Vapor Trails

Vapor Trails

Released: May 14, 2002
Highest Billboard Chart Position: 6

Geddy Lee - bass guitar, vocals
Alex Lifeson - electric and acoustic Guitars, mandola
Neil Peart - drums and cymbals

Produced by Rush and Paul Northfield

Recorded by Paul Northfield, Geddy Lee, and Alex Lifeson, at Reaction Studios, Toronto, January - November, 2001, assisted by Chris Stringer
Mixed by David Leonard at Metalworks, Mississauga, December 01 - February 02, assisted by Joel Kazmi

Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, NYC
Additional mastering and sequencing by Roger Lian at Masterdisk, NYC
Management by Ray Danniels, SRO Management, Toronto
Executive Production by Anthem Entertainment: Liam Birt and Pegi Cecconi
Equipment care and feeding by Lorne (Gump) Wheaton

Art Direction, paintings, and portraits by Hugh Syme

Thanks to everyone at Reaction Studios: Ormond, Claire, Chris, and Jeff, and
everyone at SRO: Ray Danniels, Pegi Cecconi, Sheila Posner, Anna LeCoche,
Cynthia Barry, Shelley Nott, Steve Hoffman, Bob Farmer, Randy and Frances Rolfe.

As always, we owe our families a huge debt
of love, gratitude, appreciation, and attention.
We also owe them an apology.

For technical help and contributions, our thanks to Jim Burgess and Ed Wilson at Saved By Technology, Andrew MacNaughtan, Barry and b. zee brokerage, Paul Reed Smith, Fender bass guitars, Coll Audio, Tyme Rogers at Tech 21, Mackie Digital Systems, Steve and Mark at Hughes and Kettner amplification, Dean Markley, Sean Browne at Yamaha, Drum Workshop, Avedis Zildjian, Promark, Remo, Roland electronic percussion, and -- Ω™

Brought to you by the letter "3"

© 2002 Atlantic Records © 2002 Anthem Entertainment

One Little Victory

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

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 life and love
A certain measure of tolerance
A willingness to rise above

Ceiling Unlimited

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

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 smile
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

Ghost Rider

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

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

Peaceable Kingdom

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

A wave toward the clearing 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 could 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

The Stars Look Down

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

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

How It Is

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

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
Or 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 Trail

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

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

Horizon to 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
Forest burn to ashes
Everything is lost

Washed away like footprints in the rain

In a vapor trail

Secret Touch

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

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 the power that remains

Earthshine

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

On certain nights
When the angles are right
And the moon is a slender crescent

Its circle 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
For 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 side
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
For a dream to rise to
Earthshine

Sweet Miracle

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

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't walking 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't praying for magic
I was hiding in plain sight
Rising up from the surface
To fly into the light

Nocturne

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

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

Freeze

(Part IV of 'Fear')

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

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 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

Out Of The Cradle

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

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 a bird in flight
Endlessly mocking
Here we come out of the cradle
Endlessly rocking
Endlessly rocking

It's the hand
That rocks the cradle
It's the 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 rocking