drive me crazy But I worry about you I know it makes on difference To what you're going through But I see the tip of the iceberg And I worry about you Cruising under your radar Watching from satellites Take a page from the red book Keep them in your sights Red alert Red alert Left and rights of passage Black and whites of youth Who can face the knowledge That the truth is not the truth? Obsolete Absolute Absalom Absalom -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- Afterimage -------- Suddenly You were gone From all the lives You left your mark upon I remember How we talked and drank Into the misty dawn I hear the voices We ran by the water On the wet summer lawn I see the foot prints I remember I feel the way you would I feel the way you would Tried to believe But you know it's no good This is something That just can't be understood I remember The shouts of joy Skiing fast through the woods I hear the echoes I learned your love for life I feel the way that you would I feel your presence I remember I feel the way you would This just can't be understood -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- 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 Ao 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? -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- The Enemy Within -------- Things crawl in the darkness That imagination spins Needles at your nerve ends Crawl like spiders on your skin Pounding in your temples And a surge of adrenaline Every muscle tense To fence The enemy within I'm not giving in To security under pressure I'm not missing out On the promise of adventure I'm not giving up on implausible dreams Experience to extremes Experience to extremes Suspicious-looking stranger Flashes you a dangerous grin Shadows across your window Was it only trees in the wind? Every breath a static charge A tongue that tastes like tin Steely-eyed outside To hide The enemy within To you is it movement or is it action? It is contact or just reaction? And you revolution or just resistance? Is it living, or just existence? Yeah, you it takes a little more persistence To get up and go the distance -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- The Body Electric -------- One humanoid escapee One android on the run Seeking freedom beneath A lonely desert sun Trying to change its program Trying to change the mode Crack the code Images conflicting Into data overload 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 S.O.S. 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 In distress 1-0-0-1-0-0 Memory banks unloading Bytes break into bits Unit one's in trouble And it's scared out of its wits Guidance systems break down A struggle to exist To resist A pulse of dying power In a clenching plastic fist It replays each of the days A hundred years of routines Bows its head and prays To the mother of all machines -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- Kid Gloves -------- A world of difference A world so out of touch Overwhelmed by everything But wanting more so much Call it blind frustration Call it blind man's bluff Call each other names Your voices rude your voices rough Then you learn the lesson That it's cool to be so tough Handle with kid gloves Handle with kid gloves Then you learn the lessons Taught in school won't be enough Put on your kid gloves Put on your kid gloves Then you learn the lesson That it's cool to be so tough A world of indifference Heads and hearts too full Careless of the consequence Of constant push and pull Anger got bare knuckles Anger play the fool Anger wear a crown of thorns Reverse the golden rule Then you learn the lesson That it's tough to be so cool Handle with kid gloves Handle with kid gloves Then you learn the weapons And the ways of hard-knock school Put on your kid gloves Put on your kid gloves Then you learn the lesson That it's tough to be so cool -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- Red Lenses -------- i see red it hurts my head guess it must be something that i read it's the colour of your heartbeat a rising summer sun the battle lost or won the flash to fashion and the pulse to passion feels red inside my head and truth is often bitter left unsaid said red red thinking about the overhead the underfed couldn't we talk about something else instead? we've got mars on the horizon says the national midnight star (it's true) what you believe is what you are a pair of dancing shoes the soviets are the blues the reds under your bed lying in the darkness dead ahead and the mercury is rising barometer starts to fall you know it gets to us all the pain that is learning and the rain that is burning feel red still go ahead you see black and white and i see red (not blue) -------- Grace Under Pressure (1984) -------- -------- Between The Wheels -------- To live between a rock And a hard place In between time Cruising in prime time Soaking up the cathode rays To live between the wars In our time Living in real time Holding the good time Holding on to yesterdays You know how that rabbit feels Going under your speeding wheels Bright images flashing by Like windshields towards a fly Frozen in the fatal climb But the wheels of time Just pass you by Wheels can take you around Wheels can cut you down We can go from boom to bust From dreams to a bowl of dust We can fall from rockets' red glare Down to Brother can you spare Another war another waste land And another lost generation It slips between your hands Like water This living in real time A dizzying lifetime Reeling by on celluloid Struck between the eyes By the big-time world Walking uneasy streets Hiding beneath the sheets Got to try and fill the void -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- Manhattan Project -------- Imagine a time When it all began In the dying days of a war A weapon that would settle the score Whoever found it first Would be sure to do their worst They always had before Imagine a man Where it all began A scientist pacing the floor In each nation always eager to explore To build the best big stick To turn the winning trick But this was something more The big bang took and shook the world Shot down the rising sun The end was begun it would hit everyone When the chain reaction was done The big shots try to hold it back Fools try to wish it away The hopeful depend on a world without end Whatever the hopeless may say Imagine a place Where it all began They gathered from across the land To work in the secrecy of the desert sand All of the brightest boys To play with the biggest toys More than they bargained for Imagine a man When it all began The pilot of Enola Gay Flying out of the shockwave On that August day All the powers that be And the course of history, Would be changed for evermore -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- Territories -------- I see the Middle Kingdom between Heaven and Earth Like the Chinese call the country of their birth We all figure that our homes are set above Other people than the ones we know and love In every place with a name They play the same territorial game Hiding behind the lines Sending up warning signs The whole wide world An endless universe Yet we keep looking through The eyeglass in reverse Don't feed the people But we feed the machines Can't really feel What international means In different circles We keep holding our ground Indifferent circles We keep spinning round and round We see so many tribes overrun and undermined While their invaders dream of lands they've left behind Better people better food and better beer Why move around the world when Eden was so near? The bosses get talking so tough And if that wasn't evil enough We get the drunken and passionate pride Of the citizens along for the ride They shoot without shame In the name of a piece of dirt For a change of accent Or the colour of your shirt Better the pride that resides In a citizen of the world Than the pride that divides When a colourful rag is unfurled -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- The Big Money -------- Big money goes around the world Big money underground Big money got a mighty voice Big money make no sound Big money pull a million strings Big money hold the prize Big money weave a mighty web Big money draw the flies Sometimes pushing people around Sometimes pulling out the rug Sometimes pushing all the buttons Sometimes pulling out the plug It's the power and the glory It's a war in paradise It's a cinderella story On a tumble of the dice Big money goes around the world Big money take a cruise Big money leave a mighty wake Big money leave a bruise Big money make a million dreams Big money spin big deals Big money make a mighty head Big money spin big wheels Sometimes building ivory towers Sometimes knocking castles down Sometimes building you a stairway Lock you underground It's that old-time religion it's the kingdom they would rule It's the fool on television Getting paid to play the fool Big money goes around the world Big money give and take Big money done a power of good Big money make mistakes Big money got a heavy hand Big money take control Big money got a mean streak Big money got no soul -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- Grand Designs -------- A to B Different degrees So much style without substance So much stuff without style It's hard to recognize the real thing It comes along once in a while Like a rare and precious metal Beneath a ton of rock It takes some time and trouble To separate from the stock You sometimes have to listen to A lot of useless talk Shapes and forms Against the norms Against the run of the mill Swimming against the stream Life in two dimensions Is a mass production scheme So much poison in power The principles get left out So much mind on the matter The spirit gets forgotten about Like a righteous inspiration Overlooked in haste Like a teardrop in the ocean A diamond in the waste Some world-views are spacious And some are merely spaced Against the run of the mill Static as it seems We break the surface tension With our wild kinetic dreams Curves and lines Of grand designs -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- Marathon -------- 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 More than just survival More than just a flash More than just a dotted line More than just a dash It's a test of ultimate will The heartbreak climb uphill Got to pick up the pace If you want to stay in the race More than just blind ambition More than just simple greed More than just a finish line Must feed this burning need In the long run From first to last The peak is never passed Something always fires the light That gets in your eyes One moment's high And glory rolls on by Like a streak of lightening That flashes and fades In the summer sky Your meters may overload You can rest at the side of the road You can miss a stride But nobody gets a free ride More than high performance More than just a spark More than just the bottom line Or a lucky shot in the dark In the long run 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 -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- Middletown Dreams -------- The office door closed early The hidden bottle came out The salesman turned to close the blinds A little slow now, a little stout But he's still heading down those tracks Any day now for sure Another day as drab as today Is more than a man can endure Dreams flow across the heartland Feeding on the fires Dreams transport desires Drive you when you're down Dreams transport the ones Who need to get out of town The boy walks with his best friend Through the fields of early May They walk awhile in silence One close one far away But he'd be climbing on that bus Just him and his guitar To blaze across the heavens Like a brilliant shooting star The middle-aged madonna Calls her neighbour on the phone Day by day the seasons pass And leave her life alone But she'll go walking out that door On some bright afternoon To go and paint big cities From a lonely attic room It's understood By every single person Who'd be elsewhere if they could So far so good And life's not unpleasant In their little neighbourhood They dream in Middletown -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- Emotion Detector -------- When we lift the covers from our feelings We expose our insecure spots Trust is just as rare as devotion Forgive us our cynical thoughts If we need too much attention Not content with being cool We must throw ourselves wide open And start acting like a fool If we need too much approval Then the cuts can seem too cruel Right to the heart of the matter Right to the beautiful part Illusions are painfully shattered Right where discovery starts In the secret wells of emotion Buried deep in our hearts It's true that love can change us But never quite enough Sometimes we are too tender Sometimes we're too tough If we get too much attention It gets hard to overrule So often fragile power turns To scorn and ridicule Sometimes our big splashes Are just ripples in the pool Feelings run high -------- Power Windows (1985) -------- -------- Mystic Rhythms -------- So many things I think about When I look far away Things I know things I wonder Things I'd like to say The more we think we know about The greater the unknown We suspend our disbelief And we are not alone Mystic rhythms capture my thoughts And carry them away Mysteries of night Escape the light of day Mystic rhythms under northern lights Or the African sun Primitive things stir The hearts of everyone We sometimes catch a window A glimpse of what's beyond Was it just imagination Stringing us along? More things than are dreamed about Unseen and unexplained We suspend our disbelief And we are entertained Mystic rhythms capture my thoughts And carry them away Nature seems to spin A supernatural way Mystic rhythms under city lights Or a canopy of stars We feel the powers And we wonder what they are We feel the push and pull Of restless rhythms from afar -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Force Ten -------- Tough times demand tough talk demand tough hearts demand tough songs demand We can rise and fall like empires Flow in and out like the tide Be vain and smart, humble and dumb We can hit and miss like pride We can circle around like hurricanes Dance and dream like lovers Attack the day like birds of prey Or scavengers under cover Look in To the eye of the storm Look out For the force without form Look around At the sight and the sound Look in look out look around We can move with savage grace To the rhythms of the night Cool and remote like dancing girls In the heat of the beat and the lights We can wear the rose of romance An air of joie de vivre Too-tender hearts upon our sleeves Or skin as thick as thieves' rising falling at force ten we twist the world and ride the wind Look in look the storm in the eye Look out to the sea and the sky Look around at the sight and the sound Look in look out look around -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Time Stand Still -------- I turn my back to the wind To catch my breath, Before I start off again. Driven on Without a moment to spend To pass an evening With a drink and a friend I let my skin get too thin I'd like to pause, No matter what I pretend Like some pilgrim Who learns to transcend Learns to live As if each step was the end Time stand still I'm not looking back But I want to look around me now See more of the people And the places that surround me now Freeze this moment A little bit longer Make each sensation A little bit stronger Experience slips away I turn my face to the sun Close my eyes, Let my defences down All those wounds That I can't get unwound I let my past go too fast No time to pause If I could slow it all down Like some captain, Whose ship runs aground I can wait until the tide Comes around Make each impression A little bit stronger Freeze this motion A little bit longer The innocence slips away Summer's going fast Nights growing colder Children growing up old friends growing older Experience slips away -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Open Secrets -------- 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 is not what I meant at all 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 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 -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Second Nature -------- A memo to a higher office Open letter to the powers-that-be To a God, a king, a head of state A captain of industry To the movers and the shakers Can't everybody see? It ought to be second nature I mean, the places where we live! Let's talk about this sensibly We're not insensitive I know progress has no patience But something's got to give I know you're different You know I'm the same We're both too busy To be taking the blame I'd like some changes But you don't have the time We can't go on thinking It's a victimless crime No one is blameless, But we're all without shame We fight the fire While we're Feeding the flames Folks have got to make choices And choices got to have voices Folks are basically decent Conventional wisdom would say Well, we read about The exceptions In the papers every day It ought to be second nature At least, that's what I feel Now I lay me down in Dreamland I know perfect's not for real I thought we might get closer But I'm ready to make a deal Today is different, And tomorrow the same It's hard to take the world The way that it came Too many rapids Keep us sweeping along Too many captains Keep on steering us wrong It's hard to take the heat It's hard to lay blame To fight the fire While we're Feeding the flames -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Prime Mover -------- Basic elemental Instinct to survive Stirs the higher passions Thrill to be alive Alternating currents In a tidewater surge Rational resistance To an unwise urge anything can happen From the point of conception To the moment of Truth At the point of surrender To the burden of proof From the point of ignition To the final drive The point of the journey Is not to arrive anything can happen Basic temperamental Filters on our eyes Alter our perceptions Lenses polarize Alternating currents Force a show of hands Rational responses Force a change of plans anything can happen From a point on the compass To magnetic north The point of the needle Moving back and forth From the point of entry Until the candle is burned The point of departure Is not to return anything can happen I set the wheels in motion turn up all the machines activate the programs and run behind the scene I set the clouds in motion turn up light and sound activate the window and watch the world go 'round anything can happen -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Lock And Key -------- I don't want to face The killer instinct Face it in you or me We carry a sensitive cargo Below the waterline Ticking like a time bomb With a primitive design Behind the finer feelings This civilized veneer The heart of a lonely hunter Guards a dangerous frontier The balance can sometimes fail Strong emotions can tip the scale Don't want to silence A desperate voice For the sake of security No one wants to make A terrible choice On the price of being free I don't want to face The killer instinct Face it in you or me So we keep it under lock and key It's not a matter of mercy It's not a matter of laws Plenty of people will kill you For some fanatical cause It's not a matter of conscience A search for probable cause It's just a matter of instinct A matter of fatal flaws No reward for resistance No assistance no applause we don't want to be victims on that we all agree so we lock up the killer instinct and throw away the key -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Mission -------- Hold your fire Keep it burning bright Hold the flame Til the dream ignites A spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission I hear their passionate music Read the words That touch my heart I gaze at their feverish pictures The secrets that set them apart When I feel the powerful visions Their fire has made alive I wish I had that instinct I wish I had that drive Spirits fly on dangerous missions Imaginations on fire Focused high on soaring ambitions Consumed in a single desire In the grip Of a nameless possession A slave to the drive of obsession A spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission I watch their images flicker Bringing light to a lifeless screen I walk through Their beautiful buildings And I wish I had their dreams But dreams don't need To have motion To keep their spark alive Obsession has to have action Pride turns on the drive It's cold comfort To the ones without it To know how they struggled How they suffered about it If their lives were Exotic and strange They would likely have Gladly exchanged them For something a little more plain Maybe something a little more sane We each pay a fabulous price For our visions of paradise But a spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Turn The Page -------- Nothing can survive in a vacuum No one can exists all alone We pretend things Only happen to strangers We've all got problems of our own It's enough to learn To share our pleasures We can't sooth pain with sympathy All that we can do is be reminded We shake our heads at the tragedy Every day we're standing In a time capsule Racing down a river from the past Every day we're standing In a wind tunnel Facing down the future coming fast It's just the age It's just a stage We disengage We turn the page Looking at The long-range forecast Catching all the names in the news Checking out The state of the nation Learning the environmental blues Truth is after all a moving target Hairs to split And pieces that don't fit How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- Tai Shan -------- High on the sacred mountain Up the seven thousand stairs In the golden light of autumn There was magic in the air Clouds surrounded the summit The wind blew strong and cold Among the silent temples And the writing carved in gold Somewhere in my instincts The primitive took hold I stood at the top of the mountain And China sang to me In the peaceful haze of harvest time A song of eternity If you raise your hands to heaven You will live a hundred years I stood there like a mystic Lost in the atmosphere The clouds were suddenly parted For a moment I could see The patterns of the landscape Reaching to the eastern sea I looked upon a presence Spanning forty centuries I thought of time and distance The hardships of history I heard the hope and the hunger When China sang to me -------- Hold Your Fire (1987) -------- -------- High Water -------- When the waters rose In the darkness In the wake of the endless flood It flowed into our memory It flowed into our blood When something broke the surface Just to see the starry dome We still feel that relation When the water takes us home In the flying spray of the ocean The water takes you home Springing from the weight Of the mountains Like the heart of the earth Would burst Flowing out from marble fountains In the dreams of a desert thirst Something swam through The jungles Where the mighty rivers roam Something breaks the silence When the water takes you home I hear the wordless voices When the water takes me home Waves that crash on the shoreline Torrents of tropical rain Streaming down Beyond our memory Streaming down inside our veins When something left the ocean To crawl high above the foam We still feel that elation When the water takes us home In a driving rain of redemption The water takes me home -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- The Pass -------- proud swagger out of the schoolyard waiting for the world's applause rebel without a conscience martyr without a cause static on your frequency electrical storm in your veins raging at unreachable glory straining at invisible chains and now you're trembling on a rocky ledge staring down into a heartless sea can't face life on a razor's edge nothing's what you thought it would be All of us get lost in the darkness Dreamers learn to steer by the stars All of us do time in the gutter Dreamers turn to look at the cars turn around and turn around and turn around Turn around and walk the razor's edge Don't turn your back And slam the door on me it's not as if this barricade blocks the only road it's not as if you're all alone in wanting to explode someone set a bad example made surrender seem all right the act of a noble warrior who lost the will to fight and now you're trembling on a rocky ledge staring down into a heartless sea done with life on a razor's edge nothing's what you thought it would be no hero in your tragedy no daring in your escape no salutes for your surrender nothing noble in your fate Christ, what have you done? -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- Show Dont Tell -------- how many times do you hear it? it goes on all day long everyone knows everything and no one's ever wrong until later who can you believe? it's hard to play it safe but apart from a few good friends we don't take anything on faith until later Show Don't Tell SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME You've figured out the score SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME I've heard it all before SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME I don't care what you say SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME you can twist perceptions reality won't budge you can raise objections I will be the judge and the jury I'll give it due reflection watching from the fence give the jury direction based on the evidence I, the jury SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME Hey order in the court SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME Let's try to keep it short SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME Enough of your demands SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME Witness take the stand SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME Hey order in the court SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME Let's try to keep it short SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME I don't care what you say SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME Let's see exhibit A -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- Chain Lightning -------- energy is contagious enthusiasm spreads tides respond to lunar gravitation everything turns in synchronous relation laughter is infectious excitement goes to my head winds are stirred by planets in rotation sparks ignite and spread new information respond, vibrate, feed back, resonate sun dogs fire on the horizon meteor rain stars across the night this moment may be brief but it can be so bright hope is epidemic optimism spreads bitterness breeds irritation ignorance breeds imitation sun dogs fire on the horizon meteor rain stars across the night this moment may be brief but it can be so bright reflected in another source of light when the moment dies the spark still flies reflected in another pair of eyes dreams are sometimes catching desire goes to my head love responds to your invitation love responds to imagination respond, vibrate, feed back, resonate -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- War Paint -------- girl before the mirror appraises her disguise child become a mother tries to fix her eyes no more of his excuses it has to be today she can keep her fantasy if she can get away paint her name on a one-way street painted cheeks with angry heat wounded pride on painted eyes paint the night with battlecries all puffed up with vanity we see what we want to see to the beautiful and the wise the mirror always lies boy before the mirror checks his camoflauge polishes his armor and the charger in the garage no more lame excuses it has to be tonight he can take the princess if he can take the fight pound the drums with martial beat pound the streets with marching feet wounded pride, distorted eyes paint the night with battlecries all puffed up with vanity we see what we want to see to the powerful and the wise the mirror always lies boys and girls together mistake conceit for pride ambition for illusion dreams for self-delusion girls and boys together see what it is we lack boys and girls together let's paint the mirror black paint it black -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- Scars -------- I've stood upon my mountaintop and shouted at the sky walked above the pavement with my sense 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 -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- 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 -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- Superconductor -------- packaged like a rebel or a hero target mass appeal to make an audience feel he really means it package the illusion of persona careful to conceal the fact that she's only too real she's got to screen it hit you in a soft place a melody so sweet a strong and simple beat that you can dance to Watch his every move SUPERCONDUCTOR Orchestrate illusions SUPERCONDUCTOR Watch his every move SUPERCONDUCTOR Hoping you'll believe Designing to deceive That's entertainment he can put a target on the market bask in your applause reality withdraws now he believes it the role becomes the actor she's addicted to applause the stage a world because she never leaves it hit you in a soft place with sentimental ease they know the fantasies that you romance to Watch her every move SUPERCONDUCTOR She can manipulate reactions SUPERCONDUCTOR Watch her every move SUPERCONDUCTOR Pin the donkeys on her tail Fantasy for sale That's entertainment. -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- Anagram For Mongo -------- there's a snake coming out of the darkness parade from paradise end the need for eden chase the dreams of merchandise there is tic and toc in atomic leaders make a deal the cosmic is largely comic a con they couldn't conceal There is no safe seat at the feast Take your best stab at the beast The night is turning thin The saint is turning to sin raise the art to resistance danger dare to be grand pride reduced to humble pie diamonds down to sand take heart from earth and weather the brightness of new birth take heart from the harvest shave the harvest from the earth Reasoning is partly insane Image just an eyeless game The night is turning thin The saint is turning to sin miracles will have their claimers more will bow to Rome he and she are in the house but there's only me at home rose is a rose of splendor posed to respond in the end lonely things like nights, I find, end finer with a friend I hear in the rate of her heart A tear in the heat of the art The night turns thin The saint turns to sin -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- Red Tide -------- nature has some new plague to run in our streets history some new wrinkle we are doomed to repeat fugitives at the bedroom door lovers pause to find an open store rain is burning on the forest floor and the red tide kisses the shore THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM THIS IS NOT A TEST stay out of the sun it only burns my skin sky full of poison and the atmosphere's too thin bless the sun, the rain no more river running like an open sore black wind falling to the ocean floor and the red tide washes ashore THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM THIS IS NOT A TEST Nowhere we can fly away Nowhere we can rest The party is disrupted by An uninvited guest deadline approaches for the weary land it used to be something but we let it run down in our hands too late for debate, too bad to ignore quiet rebellion leads to open war bring a sea-change to the factory floor as the red tide covers the shore Now's the time to turn the tide Now's the time to fight Let us not go gently To the endless winter night Now's the time to make the time While hope is still in sight Let us not go gently To the endless winter night -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- Hand Over Fist -------- hand over fist paper around the stone scissors cut the paper cut the paper to the bone hand over fist paper around the stone scissors cut the paper and the rock must stand alone I could disappear into the crowd but not if I keep my head in the clouds I could walk away so proud it's easy enough if you don't laugh too loud I thought I was okay alone wait for the postman and the telephone lost in a world of my own I thought I could run alone thought I could run through the night alone Hand over hand Doesn't seem so much Hand over hand Is the strength of the common touch you talk as we walk along you never imagined I could be so wrong humming your favorite song you know I've hated that song for so long how can we ever agree? like the rest of the world we grow farther apart I swear you don't listen to me holding my hand to my heart holding my fist to my racing heart Take a walk outside myself In some exotic land Greet a passing stranger Feel the strength in his hand Feel the world expand I feel my spirit resist But I open up my fist Lay hand over hand over Hand over fist -------- Presto (1989) -------- -------- 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 -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Dreamline -------- He's got a road map of Jupiter A radar fix on the stars All along the highway She's got a liquid-crystal compass A picture book of the rivers Under the Sahara They travel in the time of the prophets On a desert highway straight to the heart of the sun Like lovers and heroes, and the restless part of everyone We're only at home when we're on the run On the run He's got a star map of Hollywood A list of cheap motels All along the freeway She's got a sister out in Vegas The promise of a decent job Far away from her hometown They travel on the road to redemption A highway out of yesterday that tomorrow will bring Like lovers and heroes, birds in the last days of spring We're only at home when we're on the wing On the wing 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 Time is a gypsy caravan Steals away in the night To leave you stranded in Dreamland Distance is a long-range filter Memory a flickering light Left behind in the heartland We travel in the dark of the new moon A starry highway traced on the map of the sky Like lovers and heroes, lonely as the eagle's cry We're only at home when we're on the fly On the fly We travel on the road to adventure On a desert highway straight to the heart of the sun Like lovers and hereos, and the restless part of everyone We're only at home when we're on the run On the run -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Bravado -------- If we burn our wings Flying too close to the sun If the moment of glory Is over before it's begun If the dream is won Though everything is lost We will pay the price, But we will not count the cost When the dust has cleared And victory denied A summit too lofty River a little too wide If we keep our pride Though paradise is lost We will pay the price, But we will not count the cost And if the music stops There's only the sound of the rain All the hope and glory All the sacrifice in vain If love remains Though everything is lost We will pay the price, But we will not count the cost -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Roll The Bones -------- Well, you can stake that claim Good work is the key to good fortune Winners take that praise Losers seldom take that blame If they don't take that game And sometimes the winner takes nothing We draw our own designs But fortune has to make that frame We go out in the world and take our chances Fate is just the weight of circumstances That's the way that lady luck dances Roll the bones Why are we here? Because we're here. Roll the bones Why does it happen? Because it happens. Roll the bones Faith is cold as ice Why are little ones born only to suffer For the want of immunity Or a bowl of rice? Well, who would hold a price On the heads of the innocent children If there's some immortal power To control the dice? We come into the world and take our chances Fate is just the weight of circumstances That's the way that lady luck dances Roll the bones.. Jack relax. Get busy with the facts. No zodiacs or almanacs, No maniacs in polyester slacks. Just the facts. Gonna kick some gluteus max. It's a parallax you dig? You move around The small gets big. It's a rig It's action reaction Random interaction. So who's afraid Of a little abstraction? Can't get no satisfaction From the facts? You better run, homeboy A fact's a fact From Nome to Rome, boy. What's the deal? Spin the wheel. If the dice are hot take a shot. Play your cards. Show us what you got What you're holding. If the cards are cold, Don't go folding. Lady Luck is golden; She favors the bold. That's cold Stop throwing stones The night has a thousand saxophones. So get out there and rock, And roll the bones. Get busy! -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Face Up -------- You turn my head I spin my wheels Running on empty You know how that feels I'm on a roll now Or is it a slide? Can't be too careful With that dangerous pride If I could only reach that dial inside And turn it up FACE UP Or you can only back down FACE UP Hit the target, or you better hit the ground FACE UP There's still time to turn the game around FACE UP Turn it up Or turn that wild card down Turn it up Don't complain Don't explain I don't think my new resolve Can stand the strain I'm in a groove now Or is it a rut? I need some feedback But all the lines are cut I get so angry, but I keep my mouth shut And turn it up You get all squeezed up inside Like the days were carved in stone You get all wired up inside And it's bad to be alone You can go out, you can take a ride And when you get out on your own You get all smoothed out inside And it's good to be alone Turn it up -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Wheres My Thing -------- Instrumental -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- The Big Wheel -------- Well, I was only a kid didn't know enough to be afraid Playing the game, but not the way the big boys played Nothing to lose maybe I had something to trade The way the big wheel spins Well, I was only a kid, on a holy crusade I placed no trust in a faith that was ready-made Take no chances on paradise delayed So I do a slow fade PLAYING FOR TIME Don't want to wait for heaven LOOKING FOR LOVE For an angel to forgive my sins PLAYING WITH FIRE Chasing something new to believe in LOOKING FOR LOVE The way the big wheel spins Well, I was only a kid, cruising around in a trance Prisoner of fate, victim of circumstance I was lined up for glory, but the tickets sold out in advance The way the big wheel spins Well, I was only a kid, gone without a backward glance Going for broke, going for another chance Hoping for heaven hoping for a fine romance If I do the right dance Wheel goes round, landing on a twist of faith Taking your chances you'll have the right answers When the final judgment begins Wheel goes round, landing on a leap of fate Life redirected in ways unexpected Sometimes the odd number wins The way the big wheel spins -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Heresy -------- All around that dull gray world From Moscow to Berlin People storm the barricades Walls go tumbling in The counter-revolution People smiling through their tears Who can give them back their lives And all those wasted years? All those precious wasted years Who will pay? All around that dull gray world Of ideology People storm the marketplace And buy up fantasy The counter-revolution At the counter of a store People buy the things they want And borrow for a little more All those wasted years All those precious, wasted years Who will pay? Do we have to be forgiving at last? What else can we do? Do we have to say goodbye to the past? Yes, I guess we do All around this great big world All the crap we had to take Bombs and basement fallout shelters All our lives at stake The bloody revolution All the warheads in its wake All the fear and suffering All a big mistake All those wasted years All those precious, wasted years Who will pay? -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Ghost Of A Chance -------- Like a million little doorways All the choices we made All the stages we passed through All the roles we played So many different directions Our separate paths might have turned With every door that we opened Every bridge that we burned Somehow we find each other Through all that masquerade Somehow we found each other Somehow we have stayed In a state of grace I DON'T BELIEVE IN DESTINY OR THE GUIDING HAND OF FATE I DON'T BELIEVE IN FOREVER OR LOVE AS A MYSTICAL STATE I DON'T BELIEVE IN THE STARS OR THE PLANETS OR ANGELS WATCHING FROM ABOVE BUT I BELIEVE THERE'S A GHOST OF A CHANCE WE CAN FIND SOMEONE TO LOVE AND MAKE IT LAST Like a million little crossroads Through the backstreets of youth Each time we turn a new corner A tiny moment of truth So many different connections Our separate paths might have made With every door that we opened Every game we played Somehow we find each other Through all that masquerade Somehow we found each other Somehow we have stayed In a state of grace -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- Neurotica -------- You just don't get it What it is well, you're not really sure You move like you're walking on thin ice Talking like you're still insecure Time is a spiral Space is a curve I know you get dizzy, but try not to lose your nerve Life is a diamond you turn into dust Waiting for rescue, and I know you just Don't get it You just don't get it Neurotica Exotica It's just Erotica Hypnotica It's just Psychotica Chaotica It's just Exotica Neurotica You just don't get it Baby, don't you ask yourself why? If you don't like the answer forget it You know I hate to see you cry Fortune is random Fate shoots from the hip I know you get crazy, but try not to lose your grip Life is a diamond you turn into dust Looking for trust, and I know that you just Don't get it You just don't get it SNAP! Hide in your shell, let the world go to hell It's like Russian roulette to you SNAP! Sweat running cold, you can't face growing old It's a personal threat to you SNAP! The world is a cage for your impotent rage But don't let it get to you SNAP! -------- Roll the Bones (1991) -------- -------- You Bet Your Life -------- Just another hunter, like a wolf in the sun Just another junkie on a scoring run Just another victim of the things he has done Just another day in the life of a loaded gun THE ODDS GET EVEN You name the game THE ODDS GET EVEN The stakes are the same YOU BET YOUR LIFE Just another winner, pours his life down the drain Just another island in a hurricane Just another loser, like a cat in the rain Just another day in the path of a speeding train THE ODDS GET EVEN You name the game THE ODDS GET EVEN The stakes are the same YOU BET YOUR LIFE anarchist reactionary running-dog revisionist hindu muslim catholic creation/evolutionist rational romantic mystic cynical idealist minimal expressionist post-modern neo-symbolist armchair rocket scientist graffiti existentialist deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop lite-pop-metallist gold adult contemporary urban country capitalist Just another gypsy with a plastic guitar Just another dancer with her eyes on the stars Just another dreamer who was going too far Just another drunk at the wheel of a stolen car THE ODDS GET EVEN You name the game THE ODDS GET EVEN The stakes are the same YOU BET YOUR LIFE -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Leave That Thing Alone -------- Instrumental -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Http:Www.Rush.Comsongsnobodys Hero -------- I knew he was different, in his sexuality I went to his parties, as a straight minority It never seemed a threat to my masculinity He only introduced me to a wider reality As the years went by, we drifted apart When I heard that he was gone I felt a shadow cross my heart But he's nobody's Hero saves a drowning child Cures a wasting disease Hero lands the crippled airplane Solves great mysteries Hero not the handsome actor Who plays a hero's role Hero not the glamor girl Who'd love to sell her soul If anybody's buying NOBODY'S HERO I didn't know the girl, but I knew her family All their lives were shattered in a nightmare of brutality They try to carry on, try to bear the agony Try to hold some faith in the goodness of humanity As the years went by, we drifted apart When I heard that she was gone I felt a shadow cross my heart But she's nobody's Hero the voice of reason Against the howling mob Hero the pride of purpose In the unrewarding job Hero not the champion player Who plays the perfect game Not the glamor boy Who loves to sell his name Everybody's buying NOBODY'S HERO As the years went by, we drifted apart When I heard that you were gone I felt a shadow cross my heart Hero -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Animate -------- POLARIZE ME SENSITIZE ME CRITICIZE ME CIVILIZE ME COMPENSATE ME ANIMATE ME COMPLICATE ME ELEVATE ME Goddess in my garden Sister in my soul Angel in my armor Actress in my role Daughter of a demon-lover Empress of the hidden face Priestess of the pagan mother Ancient queen of inner space Spirit in my psyche Double in my role Alter in my image Struggle for control Mistress of the dark unconscious Mermaid of the lunar sea Daughter of the great enchantress Sister to the boy inside of me My counterpart my foolish heart A man must learn to rule his tender part A warming trend a gentle friend A man must build a fortress to defend A secret face a touch of grace A man must learn to give a little space A peaceful state a submissive trait A man must learn to gently dominate -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Stick It Out -------- Trust to your instincts If it's safely restrained Lightning reactions Must be carefully trained Heat of the moment Curse of the young Spit out your anger Don't swallow your tongue STICK IT OUT Don't swallow the poison SPIT IT OUT Don't swallow your pride STICK IT OUT Don't swallow your anger SPIT IT OUT Don't swallow the lies Natural reflex Pendulum swing You might be too dizzy To do the right thing Trial under fire Ultimate proof Moment of crisis Don't swallow the truth STICK IT OUT Each time we bathe our reactions In artificial light Each time we alter the focus To make the wrong moves seem right You get so used to deception You make yourself a nervous wreck You get so used to surrender Running back to cover your neck STICK IT OUT -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Cut To The Chase -------- It is the fire that lights itself But it burns with a restless flame The arrow on a moving target The archer must be sure of his aim It is the engine that drives itself But it chooses the uphill climb A bearing on magnetic north Growing farther away all the time Can't stop moving Can't stop moving Can't stop YOU MAY BE RIGHT IT'S ALL A WASTE OF TIME I GUESS THAT'S JUST A CHANCE I'M PREPARED TO TAKE A DANGER I'M PREPARED TO FACE CUT TO THE CHASE It is the rocket that ignites itself And launches its way to the stars A driver on a busy freeway Racing the oblivious cars It's the motor of the western world Spinning off to every extreme Pure as a lover's desire Evil as a murderer's dream Young enough not to care too much About the way things used to be I'm young enough to remember the future The past has no claim on me I'm old enough not to care too much About what you think of me But I'm young enough to remember the future And the way things ought to be WHAT KIND OF DIFFERENCE CAN ONE PERSON MAKE? CUT TO THE CHAS -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Nobodys Hero -------- I knew he was different, in his sexuality I went to his parties, as a straight minority It never seemed a threat to my masculinity He only introduced me to a wider reality As the years went by, we drifted apart When I heard that he was gone I felt a shadow cross my heart But he's nobody's Hero saves a drowning child Cures a wasting disease Hero lands the crippled airplane Solves great mysteries Hero not the handsome actor Who plays a hero's role Hero not the glamor girl Who'd love to sell her soul If anybody's buying NOBODY'S HERO I didn't know the girl, but I knew her family All their lives were shattered in a nightmare of brutality They try to carry on, try to bear the agony Try to hold some faith in the goodness of humanity As the years went by, we drifted apart When I heard that she was gone I felt a shadow cross my heart But she's nobody's Hero the voice of reason Against the howling mob Hero the pride of purpose In the unrewarding job Hero not the champion player Who plays the perfect game Not the glamor boy Who loves to sell his name Everybody's buying NOBODY'S HERO As the years went by, we drifted apart When I heard that you were gone I felt a shadow cross my heart Hero -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Between Sun And Moon -------- There is a lake between sun and moon Not too many know about In the silence between whisper and shout The space between wonder and doubt This is a fine place Shining face to face Those bonfire lights in the mirror of sky The space between wonder and why ahh yes to yes to ahh ahh to yes why the sun why the sun There is a fine line between love and illusion A fine place to penetrate The gap between actor and act The lens between wishes and fact This is a fine place To hesitate Those bonfire lights in the lake of sky The time between wonder and why Some need to pray to the sun at high noon Some need to howl at the midwinter moon Reborn and baptized in a moment of grace We just need a break From the headlong race ahh yes to yes to ahh ahh to yes why the sun why the sun -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Alien Shore -------- You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome Slave to the hormone, body and soul In a struggle to be happy and free Swimming in a primitive sea You and I, we must dive below the surface A world of red neon, and ultramarine Shining bridges on the ocean floor Reaching to the alien shore For you and me Sex is not a competition For you and me Sex is not a job description For you and me We agree You and I, we are pressed into these solitudes Color and culture, language and race Just variations on a theme Islands in a much larger stream For you and me Race is not a competition For you and me Race is not a definition For you and me We agree Reaching for the alien shore You and I, we reject these narrow attitudes We add to each other, like a coral reef Building bridges on the ocean floor Reaching for the alien shore For you and me We hold these truths to be self-evident For you and me We'd elect each other president For you and me We might agree But that's just us Reaching for the alien shore -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Speed Of Love -------- Love is born with lightning bolts Electro-magnetic force Burning skin and fireworks A storm on a raging course Like a force of nature, Love can fade with the stars at dawn Sometimes it takes all your strength Just to keep holding on At the speed of love A radiance that travels At the speed of love My heart goes out to you Love is born with solar flares From two magnetic poles It moves towards a higher plane Where two halves make two wholes Like a force of nature, Love shines in many forms One night we are bathed in light One day carried away in the storms At the speed of love Nothing changes faster Than the speed of love My heart goes out to you We don't have to talk We don't even have to touch I can feel your prescence In the silence that we share Got to keep moving At the speed of love Nothing changes faster Than the speed of love Got to keep on shining At the speed of love Nothing changes faster Than the speed of love My heart goes out to you -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Double Agent -------- Where would you rather be? Anywhere but here When will the time be right? Anytime but now On the edge of sleep, I was drifting for half the night Anxious and restless, pressed down by the darkness Bound up and wound up so tight So many decisions, a million revisions Caught between darkness and light Wilderness of mirrors World of polished steel Gears and iron chains Turn the grinding wheel I run between the shadows Some are phantoms, some are real Where would you rather be? Anywhere but here When will the time be right? Anytime but now The doubt and the fear I know would all disappear Anywhere but here On the edge of sleep, I heard voices behind the door The known and the nameless, familiar and faceless My angels and my demons at war Which one will lose depends on what I choose Or maybe which voice I ignore Wilderness of mirrors Streets of cold desire My precious sense of honor Just a shield of rusty wire I hold against the chaos And the cross of holy fire Wilderness of mirrors So easy to deceive My precious sense of rightness Is sometimes so naive So that which I imagine Is that which I believe On the edge of sleep, I awoke to a sun so bright Rested and fearless, cheered by your nearness I knew which direction was right The case had been tried by the jury inside The choice between darkness and light -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Cold Fire -------- It was long after midnight When we got to unconditional love She said sure, my heart is boundless But don't push my limits too far I said if love was so transcendant I don't understand these boundaries She said just don't disappoint me You know how complex women are I'll be around If you don't let me down Too far It was just before sunrise When we started on traditional roles She said sure I'll be your partner But don't make too many demands I said if love has these conditions I don't understand those songs you love She said this is not a love song This isn't fantasy-land I'll be around If you don't push me down Too far DON'T GO TOO FAR The phosphorescent wave on a tropical sea Is a cold fire DON'T CROSS THE LINE The pattern of moonlight on the bedroom floor Is a cold fire DON'T LET ME DOWN The flame at the heart of a pawnbroker's diamond Is a cold fire DON'T BREAK THE SPELL The look in your eyes as you head for the door Is a cold fire Love is blind if you are gentle Love can turn to a long, cold burn -------- Counterparts (1993) -------- -------- Everyday Glory -------- In the house where nobody laughs And nobody sleeps In the house where love lies dying And the shadows creep A little girl hides, shaking, With her hands on her ears Pushing back the tears, 'til the pain disappears Mama says some ugly words Daddy pounds the wall They can fight about their little girl later But right now they don't care at all No matter what they say No matter what they say EVERYDAY PEOPLE EVERYDAY SHAME EVERYDAY PROMISE SHOT DOWN IN FLAMES EVERYDAY SUNRISE ANOTHER EVERYDAY STORY RISE FROM THE ASHES A BLAZE OF EVERYDAY GLORY In the city where nobody smiles And nobody dreams In the city where desperation Drives the bored to extremes Just one spark of decency Against a starless night One glow of hope and dignity A child can follow the light No matter what they say No matter what they say If the future's looking dark We're the ones who have to shine If there's no one in control We're the ones who draw the line Though we live in trying times We're the ones who have to try Though we know that time has wings We're the ones who have to fly -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Driven -------- Driven up and down in circles Skidding down a road of black ice Staring in and out storm windows Driven to a fool's paradise BUT IT'S MY TURN TO DRIVE Driven to the margin of error Driven to the edge of control Driven to the margin of terror Driven to the edge of a deep, dark hole Driven day and night in circles Spinning like a whirlwind of leaves Stealing in and out back alleys Driven to another den of thieves BUT IT'S MY TURN TO DRIVE Driven in Driven to the edge Driven out On the thin end of the wedge Driven off By things I've never seen Driven on By the road to somewhere I've never been IT'S MY TURN TO DRIVE The road unwinds towards me What was there is gone The road unwinds before me And I go riding on -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Dog Years -------- In a dog's life A year is really more like seven And all too soon a canine Will be chasing cars in doggie heaven It seems to me As we make our own few circles 'round the sun We get it backwards And our seven years go by like one Dog years It's the season of the itch Dog years With every scratch it reappears In the dog days People look to Sirius Dogs cry for the moon But those connections are mysterious It seems to me While it's true that every dog will have his day When all the bones are buried There is barely time to go outside and play Dog years It's the season of the itch Dog years With every scratch it reappears Dog years For every sad son of a bitch Dog years With his tail between his ears I'd rather be a tortoise from Galapagos Or a span of geological time Than be living in thesedog years In a dog's brain A constant buzz of low-level static One sniff at the hydrant And the answer is automatic It seems to me As we make our own few circles 'round the block We've lost our senses For the higher-level static of talk -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Http:Www.Rush.Comsongstest For Echo -------- Here we go vertigo Video vertigo Test for echo Herewe go in slo-mo Video vertigo Test for echo Some kind of trouble on the sensory screen Camera curves over caved-in cop cars Bleacher-creatures, would-be desperados Clutch at plausible deniability Don't touch that dial We're in denial Until the showcase trial on TV Somekind of pictures on the sense o'clock news Miles of yellow tape silhouetted chalklines Tough-talking hood boys in pro-team logo knockoffs Conform to uniforms of some corporate entity Don't change that station It's Gangster Nation Now crime's in syndication on TV What a show vertigo Video vertigo Test for echo Touch and go in slo-mo Video vertigo Test for echo Somekind of drama live on satellite Hidden camera coverage from the crime scene to the courtroom Nail-biting hoodboys in borrowed ties and jackets Clutching at the straws of respectability Can't do the time? Don't do the crime And wind up in the perp walk on TV -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Test For Echo -------- Here we go vertigo Video vertigo Test for echo Herewe go in slo-mo Video vertigo Test for echo Some kind of trouble on the sensory screen Camera curves over caved-in cop cars Bleacher-creatures, would-be desperados Clutch at plausible deniability Don't touch that dial We're in denial Until the showcase trial on TV Somekind of pictures on the sense o'clock news Miles of yellow tape silhouetted chalklines Tough-talking hood boys in pro-team logo knockoffs Conform to uniforms of some corporate entity Don't change that station It's Gangster Nation Now crime's in syndication on TV What a show vertigo Video vertigo Test for echo Touch and go in slo-mo Video vertigo Test for echo Somekind of drama live on satellite Hidden camera coverage from the crime scene to the courtroom Nail-biting hoodboys in borrowed ties and jackets Clutching at the straws of respectability Can't do the time? Don't do the crime And wind up in the perp walk on TV -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Half The World -------- Half the world hates What half the world does every day Half the world waits While half gets on with it anyway Half the world lives Half the world makes Half the world gives While the other half takes Half the world is Half the world was Half the world thinks While the other half does Half the world talks With half a mind on what they say Half the world walks With half a mind to run away Half the world lies Half the world learns Half the world flies As half the world turns Half the world cries Half the world laughs Half the world tries To be the other half Half of us divided Like a torn-up photograph Half of us are trying To reach the other half Half the world cares While half the world is wasting the day Half the world shares While half the world is stealing away -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- The Color Of Right -------- Idon't have an explanation For another lonely night I just feel this sense of mission And the sense of what is right Take it easy on my now I'd be there if I could I'm so full of what is right I can't see what is good It's a hopeless situation Lie awake for half the night You're not sure what's going on here But you're sure it isn't right Make it easy on yourself There's nothing more you can do You're so full of what is right You can't see what is true Aquality of justice A quantity of light A particle of mercy Makes the color of right Gravity and distance Change the passage of light Gravity and distance Change the color of right -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Time And Motion -------- 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 Supernature Needs all the comfort he can find Spontaneous emotion And the long enduring kind -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Totem -------- I've got twelve disciples and a Buddha smile The Garden of Allah Viking Valhalla A miracle once in a while I've got a pantheon of animals in a pagan soul Vishnu and Gaia Aztec and Maya Dance around my totem pole Ibelieve in what I see I believe in what I hear I believe that what I'm feeling Changes how the world appears Angels and demons dancing in my head Lunatics and monsters underneath my bed Media messiahs preying on my fears Pop culture prophets playing in my ears I've got celestial mechanics To synchronize my stars Seasonal migrations daily variations World of the unlikely and bizarre I've got idols and icons, unspoken holy vows Thoughts to keep well-hidden sacred and forbidden Free to browse among the holy cows That's why I believe Angels and demons inside of me Saviors and Satans all around me Sweet chariot, swing low, coming for me -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Virtuality -------- Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land I can see the footprints in the virtual sand Net boy, net girl Send your signal 'round the world Let your fingers walk and talk And set you free Net boy, net girl Send your impulse 'round the world Put your message in a modem And throw it in the Cyber Sea Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race I can save the universe in a grain of sand I can hold the future in my virtual hand Let's dance tonight To a virtual song Press this key And you can play along Let's fly tonight On our virtual wings Press this key To see amazing things Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain I can smell her perfume, I can taste her lips I can feel the voltage from her fingertips Net boy, net girl Send your heartbeat 'round the world -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Resist -------- Ican learn to resist Anything but temptation I can learn to co-exist With anything but pain Ican learn to compromise Anything but my desires I can learn to get along With all the things I can't explain Ican learn to resist Anything but frustration I can learn to persist With anything but aiming low Ican learn to close my eyes To anything but injustice I can learn to get along With all the things I don't know You can surrender Without a prayer But never really pray Pray without surrender You can fight Without ever winning But never ever win Without a fight -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Limbo -------- Music:Geddy Lee,Alex LifesonandNeil Peart Instrumental Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist? Mmmm, Mash goooood! -------- Test For Echo (1996) -------- -------- Carve Away The Stone -------- You can roll that stone To the top of the hill Drag your ball and chain Behind you You can carry that weight With an iron will Or let the pain remain Behind you Chip away the stone (Sisyphus) Chip away the stone Make the burden lighter If you must roll that rock alone You can drive those wheels To the end of the road You will still find the past right Behind you Try to deny The weight of the load Try to put the sins of the past night Behind you Carve away the stone (Sisyhpus) Carve away the stone Make a graven image With some features of your own You call roll the stone To the top of the hill You can carry that weight With an iron will You can drive those wheels To the end of the road You can try to deny The weight of the load Roll away the stone (Sisyhpus) Roll away the stone If you could just move yours I could get working on my own -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- One Little Victory -------- A certain measure of innocence Willing to appear naive A certain degree of imagination A measure of make-believe A certain degree of surrender To the forces of light and heat A shot of satisfaction In a willingness to risk defeat Celebrate the moment As it turns into one more Another chance at victory Another chance to score The measure of the moment Is a difference of degree Just one little victory A spirit breaking free One little victory The greatest act can be One little victory A certain measure of righteousness A certain amount of force A certain degree of determination Daring on a different course A certain amount of resistance To the forces of the light and love A certain measure of tolerance A willingness to rise above -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Ceiling Unlimited -------- It's not the heat It's the inhumanity Plugged into the sweat of a summer street Machine gun images pass Like malice through the looking glass The slackjaw gaze Of true profanity Feels more like surrender than defeat If culture is the curse of the thinking class If culture is the curse of the thinking class ceiling unlimited world so wide turn and turn again feeling unlimited still unsatisfied changes never end The vacant laugh Of true insanity Dressed up in the mask of Tragedy Programmed for the guts and glands Of idle minds and idle hands I rest my case Or at least my vanity Dressed up in the mask of Comedy If laughter is a straw for a drowning man If laughter is a straw for a drowning man ceiling unlimited windows open wide look and look again feeling unlimited eyes on the prize changes never end winding like an ancient river the time is now again hope is like an endless river the time is now again -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Ghost Rider -------- Pack up all those phantoms Shoulder that invisible load Keep on riding north and west Haunting that wilderness road Like a ghost rider Carry all those phantoms Through bitter wind and stormy skies From the desert to the mountain From the lowest low to the highest high Like a ghost rider Keep on riding north and west Then circle south and east Show me beauty, but there is no peace For the ghost rider Shadows on the road behind Shadows on the road ahead Nothing can stop you now There's a shadow on the road behind There's a shadow on the road ahead Nothing can stop you now Sunrise in the mirror Lightens that invisible load Riding on a nameless quest Haunting that wilderness road Like a ghost rider Just an escape artist Racing against the night A wandering hermit Racing toward the light From the White Sands To the Canyonlands To the redwood stands To the Barren Lands Sunrise on the road behind Sunset on the road ahead There's nothing to stop you now Nothing can stop you now -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Peaceable Kingdom -------- A wave toward the clearing the sky All this time we're talking and sharing our Rational View A billion other voices are spreading other news All this time we're living and trying to understand Why a billion other choices are making their demands Talk of a Peaceable Kingdom Talk of a time without fear The ones we wish would listen Are never going to hear Justice against The Hanged Man Knight of Wands against the hour Swords against the kingdom Time against The Tower All this time we're shuffling and laying out all our cards While a billion other dealers are slipping past our guards All this time we're hoping and praying we all might learn While a billion other teachers are teaching them how to burn Dream of a Peaceable Kingdom Dream of a time without war The ones we wish would hear us Have heard it all before A wave toward the clearing sky A wave toward the clearing sky The Hermit against The Lovers Or the Devil against the Fool Swords against the kingdom The Wheel against the rules All this time we're burning like bonfires in the dark A billion other blazes are shooting off their sparks Every spark a drifting ember of desire To fall upon the earth and spark another fire A homeward angel on the fly A wave toward the clearing sky -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- The Stars Look Down -------- Like the fly on the wheel, who says What a lot of dust we're raising Are you under the illusion That you're part of this scheme? Seems like a lifetime ago You could look with pride On your world of dreams What is the meaning of this? And the stars look down What are you trying to do? And the stars look down Was it something I said? And the stars look down Like the rat in a maze who says, Watch me choose my own direction Are you under the illusion The path is winding your way? Are you surprised by confusion When it leads you astray? Have you lived a lifetime today Or do you feel like you just got carried away? What is the meaning of this? And the stars look down What are you trying to do? And the stars look down Was it something I said? And the stars look down Something you'd like me to do? And the stars look down The stars look down -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- How It Is -------- Here's a little trap That sometimes catches everyone When today's as far as we can see Faith in bright tomorrows giving way to resignation That's how it is how it's going to be It's such a cloudy day Seems we'll never see the sun Or feel the day has possibilities Frozen in the moment the lack of imagination Between how it is and how it ought to be Here's a little trap That sometimes trips up everyone When we tire of our own company Sometimes we're the last to see beyond the day's frustrations That's how it is how it's going to be It's such a cloudy day Seems we'll never see the sun I feel the day is all uncertainty Burning in the moment trapped by the desperation Between how it is and how it ought to be Foot upon the stair Shoulder to the wheel You can't tell yourself not to care You can't tell yourself how to feel That's how it is Another cloudy day -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Vapor Trail -------- Stratospheric traces of our transitory flight Trails of condensation held in narrow bands of white The sun is turning black The world is turning gray All the stars fade from the night The oceans drain away Horizonto Horizon memory written on the wind Fading away, like an hourglass, grain by grain Swept away like voices in a hurricane In a vapor trail Atmospheric phases make the transitory last Vaporize the memories that freeze the fading past Silence all the songbirds Stilled by the killing frost Forests burn to ashes Everything is lost Washed away like footprints in the rain In a vapor trail -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Secret Touch -------- The way out Is the way in The way out Is the way in Out of touch With the weather and the wind direction With the sunrise And the phases of the moon Out of touch With life in the land of the loving With the living night And the darkness at high noon 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 A healing hand, a secret touch on the heart There is never love without pain Life is a power that remains -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Earthshine -------- On certain nights When the angles are right And the moon is a slender crescent Itscircle shows In a ghostly glow Of earthly luminescence Earthshine A beacon in the night I can raise my eyes to Earthshine Earthshine A jewel out of reach Form a dream to rise to Earthshine Floating high In the evening sky I see my faint reflection Pale facsimile Like what others see When they look in my direction Earthshine Stretching out your hand Full of starlit diamonds Earthshine Reflected light To another's sight And the moon tells a lover's story My borrowed face And my third-hand grace Only reflect your glory You're still out of reach Form a dream to rise to Earthshine -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Sweet Miracle -------- I wasn't walking on water I was standing on a reef When the tide came in Swept beneath the surface Lost without a trace No hope at all No hope at all Oh sweet miracle Oh sweet miracle Of life I wasn'twalking with angels I was talking to myself Rising up to the surface Raging against the night Starless night Oh sweet miracle Love's sweet miracle Of life Oh salvation Oh salvation I wasn'tpraying for magic I was hiding in plain sight Rising up from the surface To fly into the light -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Nocturne -------- Did I have a dream? Or did the dream have me? Set off on a night-sea journey Without memory or desire Drifting through lost latitudes With no compass and no chart Flying through hallucination Distant voices, signal fires Lighting up my unconscious And the secret places of the heart Dream Temporary madness Dream A voice in the wilderness Dream Unconscious revelations The morning says, the answer is yes Floating through a darkened mirror Deep reflections in disguise Soaring through lost altitudes Without wonder, without fear Symbols on a field of visions Behind the curtain of sleeping eyes On the instant of waking Another world of dreams appears Dream A walk in the wilderness Dream Unconscious recreation The morning says, the answer is yes -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Freeze Part Iv Of Fear -------- The city crouches, steaming In the early morning half-light The sun is still a rumor And the night is still a threat Slipping through the dark streets And the echoes and the shadows Something stirs behind me And my palms begin to sweat Sometimes I freeze until the light comes Sometimes I fly into the night Sometimes I fight against the darkness Sometimes I'm wrong sometimes I'm right Coiled for the spring Or caught like a creature in the headlights Into a desperate panic Or a tempest of blind fury Like a cornered beast Or a conquering hero The menace threatens, closing And I'm frozen in the shadows I'm not prepared to run away And I'm not prepared to fight I can't stand to reason Or surrender to a reflex I will trust my instincts Or surrender to my fright Sometimes we freeze until the light comes Sometimes we're wrong and sometimes we're right Sometimes we fight against the darkness Sometimes we fly into the night Blood running cold Mind going down into a dark night Of a desperate panic Or a tempest of blind fury Like a cornered beast Or a conquering hero Sometimes I freeze Sometimes I fight Sometimes I fly Into the night -------- Vapor Trails (2002) -------- -------- Out Of The Cradle -------- It's not a place It's a yearning It's not a race It's a journey It's not an act It's attraction It's not a style It's an action It's a dream for the waking It's a flower touched by flame It's a gift for the giving It's a power with a hundred names Surge of energy, spark of inspiration The breath of love is electricity Maybe Time is bird in flight Endlessly mocking Here we come out of the cradle Endlessly rocking Endlessly rocking It's a hand That rocks the cradle It's a motion That swings the sky It's method on the edge of madness It's a balance on the edge of a knife It's a smile on the edge of sadness It's a dance on the edge of life Endlessly r o c k i n g -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Http:Www.Rush.Comsongsworkin Them Angels -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart Driving away to the east, and into the past History recedes in my rear-view mirror Carried away on a wave of music down a desert road Memory humming at the heart of a factory town All my life I've been workin' them angels overtime Riding and driving and living So close to the edge Workin' them angels Overtime Riding through the Range of Light to the wounded city Filling my spirit with the wildest wish to fly Taking the high road to the wounded city Memory strumming at the heart of a moving picture All this time I've been working them angels overtime Riding and driving and flying Just over the edge Workin' them angels Overtime Driving down the razor's edge between the past and the future Turn up the music and smile Get carried away on the songs and stories of vanished times Memory drumming at the heart of an English winter Memories beating at the heart of an African village -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Http:Www.Rush.Comsongsbravest Face -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart Though we might have precious little It's still precious I like that song About this wonderful world It's got a sunny point of view And sometimes I feel it's true At least for a few of us I like that world It makes a wonderful song But there's a darker point of view That's sadly just as true For so many among us In the sweetest child there's a vicious streak In the strongest man there's a child so weak In the whole wide world there's no magic place So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face I like that show Where they solve all the murders That heroic point of view It's got justice and vengeance too At least, so the story goes I like that story Makes a satisfying case But there's a messy point of view That's sadly just as true For so many among us In the softest voice there's an acid tongue In the oldest eyes there's a soul so young In the shakiest will there's a core of steel On the smoothest ride there's a squeaky wheel Though we might have precious little It's still precious -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Http:Www.Rush.Comsongshope -------- Music: Alex Lifeson Instrumental -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Far Cry -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart Pariah dogs and wandering madmen Barking at strangers and speaking in tongues The ebb and flow of tidal fortune Electrical changes are charging up the young It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit It's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it You can almost feel the current flowing You can almost see the circuits blowing One day I feel I'm on top of the world And the next it's falling in on me I can get back on I can get back on One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel And the next it's rolling over me I can get back on I can get back on Whirlwind life of faith and betrayal Rise in anger, fall back and repeat Slow degrees on the dark horizon Full moon rising, lays silver at your feet You can almost see the circle growing You can almost feel the planets glowing One day I fly through a crack in the sky And the next it's falling in on me I can get back on I can get back on -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Armor And Sword -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart The snakes and arrows a child is heir to Are enough to leave a thousand cuts We build our defenses, a place of safety And leave the darker places unexplored Sometimes the fortress is too strong Or the love is too weak What should have been our armor Becomes a sharp and angry sword Our better natures seek elevation A refuge for the coming night No one gets to their heaven without a fight We hold beliefs as a consolation A way to take us out of ourselves Meditation, or medication A comfort, or a promised reward Sometimes that spirit is too strong Or the flesh is too weak Sometimes the need is just too great For the solace we seek The suit of shining armor Becomes a keen and bloody sword A refuge for the coming night A future of eternal light No one gets to their heaven without a fight Confused alarms of struggle and flight Blood is drained of color By the flashes of artillery light No one gets to their heaven without a fight The battle flags are flown At the feet of a god unknown No one gets to their heaven without a fight Sometimes the damage is too great Or the will is too weak What should have been our armor Becomes a sharp and burning sword -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Workin Them Angels -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart Driving away to the east, and into the past History recedes in my rear-view mirror Carried away on a wave of music down a desert road Memory humming at the heart of a factory town All my life I've been workin' them angels overtime Riding and driving and living So close to the edge Workin' them angels Overtime Riding through the Range of Light to the wounded city Filling my spirit with the wildest wish to fly Taking the high road to the wounded city Memory strumming at the heart of a moving picture All this time I've been working them angels overtime Riding and driving and flying Just over the edge Workin' them angels Overtime Driving down the razor's edge between the past and the future Turn up the music and smile Get carried away on the songs and stories of vanished times Memory drumming at the heart of an English winter Memories beating at the heart of an African village -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- The Larger Bowl -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart (a pantoum) if we're so much the same, like I always hear why such different fortunes and fates? some of us live in a cloud of fear some live behind iron gates why such different fortunes and fates? some are blessed and some are cursed some live behind iron gates while others see only the worst some are blessed and some are cursed the golden one or scarred from birth while others only see the worst such a lot of pain on the earth the golden one or scarred from birth some things can never be changed such a lot of pain on this earth it's somehow so badly arranged some things can never be changed some reasons will never come clear it's somehow so badly arranged if we're so much the same, like I always hear -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Spindrift -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart As the waves crash in On the western shore The wind blows fierce from the east Wavetops torn into flying spindrift As the waves crash in On the western shore It makes me feel uneasy The spray that's torn away Is an image of the way I feel What am I supposed to say? Where are the words to answer you When you talk that way? As the sun goes down On the western shore The wind blows hard from the east It whips the sand into a flying spindrift As the sun goes down On the western shore It makes me feel uneasy In the hot dry rasp of the devil winds Who cares what a fool believes? What am I supposed to say? Where are the words to answer you When you talk that way? Words that fly against the wind and waves (A little closer to you) Where is the wave that will carry me A little closer to you? What am I supposed to do? Where are the words that will make you see What I believe is true? -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- The Main Monkey Business -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Instrumental -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- The Way The Wind Blows -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart 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 -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Hope -------- Music: Alex Lifeson Instrumental -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Faithless -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart I've got my own moral compass to steer by A guiding star beats a spirit in the sky And all the preaching voices Empty vessels ring so loud As they move among the crowd Fools and thieves are well disguised In the temple and marketplace Like a stone in the river Against the floods of spring I will quietly resist Like the willows in the wind Or the cliffs along the ocean I will quietly resist I don't have faith in faith I don't believe in belief You can call me faithless But I still cling to hope And I believe in love And that's faith enough for me I've got my own spirit level for balance To tell if my choice is leading up or down And all the shouting voices Try to throw me off my course Some by sermons, some by force Fools and thieves are dangerous In the temple and marketplace Like a forest bows to winter Beneath the deep white silence I will quietly resist Like a flower in the desert That only blooms at night I will quietly resist -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Bravest Face -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart Though we might have precious little It's still precious I like that song About this wonderful world It's got a sunny point of view And sometimes I feel it's true At least for a few of us I like that world It makes a wonderful song But there's a darker point of view That's sadly just as true For so many among us In the sweetest child there's a vicious streak In the strongest man there's a child so weak In the whole wide world there's no magic place So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face I like that show Where they solve all the murders That heroic point of view It's got justice and vengeance too At least, so the story goes I like that story Makes a satisfying case But there's a messy point of view That's sadly just as true For so many among us In the softest voice there's an acid tongue In the oldest eyes there's a soul so young In the shakiest will there's a core of steel On the smoothest ride there's a squeaky wheel Though we might have precious little It's still precious -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Good News First -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart The best we can agree on Is it could have been worse What happened to your old Benevolent universe' You know the one with stars That revolve around you Beaming down full of promises To bring good news You used to feel that way The saddest words you could ever say But I know you'll remember that day And the most beautiful words I could ever say The worst thing about it all Is that you might have been right And I'm still not really sure What started that fight But I still get this feeling There's more trouble ahead So never mind the bad news Let's have the good news instead Some would say they never fear a thing Well I do And I'm afraid enough for both of us For me and you Time, if nothing else, will do its worst So do me that favor And tell me the good news first -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- Malignant Narcissism -------- Music: Geddy Lee,Alex Lifesonand Neil Peart Instrumental -------- Snakes & Arrows (2007) -------- -------- We Hold On -------- Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart How many times Do we tire of all the little battles Threaten to call it quits Tempted to cut and run How many times Do we weather out the stormy evenings Long to slam the front door Drive away into the setting sun Keep going until dawn How many times must another line be drawn We could be down and gone But we hold on How many times Do we chafe against the repetition Straining against a fate Measured out in coffee breaks How many times Do we swallow our ambitions Long to give up the same old way Find another road to take Keep holding on so long Cause there's a chance That we might not be so wrong We could be down and gone But we hold on How many times Do we wonder if it's even worth it There's got to be some other way To get me through the days But we hold on