Permanent Waves

Permanent Waves

Released: January 1, 1980
Certified Gold by RIAA: March 17, 1980
Certified Platinum by RIAA: November 9, 1987
Highest Billboard Chart Position: 4

Alex Lifeson - Six and twelve string electric and acoustic guitars, Taurus pedals
Neil Peart - Drums, tympani, timbales, orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, bell tree, triangle, crotales
Geddy Lee - Bass guitars, Oberheim polyphonic, OB-1, Mini Moog, and Taurus pedal synthsizers, vocals

Produced by Rush and Terry Brown
Arrangements by Rush and Terry Brown
Recorded at Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, during September and October 1979
Engineerd by Paul Northfield
With general assistance from Robbie Whelan
Mixed at Trident Studios, Soho, London, in November 1979
Engineerd by Terry Brown
Assisted by Adam Moseley, Craig Milliner, and Geddy Lee, with cameo appearances by Steve S. Hort
Mastered by Bob Ludwig and Brain Lee at Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, Maine
Special featured guest: Hugh Syme, piano on "Different Strings"
Inspiration and vocal coaching by Daisy the Dog
Steel drums by Erwig Chuapchuaduah

Art Direction and graphics by Hugh Syme
Cover concept by Hugh Syme and Neil Peart
Photography by Fin Costello, Flip Schulke and Deborah Samuel
Cover girl couturière: Ou la la
Colour collaboration: Peter George
Pilot of Juliet Foxtrot Kilo: Mike Deere

Management: Ray Danniels, SRO Management, Inc., Toronto
Executive Production: Moon Records
Road manager, lighting director, and assistant to Mr. Shreve: Howard (Herns) Ungerleider
Stage manager: Michael (Lurch) Hirsh
Concert sound engineer: Ian (the Weez) Grandy
Stage right technician: Liam (Punjabi) Birt
Stage left technician: Skip (Slider) Gildersleeve
Centre stage technician: Larry (Shrav) Allen
Guitar and synthesizer maintenance: Tony (Jack Secret) Geranios
Electrical technician: Ted (Theo) McDonald
Stage Monitor mixer: Gred (Gordie) Connolly
Projectionist: Harry (Tex) Dilman
Personal Shreve: Sam (Shreve) Charters
Concert sound by National Sound and Electrosound (U.K.)
Concert lighting by See Factor International
Concert rigging by Bill Collins
All of the above was transported by the skilled hands of: Tom (Whitney) Whittaker, Pat (No. 9) Lines, Arthur (Mac) MacLear, Gene Guido, and Tim Lewis

Honourable mentions: Moe Kniffman, Nick Kotos, George (Ike) Guido, Bob (Puppy) Cross, John LeBlanc, Bill Churchman, Dave (Shreve 1) Donne, Fuzzy Frazer, Dave Burman, Helmut, Nick Prince, Graham (Wild Man) Hewitt, Sgt. Rock & Easy Co., Second City Television, Lakewoods Farm, The Sound Kitchen, Lefty, D.K.D., Steve Herns, Le Studio: Andre, Yael, Pam, Kim, Carole, and Roger, Andre & La Barratte, the Wines & Crew, FM & Crew, Wireless & Crew, The Maxoids, Marvin Gleicher, Brian Robertson, Jimmy Bain, Michael Schenker, the Projectors, Peter Mensch, the P.M., Bob (the Grove) Snelgrove, the inmates of the Great Fog, Gerry Griffin, Lee Scherer, and their families and friends at NASA, Henry Spencer and baby, Le Mont St. Michael, the Montcalm, vin-du-hairface, volleyball, Space Invaders (10p), euchre, Malibu Grand Prix, hockey--Steve Shutt and Larry Robinson, thanks for the sticks!, M*A*S*H, The Jack Secret Show, Rickey, Lucy, and Ethel, (Where's Fred?), Neal and Larry at the Percussion Centre, all at Oak Manor, and all at Trident. Ho-Hoo!

We express our appreciation to the fine people and instruments of Gibson, Moog, Tama drums, Rickenbacker, and Sunn amplification

© 1980 Mercury Records © 1980 Anthem Entertainment

The Spirit Of Radio

Inspired by 'The Spirit of Radio' in Toronto, alive and well (so far)

Lyrics by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that 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 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, yeah, 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,
Were written on the studio wall,
Concert hall ---
Echoes with the sounds...
Of salesmen."

Freewill

Lyrics by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

There are those who think that life
Is 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've been 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 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...

Jacob's Ladder

Lyrics by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

The clouds prepare for battle
In the dark and brooding silence
Bruised and sullen storm clouds
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

Entre Nous

Lyrics by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

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

Different Strings

Lyrics by Geddy Lee, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

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 naïveté ---
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

Natural Science

Lyrics by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

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 the 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 toward 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...