Rush Fans Frequently Asked Questions List Combination of Parts 1, 2, and 3 Generated: Sat Jun 28 02:30:01 EDT 1997 This file contains questions that seem to crop up frequently in The National Midnight Star and alt.music.rush. If you received a copy of this file in email, other than as an issue of TNMS, it is probably because you asked one of these questions. If you've been wondering where the FAQ has been for the last few weeks, it (and the system it runs on) got clobbered in a bizarre gardening accident. Needless to say, everything is right peachy now and we're continuing forward. New Notice to readers of alt.music.rush: I've had to shut down my cancelbot for the time being. Miami University has switched NNTP software, and I goofed and used commands in the cancelbot that was specific to the old NNTP program. Next time I promise to read the Usenet RFC. Bad programmer. No caffeine. Sorry you all have to put up with the excess noise for a while. I promise I will fix it soon. The FAQ has been cleaned up, edited, and some new stuff added for your edification and enjoyment. A bunch of the cleaning has been in an effort to made an automated converter program to put the FAQ into an HTML format. I'm still debugging the converter program, but you can, for the time being, see the beta version at http://avian.dars.muohio.edu/~rush Once it seems okay, I hope to find a home for the HTML version on Syrinx, which Meg seems to think is a peachy idea (since it was her idea to put it there). The official NMS web site is located at http://syrinx.umd.edu/rush The FAQ is available via anonymous ftp from ftp://syrinx.umd.edu/rush/misc (129.2.4.214). The file you are reading now is current as of the date at the top of the file. If you are reading this within a few days of that time, please don't send me mail asking for the FAQ - you've got it! Note to people who want a copy of the current FAQ: I maintain the FAQ as an ASCII file, and it is auotmagically parsed into HTML. If you want it in any other format, its up to you. Feel free to distribute this document to anyone, but please do not alter it. Additionally, I will only send the FAQ to the address that I receive the request from. Please don't send me mail asking me to send the FAQ to your friend's email address. I won't. I'd appreciate it if people who submit questions submit anything they know about possible answers, since I don't have all of the answers myself! I'd also appreciate it if anybody who wants to send me corrections makes sure that they have the most current FAQ before sending me corrections, in order to make sure that they don't send me a correction that has already been done. THE FAQ IS A FILE OF FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT RUSH AND THEIR ANSWERS. IT IS NOT AN "OBSCURE RUSH TRIVIA" FILE. Please consider this before sending me a suggestion for an addition. An additional thing to consider is that many questions are answered in, of all places, the liner notes on the albums. Please look there before posting a question. DISCLAIMER: The information in this file is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but I'm not perfect. If you have an answer to one of these questions that doesn't match the one given here that you can verify, let me know, and I'll put it in. But if you make a bet based on this information and you lose, don't blame me. One more thing: If you send me mail and I don't answer right away, please be patient. I eventually read all of my mail. However, Rush FAQ-related stuff has a lower priority than my job. CREDITS: I'd like to thank the following people for helping me with this FAQ: Jimmy Lang and Meg Jahnke for running an excellent digest and web site. Geddy, Alex and Neil for making the music we love in the first place. Dan Delany for "passing the torch" and having faith in my abilities. Everyone who has submitted information. Keep up the good work! A special thank you to Donna Halper for discovering Rush for all of us, and more love and thanks for being an all-round great person and a great source of information! Here are the questions I get asked the most, so I'll put them here at the start: What is The National Midnight Star? It's a Rush fans newsletter that is distributed via email. Submissions are all sent to one address, and the moderator goes through the submissions periodically and sends out a digest containing lots of submissions. (If you don't know where the name "The National Midnight Star" comes from, that means you don't watch enough Canadian TV. For a hint, listen to "Red Lenses".) How can I subscribe to The National Midnight Star? Send email to rush-request@syrinx.umd.edu asking to have your name added to the list. Don't send email to me - I can't add you! I'll repeat that. I have absolutely nothing to do with the management of TNMS. I can't add your name to the subscription list. What other ways are there on the Internet for Rush fans to get together? There is a newsgroup in the alt hierarchy, alt.music.rush. If you don't get it, bug your news admin! There are two irc channels, #p/g! and #yyz. Both of them are on EFnet. The #yyz channel has a homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/6745 Some feel that the Rush content on #p/g! is sorely lacking. Others feel that some people sorely need a life. Check both channels out, make your own decision. Latest Word on the next album/tour: For information that is potentially more recent than the info here, check at http://syrinx.umd.edu/rush/HTML/latestinfo.html for fun. The new Rush album, _Test For Echo_, is available! These are the titles of the songs: Test For Echo Dog Years Half The World Color of Right Driven Totem Time and Motion Resist Virtuality Limbo (instrumental) Carve Away The Stone Test For Echo tour dates: Remember, not all dates are confirmed yet! (dates with a "*" by them are already on sale) (THE PENSACOLA DATE HAS BEEN CANCELLED) * May 7 - Hospitality Point. San Diego, CA ($52.50/38.50/27.50) * May 8 - Desert Sky Pavillion. Phoenix, AZ ($42.50/17.50) * May 10 - Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavillion. Devore, CA ($43/28/20.50) (if you mention the radio station KLOS, lawn seats are only $9.99) * May 11 - Shoreline Amphitheater. Mountain View CA ($35/19.50) * May 14 - Rose Garden. Portland, OR ($37.50/32.50) * May 16 - GM Place. Vancouver, BC ($39.50/29.50) * May 17 - The Gorge. George, WA ($45/35/30) * May 19 - BSU Pavillion. Boise, ID (all seats $24) * May 20 - Delta Center. Salt Lake City, UT ($38.50/28.50) * May 22 - Fiddler's Green Amphitheater. Englewood, CO ($27.50/25.00/18.50) May 24 - Starplex Amphitheater. Dallas, TX (on sale Apr 19) * May 25 - Woodlands Pavilion. Houston, TX ($51/41/31) June 4 - Riverbend Music Center. Cincinnati, OH (on sale Apr 18 @10am) (there will be a 15 min blackout on all sales outside of OH, KY & IN) June 5 - Starwood Amphitheater. Nashville, TN * June 7 - Sandstone Amphitheater. Bonner Springs, KS ($37.50/27.50/19.50) * June 8 - Riverport Amphitheater. St. Louis, MO ($37.50/27.50/19.50) * June 10 - Deer Creek Music Center. Noblesville, IN ($35/27.50/19.50) * June 11 - Star Lake Amphitheater. Burgettstown, PA ($39/25/16) * June 11 - Star Lake Amphitheater. Burgettstown, PA ($39/25/16) * June 13 - Marcus Amphitheater. Milwaukee, WI ($46/33/22) * June 14 - World Music Theater. Chicago, IL June 16 - Polaris Amphitheater. Columbus, OH (on sale Apr 19 @10am;$35/27.50/19.50) June 17 - Pine Knob Music Theater. Detroit, MI (on sale Apr 18 @10am) June 19 - PNC Bank Arts Center. Holmdel, NJ (on sale May 3 @9am) * June 20 - Nissan Pavilion. Bristow, VA ($37.25/27.25/17.25) June 22 - Blockbuster-Sony Entertainment Centre. Camden, NJ June 23 - Great Woods Center. Mansfield, MA (on sale Apr 26 @9am;$38.50/23.50) June 25 - Jones Beach. Wantagh, NY June 26 - The Meadows. Hartford, CT * June 28 - Molson Centre. Montreal, QC ($39.50/32.50) * June 30 - Molson Amphitheater. Toronto, ON ($39/27) * July 2 - Molson Amphitheater. Toronto, ON ($39/27) July 4 - Corel Centre. Ottawa, ON (on sale Apr 18 @10am; $39.66/29.66) The Magna Carta Rush Tribute album, _Working Man_, is available. Check your favorite record store. -------- Questions and answers follow. ------- What albums has the band released? What are the catalog numbers for CD/LP/Cassette? A more complete version of this discography is available for FTP at syrinx.umd.edu. LP CD Cassette 8-track Rush SRM-1-1011 822 541-2 M-1 MCR-4-1-1011 MC-8-1-1011 Mercury [AAD] Fly By Night SRM-1-1023 822 542-2 M-1 MCR-4-1-1023 MC-8-1-1023 Mercury [AAD] Caress Of Steel SRM-1-1046 822 543-2 M-1 MCR-4-1-1046 MC-8-1-1046 Mercury [AAD] 2112 SRM-1-1079 822 545-2 M-1 MCR-4-1-1079 MC-8-1-1079 Mercury [AAD] All The World's A Stage SRM-2-7508 822 552-2 M-1 MCT-4-2-7508 MCT8-2-7508 Mercury [AAD] A Farewell To Kings SRM-1-1184 822 546-2 M-1 MCR-4-1-1184 MC-8-1-1184 Mercury [AAD] Hemispheres SRM-1-3743 822 547-2 M-1 MCR-4-1-3743 MC-8-1-3743 Mercury [AAD] Permanent Waves SRM 1-4001 822 548-2 M-1 MCR4 1-4001 MC8 1-4001 Mercury [AAD] Moving Pictures+ SRM-1-4013 800 048-2 MCR41 4013 Mercury [ADD] Exit... Stage Left SRM-2-7001 822 551-2 M-1 MCR-4-2-7001 MC-8-2-7001 Mercury*[AAD] Signals SRM-1-4063 810 002-2 MCR-4-1-4063 MC-8-1-4063 Mercury [ADD] Grace Under Pressure 818 476-1 M-1 818 476-2 818 476-4 M-1 Mercury [AAD] Power Windows 826 098-1 M-1 826 098-2 M-1 826 098-4 M-1 Mercury [DDD] Hold Your Fire 832 464-1 Q-1 832 464-2 Q-1 ? Mercury [DDD] A Show Of Hands 836 346-1 836 346-2 836 346-4 Mercury [ADD] Presto 82040-1 7 82040-2 7 82040-4 Atlantic[DDD] Chronicles 838 937-2 838 936-4 Mercury 838 938-2 Roll The Bones 7 82293-2 Atlantic[DDD] Counterparts 7 82528-2 Atlantic[DDD] Test for Echo 7 82925-2 Atlantic[DDD] (Side note: I would appreciate someone who could give me the catalog numbers for the cassette versions of the last three albums) + There is now a gold CD of _Moving Pictures_ available from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. This CD is made from the original master _Moving Pictures_ tapes and includes the complete liner notes, which are much nicer than the booklet you get with the Mercury CD. To order this CD or get more info on MFSL, you can call them at 1-800-423-5759. The order number for _MP_ is UDCD 569. Additionally, several collections are available: Archives (includes _Rush_, _Fly By Night_, and _Caress Of Steel_) (Mercury SRM-3-9200 on LP) _Rush Through Time_ (Mercury 6337 171 on LP) _Everything Your Listeners Ever Wanted To Hear By Rush But You Were Afraid To Play_ - this collection was targeted at radio stations. It was never officially released, and is extremely rare. It's a selection taken from FBN, COS and 2112. _Rush - Profiled!_ - This CD was released to radio stations and is rather rare. It contains recordings of quotes, like "Hi, this is Alex Lifeson of Rush, and you're listening to the magic of radio," that a DJ can put on as a promo between songs. It also contains quite a few tracks of band members answering questions. The questions are printed in the liner notes, so a DJ can ask a question and play the CD of the appropriate person answering that question. The questions are mostly about _Presto_, since this CD was released shortly after _Presto_. _Rush: The Roll The Bones Radio Special_ - Anthem, PF 10. Similar in concept to the "Profiled!" disk, for the album (I would've never guessed) _Roll The Bones_ There's also an interview CD called "Rush -- The Story of Kings" out there. This CD contains no music. It is an interview with Alex around the time of HYF. The text of the interview is available via anonymous ftp from syrinx.umd.edu in the rush/special directory as "alex.hyf.int.Z" . (BAKTABAK CBAK 4055 on CD) * The Anthem release of ESL, available in Canada is [ADD], but the US CD is [AAD]. Some people have told me that their CD says [ADD] on the disc and [AAD] on the label. Has anybody noticed that there is now a gold Ultradisc II available for _Moving Pictures_? Yes. Are any other Rush albums available on Ultradisc? Yes. 2112 and Signals are also available. What are some titles of some good Rush bootlegs, and how might I go about finding some? The FAQ, TNMS and alt.music.rush do not encourage this illegal activity, but a list of titles is available by emailing meg@syrinx.umd.edu and asking for information. What album is (song) on? Check the complete discography, available for FTP from ftp.uwp.edu for amazingly detailed information on this subject. When was (album) released? R - August 1974 FBN - February 1975 COS - September 1975 2112 - April 1976 ATWAS - September 1976 AFTK - September 1977 Archives - April 1978 H - October 1978 PeW - January 1980 MP - February 1981 ESL - November 1981 S - September 1982 GUP - April 1984 PoW - October 1985 HYF - September 1987 ASOH - January 1989 P - November 1989 Chr - September 1990 RTB - September 1991 Counterparts - October 1993 Test for Echo - September 1996 How many copies did (album) sell? >From Billboard's Book of Gold and Platinum Records (1990): Release Date Cert. Date of Cert. Chart Peak Title G/P Fly By Night G Caress Of Steel 3/76 G 11/16/77 61 2112 P 2/25/81 2112 has gone multi-platinum. 10/76 G 11/16/77 40 All The World's A Stage P 3/4/81 8/77 G 11/16/77 33 A Farewell To Kings P [don't know the date] 10/78 G 12/14/78 47 Hemispheres P [don't know the date] 1/80 G 3/17/80 4 Permanent Waves P 11/9/87 1/81 G 4/13/81 3 Moving Pictures P 4/27/81 2P 10/12/84 10/81 G 1/5/82 10 Exit...Stage Left P 11/9/87 9/82 G 11/10/82 10 Signals P 11/10/82 4/84 G 6/26/84 10 Grace Under Pressure P 6/26/84 10/85 G 12/18/85 10 Power Windows P 1/27/86 9/87 G 11/9/87 13 Hold Your Fire 1/89 G 3/9/89 21 A Show Of Hands 10/93 G Counterparts As of May 1992, _Chronicles_ has been certified platinum, while RTB is still just at gold. According to "Derek M. Rutherford" , the Feb 11, 1995, issue of Billboard has just certified Moving Pictures with sales of an excess of 4,000,000 copies alone in the states. According to terrywo@microsoft.com, the following certifications occurred in Feb 1995: Platinum Rush - Chronicles, their 13th Gold Rush - Rush, their 19th Multiplatinum Rush - Moving Pictures, 4 million Gold Rush - Archives, their 20th >From Billboard's Book of Top 40 Albums (1991): Date Peak Weeks Cert. Title 11/20/76 40 2 P All The World's A Stage 10/8/77 33 5 G A Farewell To Kings 2/9/80 4 15 P Permanent Waves 3/7/81 3 29 2P Moving Pictures 11/14/81 10 14 P Exit...Stage Left 10/2/82 10 11 P Signals 5/5/84 10 12 P Grace Under Pressure 11/2/85 10 14 P Power Windows 10/3/87 13 14 G Hold Your Fire 2/4/89 21 5 G A Show Of Hands 12/9/89 16 11 G Presto Apparently, _Roll The Bones_ reached number 10 in the UK album charts. This was in the first week it was released. It then dropped to number 18 the following week and then out of the chart altogether. Assorted info about songs in charts: - "New World Man" made it into the US Top 40. - In the UK charts, Rush had the following Rel. Date Title Highest Weeks 11 Feb 78 Closer to the Heart 36 3 15 Mar 80 Spirit of Radio 13 7 28 Mar 81 Vital Signs/A Passage to Bangkok 41 4 31 Oct 81 Tom Sawyer 25 6 04 Sep 82 New World Man 42 3 30 Oct 82 Subdivisions 53 2 07 May 83 Countdown/New World Man 36 5 26 May 84 The Body Electric 56 3 12 Oct 85 The Big Money 46 3 Note that I would appreciate greatly someone giving me more current info that what I currently have. What are the CD Club code numbers for Rush albums? I (Randy) deleted the list here in favor of posting a URL which contains a way of getting catalog numbers for Columbia, BMG, and CDHQ for ALL things in their catalog. This is where you should point your Web Browser of choice: http://www.cd-clubs.com/ If you don't have web access, you can reach each of these clubs via the following phone numbers: BMG: 1-317-542-0414 CDHQ: 1-800-242-7096 Columbia House: 1-800-457-0500 What awards has the band won? - Juno awards: (1974) Most promising group of the year (1977) Group of the year (1978) Group of the year (1991) Best Heavy Metal Album (1991) Best album cover - "Presto" (1992) Best Hard Rock Album (1992) Best album cover - "Roll the Bones" (1993) Hall of Fame - Grammy's: (1982) Runner-up in Best Rock Instrumental "YYZ" - beat by The Police's "Behind my Camel" (1992) Runner-up in Best Rock Instrumental "Where's my thing" - beat by Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" - Geddy is in the Bass Hall of Fame for Guitar Player Magazine (he's won Best Rock Bass more than 5 times). - Geddy won "best Rock Bass player" in the 1993 "Bass Player" readers' poll. - Alex won Best Rock Talent in 1983 (I assume that it's on the same mag), and he was inducted into the Guitar for the Practicing Musician Hall of Fame in May of 1991. - Neil has received the following awards in the _Modern Drummer_ magazine reader's poll: Hall of Fame: 1983 Best Rock Drummer: 1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985 Best Multi-Percussionist: 1983,1984,1985,1986 Best Percussion Instrumentalist: 1982 Most Promising New Drummer: 1980 Best All Around: 1986 Best Recorded Performance: 1981: Moving Pictures 1982: Exit... Stage Left 1983: Signals 1985: Grace Under Pressure 1986: Power Windows 1988: Hold Your Fire 1989: A Show of Hands 1990: Presto 1992: Roll The Bones 1994: Counterparts 1986 Honor Roll: Rock Drummer, Multi-Percussion As a member of the Honor Roll in these categories, Neil is no longer eligible for votes in these categories. The band received a "Lifetime Achievement" award from Musician's Institute in Hollywood, CA on January 23, 1992. The band also received "The Seventh Annual Musicians of the Millenium Award" from the Harvard Lampoon. Has anybody ever noticed that the band has put out a live album after every 4 studio albums? Yes. Are any videotapes of the band available? Polygram Music Video 60285 (1981) Exit...Stage Left Shot at The Forum, Montreal, Quebec March 27, 1981 Running time: approx. 60 minutes includes: Limelight Tom Sawyer The Trees Instrumental Xanadu Red Barchetta Free Will Closer To The Heart YYZ (with voice over) By-Tor and the Snow Dog/In The End/In The Mood/2112 Finale PMV 60607 (1986) Grace Under Pressure Tour Shot at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada September 21, 1984 Running time: approx. 69 minutes includes: The Spirit Of Radio The Enemy Within The Weapon Witch Hunt New World Man Distant Early Warning Red Sector A Closer To The Heart YYZ/2112: Temples of Syrinx/Tom Sawyer Vital Signs/Finding My Way/In The Mood The Big Money {video} The video for "The Big Money" is omitted from the European release of this tape. PMV 0741 760-3 (1989) A Show Of Hands Shot over a 3-night stand at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England April 21,23, and 24, 1988 Running time: approx. 90 minutes includes: The Big Money Marathon Turn The Page Prime Mover Manhattan Project Closer To The Heart Red Sector A Force Ten Lock And Key (laserdisc only) Mission Territories The Rhythm Method (drum solo) The Spirit Of Radio Tom Sawyer 2112/La Villa Strangiato/In The Mood PMV 60466 (1985) Through The Camera Eye (video compilation) Running time: approx. 44 minutes includes: Vital Signs Tom Sawyer [live, from Exit...Stage Left] Subdivisions Countdown Distant Early Warning Afterimage The Enemy Within The Body Electric PMV 082 765-3 (1990) Chronicles (video compilation) Running time: approx. 63 minutes includes: Closer To The Heart [live] The Trees [live] Limelight [studio] Tom Sawyer [live, from ESL with some minor changes] Red Barchetta [live, from ESL] Subdivisions [from _Through The Camera Eye_] Distant Early Warning [from _Through The Camera Eye_] Red Sector A [live, from the p/g tour video] The Big Money [the shortened MTV version, not the complete one from the GUP tour video] Mystic Rhythms Time Stand Still Lock And Key Are these tapes available on laserdisc? According to the Barr Digital (a Seattle-based mail-order dealer in laserdiscs) database, available for FTP from cs.yale.edu in the pub/rec.video/BarrLDDB directory, there are laserdiscs for _Through The Camera Eye_, _Exit...Stage Left_, _Grace Under Pressure Tour_, _A Show of Hands_, and the video single for _The Big Money_. The database also says that _Exit...Stage Left_ was "discontinued 8/91." This does not imply that Barr has them in stock; this database is not Barr's inventory. It is only a list of laserdiscs that have been made. The file that I FTP'd from cs.yale.edu had a Feb 26 1992 time/date stamp, so I assume that this information is accurate as of that date. According to meg@syrinx.umd.edu, _Chronicles_ is available on laserdisc in the US. However, "Red Sector A" isn't on this laserdisc. What songs has the band made videos for? Anthem Fly By Night A Farewell To Kings Closer To The Heart % Xanadu Circumstances The Trees % La Villa Strangiato Tom Sawyer Tom Sawyer [live, from ESL] %# Red Barchetta [live, from ESL] % Limelight % Limelight [live, from ESL] Vital Signs # Subdivisions %# Countdown # Distant Early Warning %# Afterimage # The Enemy Within # The Body Electric # The Big Money %& Mystic Rhythms % Marathon [live, from ASOH] Time Stand Still % Lock And Key % Show Don't Tell The Pass Superconductor Roll The Bones Stick It Out Nobody's Hero % These videos appear on the _Chronicles_ videotape. # These videos appear on the _Through The Camera Eye_ videotape. & This video appears in its complete form on the end of the _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ videotape. The shortened MTV version appears on the _Chronicles_ videotape. Videos with no punctuation symbol next to them are not available on any home video compilation. If you want to see these videos, you have to find somebody who taped them from TV or copied them from somebody else's tape. Videos with the "live" comment are concert videos; all others have studio soundtracks. Some of these have minor edits to the soundtrack. Can anyone list everything else that the members of Rush have ever appeared on? This is not a complete list. Please send me your additions! "Universal Juveniles" by Max Webster (Rush in "Battlescar") 1980 (ANR-1-1027 Anthem) "No Static" by Wireless (Lee produced) 1979/80? "Great White North" by Bob and Doug McKenzie (Geddy singing "Take Off") 1981 (ANR-1-1036 Anthem) "Vignettes" by Marie Lynn Hammond (Lee on 2 tracks) 1983 (BTR 1002 Black Tie Records) "Boys Brigade" by Boys Brigade (Lee produced) 1983 (ST 12278 Capitol) "We Are the World" by USA for Africa with Lee in Northern Lights singing "Tears are Not Enough" 1985 (40043 Columbia) "Alien Shores" by Platinum Blonde (Alex on 2 tracks) 1985 (PCC-80105 Columbia) "Champion" by Jeff Berlin (Peart on 2 tracks) 1985 (Passport Jazz PJ 88004 A) Hear 'N Aid (1986 Polygram) Live version of Distant Early Warning "Beyond Borders" by Canadian Guitar Summit (with Alex) July 1987 _Guitar Player_ magazine (flexidisc) "Pieces of Eight" (Peart percussion compilation) May 1987 _Modern Drummer_ magazine (flexidisc) "Serious Business" by Greenway (Alex doing solo in "In the Danger Zone") 1988 (81827-1 Atlantic) "Clean Slate" by Clean Slate (Alex produced) 1988 (ANM-1 5002 Anthem) (5 song EP) "Dream on the Horizon: A Tribute to the Olympic Spirit" by The Big Picture (Alex on 2 tracks) 1988 (WSC-331 Chartwell Records) "Smoke on the Water" (Mega-Rock Re-Mix)/Paranoid, by Rock Aid Armenia and Black Sabbath (Alex on guitar) 1989 UK ARMENT 001, ARMENTR 002, ARMENT 002 "Lost Brotherhood" by Larry Gowan (Alex on all tracks) 1990 (80160 Anthem) "Whale Music" by the Rheostatics (Neil on 3 tracks) 1992 (Intrepid Records, available in Canada) Call 1-800-663-1616 for info. "Burning For Buddy: A Tribute To The Music Of Buddy Rich" (Neil on 2 tracks) Produced by Neil Peart 1994 Atlantic Records 82699-2 "Ragged Ass Road" by Tom Cochrane (Alex plays guitar on some tracks) ** _more info about the record would be appreciated_ ** CASSETTES: "Star Jam Series: Neil Peart Style" "Starlicks Guitar Lesson: Alex Lifeson Style" In the January 1986 issue of _Modern Drummer_ magazine, while discussing his appearance on the Jeff Berlin album, Neil says that he "... did a similar thing with a musician named Ken Ramm in Toronto. That record was released in Canada." VIDEO: "1991 Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship Concert" (Neil on a few songs) DCI Music Video For more information contact: DCI Music Video 541 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10011 Or call 212-691-1884 800-628-1528 Geddy sang "Oh, Canada" at the 1993 MLB All-Star game. (Thanks to Joel Rondeau for pointing this one out.) Has Rush ever been on Saturday Night Live (SNL)? No. Rush seems to get mentioned a whole lot during _Mystery Science Theater 3000_. Which shows do they get mentioned it? From TNMS 1475, CNolen1004@aol.com, came up with four: _Time of the Apes_: Tom Servo notices "Neil Peart on drums." _Secret Agent Super Dragon_: A long-haired brunette spy-lady draws this riff from Joel Robinson: "In this light, she looks like Geddy Lee." (And she does.) _Operation Double 007_: A dead body is wearing headphones. Tom: "He died listening to Rush." Joel: "2112." _San Francisco International_: A shipping crate of vital serum is marked "rush." Crow T. Robot: "Hey, guys, it's a crate of Rush albums!" All: "Whooo!" Later, over another shot of the crate, Tom says: "Serum. The new CD from Rush." What was the first single released by the band? The A side was a cover of a Buddy Holly song called "Not Fade Away." The B side was a Lee/Rutsey song called "You Can't Fight It." These songs are not on any Rush albums. If you want to hear them, you have to track down a copy of the single, which is very rare, or find somebody who has the songs on tape. There is no collection for sale that contains these tracks. I just bought the CD of and it's missing a track! Is a complete version of this CD available? No. But if you absolutely have to have everything on CD, the 2 missing tracks are on _Chronicles_. Are there any extra Rush songs that have been recorded and not used on an album? "What we write is what you get on a Rush album. We don't.. we don't ever write extra songs. If a song isn't worthy to be on a record, we usually don't finish it, so it gets kinda tossed in the garbage. So, we may be the only band with a 20-year existence that has no material in the can, 'cause everything we've written has gone on record. So, you know, we're a great disappointment after.. if we all get killed in a car crash, or something like that, it would be a great disappointment to our record company." -- Geddy Lee, in the _Counterparts_ era "Up Close" radio interview When the band plays live, do they use any additional musicians to play backup parts? No. The following excerpt is from the Geddy Lee interview in the October 1991 issue of _Canadian Musician_ magazine: ( CM = the _Canadian Musician_ interviewer, GL = Geddy Lee ) CM: It seems like you're making it very difficult for yourselves when it could be done a lot easier. You say it's an unwritten rule in the band, but... GL: Yeah. It could be a lot easier with another person. And I don't know why... We talked... Before the last tour we had very serious talks about adding another member. CM: Just for the tour? GL: Just for the tour, yeah - not in the band. But we came to the conclusion that our fans would rather see us use technology to try to pull it off than have somebody else on the stage. And I really think that that was the main reason why we opted to try to do it ourselves. We figured that people who have been coming to see us for 15 years would rather see us up there fighting our way through the show than hiring somebody else. We figured that technology was a more acceptable answer than not being a three-piece. Has ever been performed live? The 1st anniversary issue of TNMS contains song lists for each tour Rush has done up to _Presto_. This is issue 99, available for FTP at anagram.umd.edu. Does anybody know if ever opened for Rush? When did Rush play in last? Check the Rush Tour Dates listing, available via anonymous FTP from syrinx.umd.edu for complete information. What is "Battlescar"/Max Webster? Who plays on it? What is the label/catalogue number for the _Universal Juveniles_ CD? Where can I write to get it? Max Webster is a Canadian band that used to open for Rush. "Battlescar" is a song from their _Universal Juveniles_ CD that was done as a duet of the 2 bands. Max Webster - _Universal Juveniles_ 1980 Mercury SRM-1-3855 [6337 144] Distributed by Polygram Distribution, Inc. Polygram 810 Seventh Avenue New York, NY 10019 Write: The Anthem Entertainment Group Inc. 189 Carlton Street Toronto, Canada M5A 2K7 Tel: (416) 923-5855 Fax: (416) 923-1041 One more note: "Battlescar" has a subscript: "recorded live July 28th, 1980 Phase One Studios -Toronto-". Have any books been written about the band? _Rush - Visions: The Official Biography_ (c) 1988 By Bill Banasiewicz (The B-Man) ISBN: 0-7119-1162-2 94 pages From: Omnibus Press Distributor: Music Sales Corporation Order number: 44387 (that's what my copy says, anyway) Music Sales Corporation PO Box 572 5 Bellvale Road Chester, NY 10918 Telephone: (914)469-2271 Thanks to Charles Estabrooks (cre@imagesys.com) for verifying that address. He also says that if anybody wants to contact them directly about the book, they should call that number and ask for Kim. _Success Under Pressure_ (c) 1984 By Steve Gett ISBN: 0-89524-230-3 48 pages From: Cherry Lane Books 110 Midland Avenue Port Chester, NY 10573 _Rush_ (c)1982 By Brian Harrigan ISBN: 0-86001-934-9 80 pages The Putnam Publishing Group 200 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Ethan Evan Prater wrote to the company about this book and was informed that the book is out of print, and there are no plans for a reprint. People have sent me the names of books of Rush sheet music, but I'm not going to include those because there are too many of them and this file is getting far too large. Besides, they really aren't about the band. I heard that Neil Peart was going to publish some of his writings. Has this been done? Can I buy this book? David Goulden (dgoulden@interlog.com) sent me info about a book he read by Neil. Here's the info he sent me: Title: Raindance Over the Rockies Author: Neil Peart Date: 1988 Publisher: The Cumberland Press (Toronto) Apparently, The Cumberland Press only does the printing. Once they print the book, it is up to the author to distribute it. What this means is that Neil is the person to contact if you want to buy this book. According to the TNMS web site (check at http://syrinx.umd.edu/rush/HTML/rush.html for details): Neil has also written articles and editorials, and in 1994 coauthored a short story "Drumbeats" with Kevin J. Anderson for the horror anthology _Shock Rock II_. I heard something about a Rush comic book. What comic book was it? That was Defenders #45. It was dedicated to Geddy, Alex, and Neil of Rush on the first page. The story has an anti-collectivist theme to it. Since it was printed March 77 it makes sense that it would draw from _2112_ (however vaguely). The villain (Red Rajah) says, at one point, "Truth is false and logic lost, seek the Rajah at all cost." There is also a comic bio of the band from Rock & Roll Comics, issue #49. It basically tells the history of the band from its beginnings to "Roll The Bones." Somebody posted in TNMS. I missed it - could somebody please send me a copy? Does anybody have the lyrics to ? An archive server is running at server@ingr.com. The address of this archive file server is: UUCP'ish: ...!uunet!ingr!server ARPA'ish: server@ingr.com In the interests of brevity, the help file for this server have been removed. Additionally, an FTP site has been established. There are several read-only directories containing informational files, plus a directory for uploading files into. The address to FTP to is: syrinx.umd.edu or 129.2.4.214 for those of you who don't have name resolution. Once here, you will be prompted for a name (userid) and password. Use "anonymous" for the userid and your userid for the password. Once you're logged in, "cd" into the "rush" subdirectory. Once there, you can list the files in the directory. There is actually only one file (README) currently, the others being subdirectories. The directories available now are: "digest" - Contains back issues of the current incarnation of the digest from issue # 1 to the current issue; Issues 1 through 250 of TNMS are available via ftp from anagram.umd.edu in the rush/digest directory. "lyrics" - Contains the lyrics for all the albums up through _Roll The Bones_; "names" - Contains a recent (though not always the latest-and-greatest) version of the subscription list; and "images" - Contains GIF and Rast format pictures of album covers and photos of the band members. "sounds" - A directory containing sound files in NeXT .snd or Sun .au format. "MacSounds" - A directory containing Macintosh-format sounds. "c64-sounds" - A directory containing Commodore-64-format sounds. "tab" - A directory containing guitar and bass tabs for various songs. "incoming" - A directory that's world-writable for uploading files to Syrinx to be moved (by the digest manager) to one of the other directories. (If you upload something, PLEASE send mail to the Syrinx administrative address to let the list manager know!) "special" - Contains the longer items - interviews, articles, tour lists, etc. Any item warranting its own file but doesn't fall into any of the other categories. To transfer a file to your machine, type get where is the name of the file you want. If you're on a Unix machine, do a "man ftp" for more information. If you have questions about how to decode/view/use these files, ask your local system administrators. Any files in the subdirectories with a suffix of ".Z" are compressed; you'll have to uncompress them on your end. There is a Unix Shell Archive (shar) format file in the main directory named "compress.shar" that contains the source for the compress/uncompress commands. If you wish to submit something for a special edition posting, send it to the "rush-request" address; if it's of general interest, it'll be a special edition, and then placed in the "special" dir. The same effect is created by uploading something to the "incoming" directory and sending mail to the "rush-request" address and informing the rush-mgr it's there. Remember, if you don't have FTP capabilities at your site, there is still the mail server at server@ingr.com. What issue of TNMS is in? This list isn't complete, and it probably contains errors. Let me know, so I can fix them! Item Issue ---- ----- Neil's reaction to TNMS 5 Analysis of "The Pass" 21 Neil's editorial on Satanism 22 Explanation of the map in "Signals" 26 "A Nice Morning Drive" 34 _Grace Under Pressure_ tour book 42 _2112_ tour book 47 _Permanent Waves_ tour book 48 1978 article/story on Rush 59 Alex interview: _Music Express_ #132, 1989 62 "Kubla Khan" 64 _Modern Drummer_ interview with Neil (December 89) 68 HYF tour book 69 "Rockline" interview 4/30/90 72 Peart Q & A 74 Definition of "peart" 80 _Chronicles_ essay 81 "Kubla Khan" 88 Rush special from "The Source" 91 _Success Under Pressure_ (Part 1 of 4) 93 _Success Under Pressure_ (Part 2 of 4) 94 _Success Under Pressure_ (Part 3 of 4) 96 TNMS 1st anniversary issue (Part 1 of 2) 98 TNMS 1st anniversary issue (Part 2 of 2) 99 _Success Under Pressure_ (Part 4 of 4) 101 Interview with Alex 11/20/90 107 Updated Rush tour dates listing 108 "In The Studio" interviews/MP era 110 _Rolling Stone_ interviews: 5/15/80, 6/26/80, 5/28/81 114 _Guitar World_, March 1990 118 1978 _Sounds_ article 121 _Rolling Stone_ album reviews (Hemispheres,PeW,ESL,Signals,GUP,PoW,ASOH,Presto) 123 12/18/83 _Sounds_ article 125 "The Source" interview: 2/27/83 131 _Modern Drummer_ interview with Neil (April '84) 134 Moving Pictures tour book 136 Neil Peart drumset giveaway from _Modern Drummer_ 3/87 142 Neil Peart: "The Quest For New Drums" (5/87 MD) 145 Neil Peart: drumset giveaway results (10/87 MD) 145 Neil Peart: "Getting The Drum Part" (8/88 MD) 145 Neil Peart: "A Real Job" (2/87 MD) 151 Interview: _Sounds_, 4/5/80 206 Rush discography 209 Discussion of scissors/paper/stone symbols 212 Geddy Lee interview: _Keyboard_ magazine, September '84 217 Geddy Lee interview: _Keyboard_ magazine, March '89 220 Alex Lifeson interview: _Guitar for the Practicing Musician_: July '84 220 Neil Peart interview: _Metal Hammer_, 4/25/88 227 _Presto_ tour press release 229 _Only Music_ article 229 Presto concert review: _Kerrang_ #282: 3/24/90 234,262 Picture Disc interview with Alex: HYF era 238 PoW tour book transcription 250 Hemispheres tour book transcription 257 Signals tour book transcription 260 Geddy Lee interview: _Bass Player_ mag - Nov/Dec 1988 264 _Creem_ interview with Neil 274 Alex interview: 4/86 _Guitar Player_ 277 Geddy Lee interview: 4/86 _Guitar Player_ 285 Neil Peart interview: 1/27/88 Houston Post 287 Rush crossword puzzle 292 Neil Peart interview: April '86 _Canadian Composer_ 294 March 1990 _Guitar World_ article 297 _Signals_ tour book crossword puzzle 302 Neil Peart interview: January '86 _Modern Drummer_ 305 Neil Peart release: Roll The Bones 311 Neil Peart interview: _Guitar_: October '86 312 Geddy Lee interview: August 19, 1991: Frank Lancaster 320 Neil interview: 10/86 _Guitar for Practicing Musician_ 325 Geddy interview: "In The Listening Room" - GFPM 6/87 325 Neil/Alex interview: February 1990 _Music Express_ 342 TNMS 2nd anniversary issue 378 "Row the boats" article by Neil Peart 390 10/91 "Canadian Musician" interview: Geddy, Neil 392 November 1, 1991 Chicago Tribune article 406 "Gold Rush": _Canadian Composer_ article 408 August 19, 1991 Geddy Lee interview 408 Neil Peart Rochester Times Union article: 10/24/91 408 RTB CD launch transcription 450 November 1991 _Guitar Player_ interview: Geddy & Alex 452 ABC "In Concert" artist profile of Rush (RTB tour) 453 Results of "Favorite Rush Songs" poll 458 Lots of parodies of Rush lyrics 479 Bunch of assorted interviews: 481 "Adventures in Paradise" - Neil Peart (HYF era) "Living in a big Rush" - Rochester Times October 24, 1991 (Coincidentally this is also in #408) Orlando Sentinel Neil article Music Express article: Neil/Alex (February 1990) (Same as in #342) TNMS Neil Peart interview 486 April 1992 _Kerrang_ interview: Geddy/Alex 531 Alex Lifeson interview: _Guitar for the Practicing Musician_, May 1991 534 Alex Lifeson interview: _Guitar School_, May 1990 534 Alex/Geddy article: _Guitar World_, April 1988 540 Updated tour dates listing 542 March 1992 _RAG_ interview: Geddy 544 Andrew MacNaughtan interview: "The Spirit of Rush," Pt.1 549 Andrew MacNaughtan interview: "The Spirit of Rush," Pt.2 552 TNMS 3rd anniversary issue 556 Discussion of the origin of the "Cygnus X-1" title 567 "One on One" radio interview with Neil: RTB era 571 May 1992 _Lighting Dimensions_ article 594 February 16 1992 _Houston Chronicle_ interview with Neil 597 Tour Dates listing, version 3.6 627 RTB Radio Special transcription 656 1993 _Musician_ "Whole Guitar Book" Alex Lifeson article 661 Neil Peart "for whom the bus rolls" article 686 from "The Spirit of Rush", number 10, winter '89-'90; originally from Rush Backstage Club, March 31, 1982 Tour Dates listing, version 3.8: June 6 1993 revision 692 Rush Discography, version 2.0, September 7 1993 revision 747 Sept 9 1993 _Toronto Star_ interview with Neil Peart 750 Atlantic press release for "Counterparts" 752 Lyrics for "Stick It Out" 756 Lyrics for _Counterparts_ 759 Transcription of _Counterparts_ world premiere 783 "Metalshop" interview with Alex Lifeson 801 BPI Communications "Counterparts" article 806 "Counterparts" bio, by Neil Peart 806 St. Louis Globe article, On or before Monday, April 28, 1986 812 Rush Article in Raw magazine, No 135, Oct 27-Nov 9 1993 812 article from metal CD, Volume 2 No. 1 812 Geddy Lee Interview, Bass Player Dec. 93 812 1984 "Innerview" with Neil Peart 842 Rush: Off The Record (1984) 842 Neil Peart Int. Modern Drummer apr/may 80 844 Guitar World Feb 1994 interview, Geddy & Alex 849 "A Day in the Lifeson", Car Stereo Review, Jan/Feb 1994 849 Nov 1993 Network magazine article 849 Set list for "Counterparts" tour 857 Transcription of Jan 24 1994 Rockline interview 878 Bunch of stuff: Advice for people who want to get on call-in radio shows Transcription: Goldmine _Counterparts_ review -- March 4, 1994 Transcription: "Request" article (Feb 94) 891 Summer 1994 Alex interview, Guitar Shop magazine 930 March 9, 1994 "Aquarian Weekly" interview with Neil 937 Bunch of CP concert reviews 942 Counterparts era "Up Close" radio interview 955 Rush: Art for Art's Sake - Int'l Musician magazine, 7/84 970 A Rush Fan's Guide to Toronto 970 _Seconds_ magazine interview, issue 25, 1994 976 March 1994 _Creem_ interview, Geddy Lee & Les Claypool 997 Neil Peart "A Port boy's story", June 24/25 1994 _St. Catharines Standard_ 1007 Neil Peart Compuserve interview, Oct 5 1994 1014 Maclean's Sept 30 1991 article 1020 FACE 2 FACE with Alex Lifeson by Stewart Gilray 1032 of "Spirit of Rush" Transcription of Neil's "Politically Incorrect" 1033 appearance Rush 20th Anniversary Gift announcement 1041 _Rush_, by Brian Harrigan, part 1 of 3 1101 _Rush_, by Brian Harrigan, part 2 of 3 1102 _Rush_, by Brian Harrigan, part 3 of 3 1104 TCI Article on RUSH, 1994 1140 Neil Peart "Into Africa" article 1140 I've been seeing used in TNMS. What does it mean? FBN Fly By Night COS Caress Of Steel ATWAS All The World's A Stage AFTK A Farewell To Kings PeW Permanent Waves {PLEASE! NOT just PW!} MP Moving Pictures ESL Exit...Stage Left GUP Grace Under Pressure p/g Grace Under Pressure PoW Power Windows {PLEASE! NOT just PW!} HYF Hold Your Fire ASOH A Show Of Hands TTCE Through The Camera Eye {rare, but it shows up} RTB Roll The Bones CP Counterparts TFE or T4E Test For Echo YKYA(A)RFW You Know (You're|You Are) A Rush Fan When IMHO In My Humble/Honest Opinion WRT With Respect To ORQ Obligatory Rush Quote I've heard about the "Rush Backstage Club." What is it, and how do I join? It's an outfit that sells Rush souvenirs (T-shirts, posters, etc) and occasionally releases a newsletter. (I'm not a member, so I don't really know. Could a member send me some details?) To join the Backstage Club, just send $12.95 ($10 to join plus $2.95 shipping and handling) to: Rush Backstage Club 2250 E. Tropicana Ave. #228 Las Vegas, NV 89119 (I got that address from FLETCHYYZ@delphi.com) SnowDog265@aol.com provided this phone number: (702) 739-6440 Membership obligation is to purchase 1 item of merchandise each year to stay on the mailing list. Also, they will answer any inquiries if you include a self-addressed stamped envelope. For those international people, pay in US money (NO CASH!!!) and include postage coupons with information requests. What other Rush newsletters are there? _The Spirit Of Rush_ Published 4 times a year. Subscription for the next 4 issues: UK: #6.80, Europe: #10.00, Australia/NZ: #12.00 US/Canada: $20.00 (# = Pounds Sterling. All prices include postage.) Back issues: UK: #1.50 each, Europe: #2.00, Australia/NZ: #3.00 US/Canada: $4.00 (all prices include postage) Address for back issues, and UK/Europe/Australia/NZ subscriptions: 23, Garden Close, Chinbrook Road, Grove Park, London, SE12 9TG England Address for US/Canada subscriptions: A Show of Fans c/o Steve Streeter PO Box 292 Canton, CT 06019 UK readers should pay by crossed cheque or postal order, NOT CASH. Overseas readers should pay by bank draft or International Money Order, in STERLING ONLY please. If these are unavailable, cash sterling or cash dollars only. Personal cheques in foreign currency cannot be accepted. Cheques/postal orders/I.M.O/B.D. payable to _The Spirit Of Rush_ US readers should pay by personal cheque payable to Ray Wawryzniak. _A Show of Fans_ "A Rush Fanzine For and By Rush Fans" Steve Streeter: Publisher/Editor Send $3 for the most current issue. PO Box 292 Canton, CT 06019 Who says in ? - Geddy says "One, two, buckle my shoe" in "In The End" on ATWAS. - Neil does the narrative during "The Necromancer." - I've never seen anything definitive saying who whispers in "The Twilight Zone." - Neil does the "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation - we have assumed control" bit at the end of "2112." - The deep voice at the beginning of "Cygnus X-1" is none other than Terry Brown. - Neil says "Subdivisions" in the song of the same name, even though Alex is shown saying it in the video and does it live. - Alex says "That's nice" at the end of "Chain Lightning." - We don't know who says "I will be the judge" and "Give the jury direction." Yoav Gershon has digitized those phrases and adjusted the pitch, and says that Neil Peart says those phrases. - According to Neil on the December 2, 1991 "Rockline," Geddy does the RTB "chat" section. I think I've heard in somewhere else - is it a reference to something? Corey Harbaugh sent me the following on June 1 1995: >Fellow page-turning Rush-Nuts: > >I hesitate to claim that this is the complete list of literary allusions in >Rush, but it is as comprehensive a list as I'm willing to compile. I am >forwarding this info on to the FAQ section, so any additions, etc. should be >sent to the attention of the editor. This was an exhaustive, completely >worthwhile process because it married two passions- literature and Rush- but >the list of allusions is not valuable in and of itself. It will only be >valuable if it leads to your own exploration of their meaning and how >different texts and mediums interact. Please use this list not for the >answers it provides but rather for the questions it raises. It is as >follows: > >*The story told on 2112 closely parallels the themes and narrative of > _Anthem_ by Ayn Rand. "Anthem" (FBN) shares the title of the same > novel. >*"That's not what I meant at all" from "Open Secrets" (HYF) is also a line > in the poem "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot. >*"The heart of a lonely hunter" (Lock and Key- HYF) is the title of a work > by Carson McCullers. >*"Entre Nous" (song, PeW) is a phrase used many times in the novel _The > Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand. >*"Bastille Day" (song, COS) alludes to the events of the French Revolution, > fictionalized in the novel _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens. >*"Let us not go gently..." (Red Tide- Presto) refers to the Dylan Thomas > poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." >*Hemispheres mentions the pantheon of Greek mythology and also reuses myths > in ways similar to Friedrich Nietzsche in _Birth of Tragedy_. >*Rocinante (spaceship in Hemispheres and Cygnus X-1) is the horse of Zeus > from Greek mythology, the horse of the title character in _Don Quixote_ > by Miguel Cervantes and the motorhome in _Travels with Charley_ by > John Steinbeck. >*"We will pay the price but we will not count the cost" (Bravado- RTB) is > the line from John Barth's novel _The Tidewater Tales_ that inspired > the lyrics. >*"Wilderness of mirrors" (Double Agent- Counterparts) is a line from the > poem "Gerontion" by T.S. Eliot. >*Xanadu (song, AFTK) is based on the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor > Coleridge. >*Tom Sawyer (song, MP) is the name of a character and novel created by Mark > Twain. >*Jacob's Ladder (song, PeW) alludes to the Old Testament story of Jacob and > his vision of a heavenly ladder. Genesis 27:12. >*Rivendell (song, FBN) is the name of a safe haven in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord > of the Rings fantasy series. >*All The World's A Stage (both the album and the line from Limelight, song > on MP) are from William Shakespeare's play "As You Like It." >*The Big Money (song, PoW) is the title of a novel by John Dos Passos. >*Grand Designs (song, PoW) is also the title of a novel by John Dos Passos. >*The Camera Eye (song, MP) the title of a section from the John Dos Passos > USA series. >*Losing It (song, Signals) refers to author Ernest Hemingway and two of his > novels _The Sun Also Rises_ and _For Whom the Bell Tolls_. The image > of the ballerina was inspired by the movie _The Turning Point_ starring > Shirley Maclaine. >*Cold Fire (song, Counterparts) is an image introduced by Tom Robbins in his > novel _The Jitterbug Perfume_. >*The motif of women archetypes in Animate (song, Counterparts) is a motif > explored by Tom Robbins in his novel _Skinny Legs and All_. Carl Jung > also talks about male and female animas in his writings. (Incidentally, > Neil Peart is quoted praising _Skinny Legs and All_ in the book's > opening page testimonials.) >*Between Sun & Moon (song, Counterparts) was inspired by a Pye Dubois poem. > Dubois' poem is reminiscent of the poem "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot. >*Red Barchetta (song, MP) is reminiscent of the short story "A Nice Morning > Drive" by Richard Foster. (The story is available on syrinx in the > ftp/gopher/web site.) >*"Nothing to fear but fear itself" (The Weapon, Signals) is a line from an > inaugural address by Franklin D. Roosevelt. >*"Thy will be done" (The Weapon, Signals) is a line from The Lord's Prayer > in the New Testament. >*Necromancer (song, COS) alludes to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. >*Panacea (song, COS) is the name of a mythological cure all. >*Lotus Land (Freewill- PeW) is a land described in "The Odyssey" by Homer. >*Absalom (Distant Early Warning- GUP) is a name from the Old Testament story > of King David. _Absalom, Absalom_ is the title of a novel by William > Faulkner. >*Tai Shan (song, HYF) is the name of a mountain in China. In Chinese legend, > Tai Shan is a holy mountain. >*Cinderella Man (song, AFTK) parallels the movie "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." >*Twilight Zone (song, 2112) refers specifically to two episodes from the > television show of the same name. >*"If we burn our wings flying too close to the sun" (Bravado- RTB) refers to > the Icarus myth from Greek mythology. >*"Rise from the ashes and blaze" (Everyday Glory, Counterparts) refers to > the mythological death and rebirth of the Phoenix. >*Sections titles of By-tor and the Snow Dog (song, FBN) include references > to the underworld of Greek mythology. >*"Another lost generation" (Between the Wheels- GUP) is from a quote by > Gertrude Stein used by Ernest Hemingway at the beginning of > _The Sun Also Rises_. > >While many allusions are quite direct (like Xanadu) and a reading of the >primary text would provide a clear connection to the song, most allusions >are indirect, subtle, or not central to the message of the song. For >instance, one does not need to read The Old Testament and Faulkner to "get" >the Absalom reference in Distant Early Warning. Again, the most important >thing that resources like the above list can provide is to help illuminate >the path. The walking is still up to each one of us. > >I'll check out the next album for additions to the list, but for now, as in >"Froggie Went A-Courtin'", if you want anymore you'll have to sing it >yourself. And this, a letter from Jim McGrath, pointing out yet more allusions and references from our favorite lyricist: From jdmcgrat@COLBY.EDUSat Sep 14 22:51:19 1996 Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 14:08:51 -0400 From: Jim McGrath To: rush@avian.dars.muohio.edu > I have few additions to the "literary references" section of the >FAQ. If you get this, please let me know, since I'm not sure you're the >one who I'm supposed to be send this to anymore. The references are as >follows: > > In "No One At The Bridge" from "The Fountain of Lamneth," the line >"I'm lashed, helpless, to the mast" is a reference to Odysseus/Ulysses, of >Lotus-land fame, who when passing the Sirens had his crew members tie him >to the mast of the ship so he could hear their seductive melodies. (Think >"the x-ray is my siren song.") > > In 2112:Overture, "And the meek shall inherit the earth..." is a >quote from the Bible; the line is in both the Book of Psalms (37:11) and >the Gospel according to Matthew (5:5.) > > The following is a quote from Edith Hamilton's _Mythology_: "..one >story was...about the god Pan, how he loved a nymph named Syrinx who fled >from him and just as he was about to seize her was turned into a tuft of >reeds by her sister nymphs. Pan said, 'Still you shall be mine,' and he >made from what she had become 'A shepherd's pipe/ Of reeds with beeswax >joined.'" With reference to 2112: The Temples of Syrinx. > > The phrase "fool's paradise" appears in _Bartlett's Familiar >Quotations_ under "Anonymous." The source is given as "Paston Letters >[1462], no. 457." > > On the very last page of _Bartlett's Familiar Quotations_ is the >heading "Anonymous: Spirituals." There is a spiritual entitled "Swing Low, >Sweet Chariot" containing the lines "Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for >to take me home." This is almost exactly the same as the line at the end >of "Totem," from Test for Echo. > > The phrase "every dog has his day" in "Dog Years" is from a >children's book called "Water Babies" by the English novelist and clergyman >Charles Kingsley, written in 1863. > > "I can resist everything except temptation," as in the line from >"Resist," is a quote from the play "Lady Windermere's Fan" by Oscar Wilde. > > With reference to "Carve Away The Stone:" The following is a quote >from Edith Hamilton's _Mythology_: "SISYPHUS was King of Corinth. One day >he chanced to see a mighty eagle, greater and more splendid than any mortal >bird, bearing a maiden to an island not far away. When the river god >Asopus came to him to tell him that his daughter Aegina had been carried >off, he strongly suspected by Zeus, and to ask his help in finding her, >Sisyphus told him what he had seen. Thereby he drew down on himself the >relentless wrath of Zeus. In Hades he was punished by having to try >forever to roll a rock uphill which forever rolled back upon him." > > Hope these are helpful! > Jim There. More than you probably ever cared to know. :) What is the marital status of the band members? Do any of the band members have kids? Geddy has a son: Julian, a daughter: Kyla Avril, and a wife: Nancy. Alex has 2 sons: Justin and Adrian, and a wife: Charlene. Neil has a daughter: Selena, and a wife: Jaqueline. I've heard about . Does anybody know anything about the truth of it? Does Neil Peart have cancer? These rumors have been popping up for quite some time now. Here are some of the ones that have been shown to be wrong over the years by the activities of the band: - Alex is dying of cancer - Neil is dying of cancer - Geddy is dying of cancer - Geddy has throat cancer; he's not dying, but can never sing again - Geddy is going blind from stage lights. As of March 4 1993, the "Neil has cancer" and "Neil has AIDS" rumors have been "officially" stated to be just that: rumors with no basis in fact. In the February 1994 issue of _Modern Drummer_ magazine, Neil states that he does not have cancer. I've seen being used. Who does it refer to? Lerxst is the nickname of Alex Lifeson. Ged and Neil also have nicknames, Dirk and Pratt. Hence "Lerxtwood Mall," "Olde Dirk Road" and "B.J. Pratt & Assoc." on the map on the back cover of _Signals_. Also, Neil is mentioned as "The Professor (on the drum kit)" in _All the World's a Stage_. What is the educational background of ? The rumor about Neil having a PhD in something is false. In _Visions_, Neil is quoted (on page 65) as saying that he is a high school dropout. I don't see how he would have had time to go to school and get a degree, what with being in Rush and all. According to the COS press kit, Alex and Geddy "turned pro" after graduating from high school. What are the birthdays of the band members? Geddy Lee July 29, 1953 {according to _Visions_} {No, Geddy Lee's birthday is NOT June 29!} Neil Peart September 12, 1952 Alex Lifeson August 27, 1953 But in "Thrice Told Tales," it says that Geddy's birthday is June 29! Well, every article written on the subject agrees that Neil Peart joined Rush on Geddy's birthday. In _Visions_, Alex Lifeson says that Neil came down "on the second day of auditions." It has also been documented in several places (_Visions_ and "Thrice Told Tales," to name a few) that when Neil joined the band, he had about 2 weeks to learn the show before his first gig with Rush, which took place in Pittsburgh, opening for Uriah Heep. On June 28, 1974, Rush opened for ZZ Top in Cleveland. On July 1, 1974, Rush opened for Nazareth in Toronto, Ontario. On July 20, 1974, Rush played an "MZ Bennett summer dance." On August 14, Rush opened for Uriah Heep in Pittsburgh. This was Neil's first show with Rush. Based on this information, I believe that the day that Neil joined the band, and therefore Geddy's birthday, is July 29, not June 29, and that the June 29 date is a typo. Geddy Lee said that July 29th was his birthday in an interview taped before the May 31, 1992 show in Mountain View, California. What are the real names of the band members? Geddy Lee Gary Lee Weinrib { The book "Heart of Gold", a history of Canadian rock, provides this as Geddy Lee's real name. In 1971, Gary Lee Weinrib, Alex Zivojinovich, and John Rutsey all joined CAPAC, the Canadian writers/publishers/composers guild. } Neil Peart Neil Peart Alex Lifeson Alex Zivojinovic What equipment does use/endorse? Geddy Lee: Rotosound Funkmaster strings Wal basses In the past, he has used: Rickenbacker basses Steinberger basses Fender Precision basses Fender Jazz basses Alex Lifeson: Paul Reed Smith guitars Dean Markley strings GK amps Neil Peart: Ludwig drums (Neil also plays a Slingerland snare drum.) Zildjian cymbals Pro-Mark sticks KAT triggers Akai samplers How is "Peart" pronounced? It rhymes with "near," according to Neil on the "Rush - Profiled!" CD, so I assume that's the correct pronunciation. I don't remember the exact wording off the top of my head, but the "Profiled!" CD contains a recording of Neil saying "Hi, this is Neil Peart of Rush." That also agrees with the way Geddy pronounced "Peart" when introducing Neil's solo during RTB shows. The "t" at the end is not silent. Does anybody have an address I can use to write to the band? This address was posted to TNMS, but I can't vouch for the correctness of it. Rush 41 Britan St. (#200) Toronto, ON M5A 1R7, CANADA Also, their booking agent is ICM in New York - (212) 556-5600. The Backstage Club will probably forward mail as well. _Modern Drummer_ magazine will forward mail to Neil. (Or other drummers, for that matter!) Modern Drummer 870 Pompton Avenue Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 I have recently received mail from someone who stated that _Modern Drummer_ no longer forwards mail to Neil, marked "Unable to forward at artist's request". Neil apparently blames the Internet for an unacceptable volume of mail. See the letter he wrote in the August, 1996 issue of _Modern Drummer_. Silly boy. What's the story behind Alex's "Hentor Sportscaster" guitar? "'Hentor' was the name that we had for Peter Henderson, the producer of 'Grace Under Pressure.' When he wrote his name out to leave us his number, it looked like Peter Hentor instead of Peter Henderson, so we nicknamed him Hentor The Barbarian. I got some Letraset and put it on this white Strat that I had. It has a Shark neck - these are unlabeled replacement necks - so I threw 'Hentor Sportscaster' on there. Amazing all the mail we used to get over that [laughs]: 'Where can I buy a Hentor? How much does a Hentor cost?'" - Alex Lifeson, in the April 1986 _Guitar Player_ magazine What is The Omega Concern? As Alex realized that he had to play acoustic guitar for some Rush tunes and then quickly switch to his electric ("Closer to the Heart," etc.), he crafted a stand (actually an attachment to a Tama Titan cymbal stand) that holds his acoustic in an adjustable playing position. He soon began to sell this as a product (1st to Music Emporium) under the company label "The Omega Concern." Apparently, Alex's "company" also made Geddy a light-up lyric stand and Neil got a newspaper/book holder so he could read while he eats breakfast. I recently saw an ad that said something about Alex Lifeson flying in a fighter plane. What's the story behind that? The following was posted on March 1, 1994 by steve.struthers@homebase.com (Steve Struthers): It's well known that Alex has a _private_ pilot's licence, but he has never been a pilot in the RCAF. About a year and a half ago, Rush sold the rights to "Where's My Thing" to the Department of National Defence (the federal government department in Canada which handles defence-related matters) for use in a new recruiting video. As part of the deal, the military agreed to take Alex for a spin in a CF-5A fighter jet (The US Air Force and Air National Guard fly the same jet, which in US nomenclature is called the F-5A). Alex's experience as a "fighter-pilot-for-a-day" was detailed in a magazine called _Sentinel_ , which is published by the Government of Canada for members of the Canadian military. _Sentinel_ can also be found in public libraries, usually in medium to large-size Canadian cities. Apparently Alex had a blast up there in the wild blue yonder, but after the flight he was slightly dismayed about smelling as if he'd taken a swim in a pool filled with aviation fuel! I remember seeing something in the article (if memory serves me correctly) about Alex being given a RCAF flight suit (complete with insignia and wings) as a memento of his high-flying adventure. This was sent to me on July 2, 1996: >Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 15:33:07 -0700 >From: Stephane Ippersiel >To: kaelbers@muohio.edu >Subject: Correction to an FAQ item >A couple of corrections to this one : > >First, the "Royal" was dropped in the late sixties. It is now known >as the Canadian Air Force. [FAQ guy's Note: in fact, in 1968, the entire Canadian military was reorganized into a single military force.] > >Second, Rush did not "sell" the rights to Where's My Thing. They were >given to the Department of National Defence (DND) free of charge for an >information video (as opposed to a recruiting video), showing the >Canadian military in action in mostly humanitarian roles (peacekeeping, >humanitarian aid, the Snowbirds air demonstration squadron, the >Skyhawks parachute team, Communications, etc.), for use in exhibitions. > >Third, there was never a "deal" whereby DND would take Alex on a fighter >plane. There were no conditions attached to the rights given to DND. >Alex asked to go on a fighter, if at all possible. Something was >tried and, lo and behold, he made it on a CF-5 seat. > >As far as the jet fuel thing goes, that scent (imagine a huge Zippo >lighter burning under your nose) is everywhere at Canadian Forces Base >Cold Lake, AB. It is an overpowering smell that was in the air even >before Alex took off. > >As for the flight, piloted by Captain Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, everything >went very well. After the flight, Alex, exhausted and sweating, beamed, >describing the experience as being "like sex, only not as messy!" > >Yes, he got to keep the flight suit, which was originally decked out to >read "Captain Lerxst". 419 Squadron had an "Alex Lifeson" crest made, >which was sewn on during Alex's pre-flight briefing. In return, Alex >gave 419 Squadron a Canadian platinum certification for "Roll The >Bones", which was promptly mounted onto 419's "we love us" wall. > >The piece was indeed published in Sentinel, an internal magazine aimed at >Canada's military community. Sentinel has since been terminated. > >Photos taken at Cold Lake on that day were later sent to Paul Reed Smith >guitars for an ad campaign. > >My source is pretty good on this one. I'm the guy who got the idea >for the video, and subsequently produced it for DND. I also got to >escort Alex to Cold Lake for his trip and live to write about it in >Sentinel. I heard that Alex Lifeson opened a restaurant. Can anybody tell me about it? The Orbit Room 580 A College St. Toronto Where did the name "Rush" come from? Paraphrased Background: In August of 1968 the band's formal lineup was Alex on guitar, John Rutsey on drums, and Jeff Jones on bass and vocals. They got a job to play at the "Coff-In," a coffee house in the basement of an Anglican Church [great name, eh?] for $25/night. "The band was excited, but they had a big problem. While they had been dreaming of playing, they had neglected to come up with a name for their group. So a few days before the gig they sat around in John's basement trying to come up with an appropriate monicker. They weren't having much luck when John's older brother Bill piped up, 'Why don't you call the band Rush' and Rush it was." - from _Visions_ Why did John Rutsey leave the band? He quit because he had different ideas about the band's future than Alex and Geddy did, and he just wasn't excited about playing in Rush any more. His diabetes were also a strong argument against extended tours. Whatever happened to John Rutsey? "John's still around. I see John quite often. He gave up playing shortly after he left the band and went into bodybuilding. He competed on an amateur level for a while, doing that for a few years, and has sort of been in and out of that, but he still works out, and I work out with him a few times a week at a local gym - at a Gold's, here in Toronto." - Alex Lifeson, in the 2/6/89 "Rockline" interview = Questions about _Fly By Night_ Where did By-Tor's name come from? Rush's road manager, Howard, came up with the title at a party. There were two dogs at the party, one a German shepherd and the other a tiny white nervous dog. Howard used to call the shepherd By-Tor because anyone that walked into the house was bitten. The other dog was a snow-dog (white ...). So from that night on Howard called the pair of dogs "By-Tor and the Snow Dog." - from scrs_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu What is The Sign of Eth? - This is what Muff (smills@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu) posted to the NMS: I remember looking up "eth" in the dictionary after I found my brother's FBN album in '74 or '75. In fact, I looked up a LOT of words from that album back then. :D From American Heritage: eth n. Variant of edh. edh n. 1. A letter appearing in Old English, Old Saxon, Old Norse, and modern Icelandic to represent an interdental fricative. 2. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet representing the interdental voiced fricative, as in /the/, /with/. An edh looks like a lower-case "o" with a wavy propellor. What symbolism an edh has in By-Tor's tale, I have no idea. - Also, Josh Beatty (iqm265@uriacc.uri.edu) wrote the following: "Eth" is a letter in the Old English alphabet that was dropped from the alphabet as it evolved into Middle and Modern English. It represented the sound /th/, as in "cloth" for example. It looked like a lower-case "o" with a cross on top. Capitalized, it was like a "D" with a horizontal line through the straight part. This was also the symbol used for a capitalized "Thorn", another Old English letter representing /th/. "Thorn" was adapted into the Old English alphabet from a Germanic rune of the same name. The rune, in its turn, was associated with the Gothic (as in the tribe of the Goths, not cathedrals) word "thurisaz", which meant "demon". So "Eth" itself has some historical background in representing demons and hell, obviously appropriate in the context of the song. I suppose I see "The sign of Eth is rising in the air..." in two ways: first, that it represents simply the demonic power in the Tobes of Hades, and secondly, that it represents By-Tor himself and that when the sign is, rising, By-Tor is coming forth from Hades to do battle with the Snow Dog (don't we assume usually that Hades is underground? By-Tor would have to rise to get out of there to most anyplace?) Is Rivendell a real place? Rivendell was a sage haven for travellers in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". = Questions about _Caress Of Steel_ In "By-Tor And The Snow Dog" By-Tor is the bad guy, but he's a hero in "The Necromancer." What happened? When asked about this on "Rockline," Geddy said something along the lines of, "He saw the light." Neil commented, "I guess he's like all of us - sometimes good, and sometimes he's bad!" in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter. Where is Lakeside Park? It's in St. Catherine's, on Lake Ontario. Don't email me directions if you went there a long time ago and think you remember how to get there. What is the significance of May 24? It's Victoria Day, commemorating Queen Victoria's birthday. Has anybody noticed that "Didacts and Narpets" is an anagram for "Addicts and Parents"? Yes. Does anybody know the lyrics to "Didacts and Narpets"? Here's the best version I've seen: Deep Voice: "Stay!" Geddy "Go!" Deep "Work!" Ged "No!" Deep "Think!" Ged "Live!" Deep "Earn!" Ged "Give!" Deep/Ged / Deep/Ged / All? Listen! In the October 1991 news release from the Rush Backstage Club, Neil says: "Okay, I may have answered this before, but if not, the shouted words in that song represent an argument between Our Hero and the Didacts and Narpets - teachers and parents. I honestly can't rememer what the actual words were, but they took up opposite positions like: "Work! Live! Earn! Give!" and like that." In the COS liner notes, a city is mentioned in small print after each song. Why is this? "Ah yes. This goes back to the 'bad old days' when all we did was tour, and consequently had to do most of our song writing on the road, with acoustic guitars and notebooks in hotel rooms. Not the best method of composition, you may imagine, but the only one available to us at the time. Those cities represent the places in which those songs were written." - Neil Peart, in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter What does "Terminat hora diem, terminat auctor opus" mean? It means something like: "As the hour ends the day, the author ends his work." Assorted CoS trivia: "The Necromancer" - The song is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". The three travellers are Frodo, Sam and Gollum (more specific references wanted). - Ambergris is a waxy substance from the intestines of the sperm whale, highly valued for making perfume with. - Panacea is a supposed cure for everything. - Bacchus was the Greek & Roman god of wine, earlier called Dionysus. - Lakeside Park is mentioned in _Strange Brew_. = Questions about _2112_ Has anybody noticed that you can hear part of the 1812 Overture in 2112? Yes. Where did the story of _2112_ come from? "The inspiration behind it was ... It's difficult always to trace those lines because so many things tend to coalesce, and in fact it ended up being quite similar to a book called _Anthem_ by the writer Ayn Rand. But I didn't realize that while I was working on it, and then eventually as the story came together, the parallels became obvious to me and I thought, 'Oh gee, I don't want to be a plagiarist here.' So I did give credit to her writings in the liner notes." - Neil Peart, in the December 2, 1991 "Rockline" interview Has anybody noticed the whispering in the background in "The Twilight Zone"? Yes. = Questions about _All The World's A Stage_ What do the voices at the end of the album (vinyl only) say? - According to Darryl Coombs (dcoombs@dragger.ifmt.nf.ca), this is it: Geddy: Wow Woah Waa What a show Man oh man, I guess that's it Allright I'm going <-- (not sure if Ged) Yeah, yeah, ok, ok. Door slam. = Questions about _A Farewell To Kings_ What is "Cinderella Man" about? The song is loosely based on a movie called "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", starring Gary Cooper as a man from a small town who inherits lots of money and moves to the big city. I read that "Xanadu" was based on a famous poem. Does anybody have a copy? The poem is "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Your local library probably has a copy. It appeared in TNMS issue #88. Where does the name Cygnus X-1 come from? It is the name given to an X-ray source in the constellation of Cygnus, believed to be a black hole. For a more detailed explanation, check issue 567 of TNMS, available via anonymous ftp from syrinx.umd.edu in the rush/special directory. Where does the name Rocinante come from? In Greek mythology, Rocinante is the name of the horse that Zeus rides. It was the name of Steinbeck's motor home in _Travels With Charlie_. It was also the name of Don Quixote's horse. = Questions about _Hemispheres_ What do the French lyrics in "Circumstances" mean? "The more that things change, the more they stay the same." Is there a message in "The Trees"? "No. It was just a flash. I was working on an entirely different thing when I saw a cartoon picture of these trees carrying on like fools. I thought, "What if trees acted like people?" So I saw it as a cartoon really, and wrote it that way. I think that's the image that it conjures up to a listener or a reader. A very simple statement." -- Neil Peart, in the April/May 1980 _Modern Drummer_ magazine What does "La Villa Strangiato" mean? "Weird City" is a rough translation of the title, according to _Visions_. Atthe Tossavainen has told me that "La villa, be it Spanish or Italian, doesn't mean a village or a city, but rather a HOUSE. Strangiato is probably just pidgin Spanish, a made-up word." The song itself is based on several of Alex's nightmares and some cartoon themes. Much of this music can be heard on a CD called The Carl Stalling Project - "Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958." Warner Bros. - 26027-2 (approximately 77 minutes on CD). These are the original soundtracks from Loony Tunes/Merrie Melodies, mostly in the '40s and '50s. - thanks to jdinkins@polyslo.calpoly.edu for catalog info schaaphe@serc.nl (Frank Schaapherder) gave me this information: The first part of "La Villa Strangiato," "Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!," is based on the German song "Gute Nacht, Freunde," written by A. Yondrascheck. I noted the resemblance between the two songs immediately when I first heard "La Villa." The notes until the fast part are almost identical. Also note the similarities in the titles - they have the same meaning, and the reference to German in Rush's title (Mein Froinds). Where do the different parts of "La Villa Strangiato" start/end? This chart was made up by Brad Armstrong <71161.1313@CompuServe.COM>. Thanks, Brad! "La Villa Strangiato (An exercise in Self-Indulgence)" Studio Live (ESL CD) I. "Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!" 0.00 0.16 II. "To sleep, perchance to dream ..." 0.27 0.49 III. "Strangiato theme" 2.00 2.18 IV. "A Lerxst in Wonderland" 3.16 3.36 V. "Monsters!" 5.43 6.09 VI. "The Ghost of the Aragon" 6.09 6.30 VII. "Danforth and Pape" 6.45 7.07 VIII. "The Waltz of the Shreves" 7.26 7.48 IX. "Never turn your back on a Monster!" 7.52 8.14 X. "Monsters! (Reprise)" 8.03 8.24 XI. "Strangiato theme (Reprise)" 8.17 8.40 XII. "A Farewell to Things" 9.21 9.14 Danforth and Pape is an intersection in Toronto. Actually, it's Danforth Ave. and Pape St. This is a heavily Greek section of Toronto, and even the street names are written in English and Greek. The actual intersection has a donut place (there are LOTS in Canada) like two banks and a random store. = Questions about _Permanent Waves_ Has anybody ever noticed that the signs on the right side of the _Permanent Waves_ cover say Lee, Lifeson and Peart? Yes. Why was the headline on the newspaper on the cover of _Permanent Waves_ blocked out? (Note: The Anthem Canadian release does not have this problem.) "There are always the inevitable last minute crises, such as the Chicago Daily Tribune being still so embarrassed about their 'Dewey defeats Truman' error of more than thirty years ago that they actually refused to let us use it on the cover!" - Neil Peart, in the _Permanent Waves_ tourbook To clarify this: When Harry Truman ran against Thomas Dewey for president, Truman lost in most of the states with early returns. So, it looked like Dewey was going to win. The Tribune released an early morning paper the next day with a "Dewey defeats Truman" headline. What is the "words of the profits" quote in "The Spirit Of Radio" about? It's referring to "The Sounds of Silence," by Simon and Garfunkel. Here are the relevant lyrics: "The Sounds of Silence": "And the sign said: 'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls And whispered in the sounds of silence'" "The Spirit of Radio": "For the words of the profits, Are written on the studio wall, Concert hall - Echoes with the sounds ... Of salesmen." What is "Free Will" about? "The song is about freedom of choice and free will, and you believing in what you decide you believe in." - Geddy Lee, in the December 4, 1989 "Rockline" interview In "Free Will" which lyrics are correct (the ones on the album sleeve or the ones Geddy sings)? "That's a funny question. I've had a few lately from people who are so sure that what they hear is correct, that they disbelieve what I've put in the lyric sheets! Imagine! People have quoted me whole verses of what they hear, as opposed to what's printed, sure that they are right and the cover (me) is wrong. Scary stuff, these egocentric individuals. I assure you, other than perhaps dropping an "and" or a "but," we take great care to make the lyric sheets accurate." - Neil Peart, in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter But I'm *sure* that what the lyric sheet says isn't what Geddy sings! So what? People have argued about this far too much already. If it's really bothering you, write a letter to the band and complain. Lighten up - it's just a song! Well, it looks as though someone took Dan's sage advice to heart. Check this E-mail that I got from Stevie Duda: From stevie@flash.net@flash.netSat Sep 14 23:29:32 1996 Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 21:43:07 -0500 From: Stevie Duda <"stevie@flash.net"@flash.net> To: rush@avian.dars.muohio.edu Subject: Rush >Hi Randy. I'm a newbie so I'll try not to embarrass myself. I was >reading the FAQ list. I know you don't need corrections or anything. I >however wanted to share this. Editor's Note: I ALWAYS need correction. That's why I got this nifty collar, you see.... >I am a member of the Backstage Fan Club and saw what James in New York >wrote to Neil about the lyrics of Freewill. Well, having noticed the >discrepancy myself, made copies of my album lyrics which were incorrect >according to the lyrics in two song books I had. So I did write to Neil >about it. In his letter he states, "You and James of New York are right >about this thing. I don't know how it happened- the lyrics are right on >the Canadian sleeve- I can only imagine that our American record company >got hold of an uncorrected typeset. I hate that!" >Anyway, cuss at me for writing to you if you want to...but I hope you >won't. I can always use another Rush friend. Where is "Lotus-Land?" "Lotus-land as it appears in 'Free Will' is simply a metaphor for an idealized background, a 'land of milk and honey.' It is sometimes also used as a pejorative name for Los Angeles, though that was not in my mind when I wrote it." - Neil Peart Lotus-land is mentioned in an episode in "The Odyssey" where Odysseus goes to the land of the lotus-eaters, where the people hang out and eat lotus petals or some such and are perfectly happy but are basically brainless. I heard something about a song called "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Apparently it was supposed to be on _Permanent Waves_, but was dropped. Is there a way to get a tape of it? According to _Visions_, it was never recorded. Some bits from it ended up in "Natural Science." = Questions about _Moving Pictures_ What building is on the cover of _Moving Pictures_? According to rkleiner@alfred.carleton.ca (Ron Kleiner): The building on the cover of _Moving Pictures_ is the current seat of the Government of Ontario, at Queen's Park. What do the pictures on the MP cover mean? "When Hugh Syme was developing the multitude of puns for the cover, he wanted the guys 'moving pictures' to have some 'moving pictures' to be moving past the people who were 'moved' by the 'picture' - get it? So he asked us to think of some ideas for these pictures. The 'man descending to hell' is actually a woman - Joan of Arc - being burned at the stake (as per 'Witch Hunt'), and the card-playing dogs are there because it was a funny, silly idea - one of the most cliche'd pictures we could think of - a different kind of 'moving picture.'" - Neil Peart, in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter What is "Tom Sawyer" about? "I've been avoiding most of the questions that ask for explanations for different songs, as really the song is meant to do the explaining for me! But since you ask so nicely ... 'Tom Sawyer' was a collaboration between myself and Pye Dubois, an excellent lyricist who wrote the lyrics for Max Webster. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful. I added the themes of reconciling the boy and man in myself, and the difference between what people are and what others perceive them to be - namely me I guess." - Neil Peart, in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter My _Moving Pictures_ CD is missing the first half second or so from "Tom Sawyer." Can I get a new one? Yes. Here's the address for PolyGram QA: Cecilia E. Schultz Customer Service / Warranty Department PolyGram Group Distribution, Inc. 6220 Churchman Bypass Indianapolis, IN 46203 Phone: (800) 428-4437 Fax: (317) 788-1803 The following was posted in TNMS #1092 by SGSNYDER@WNP2.COM (SNYDER, STEVE G.) and has not been verified by me: I spoke to Polygram on April 26, 1995, and the address I was given to return the defective CDs to is: Attn: Celie / Warranty Dept PGM 9999 E 121 Street Fishers, IN 46038 My _Moving Pictures_ CD contains pictures of Geddy and Alex, but not Neil. Why is this? Can I get a CD with all 3 pictures? I have no information about why the picture of Neil is missing from the Mercury CD of _Moving Pictures_. The missing picture is present in the liner notes for the MFSL gold CD of this album. Who is Pye Dubois? Pye Dubois was the lyricist for Max Webster. "Tom Sawyer" began life as a Max Webster song called "Louis The Warrior," but Pye gave the lyrics to Neil after "Battlescar" was recorded. Pye also helped Neil write "Force Ten." What is a barchetta? The barchetta is a type of Ferrari race car. Barchetta is actually pronounced "Barketta", according to 2 Italian friends of mine. Another source of information is: "The Complete Ferrari" by Godfrey Eaton; 1986 by Cadogan Books Ltd. Where can I get a copy of "A Nice Morning Drive," by Richard S. Foster? It was printed in the November 1973 issue of "Road & Track" magazine. It is also available for FTP on syrinx.umd.edu in the rush/transcriptions/rush-related directory. What does "YYZ" mean? YYZ is the transmitter code for Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport. Every airport is assigned a unique 3 letter code, and that code is always being transmitted so that pilots can tell, roughly, where they are and verify that their navigational radios are tuned properly. These codes are also written on your luggage tags when you fly. The intro to the song is Morse code for "YYZ." John Ambrose has pointed out that "YYZ" is actually pronounced "Y Y Zed" in Canada. This is documented in _Visions_. How does Neil play plywood? "Well you wear gloves so as not to get splinters, you take a piece of 1/4" plywood, and smack it down HARD on the top of a wooden stool. Very demanding, technically - took years of practice." - Neil Peart At 8:54 and 8:56 in "The Camera Eye," there are some mumblings that I can't quite make out. Does anybody know for sure what is being said? (These mumblings are at 8:55 and 8:57 in the MFSL gold pressing of _Moving Pictures_.) No. {The first time I posted this FAQ, I received no fewer than 8 emails from people who claimed to know exactly what is being said there. Unfortunately, none of them agreed with each other, which tells me that at least 7 of them were wrong, so I'm only going to change this answer if somebody can come up with proof that they are right, such as an interview or magazine article. People don't seem to understand the last sentence very well, so here's the rephrased version: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT send me mail saying "I've listened to "The Camera Eye" a zillion times, and I know you said you want proof, but I know what I hear." I will ignore your email unless you can say something like "In issue X of magazine Y, band member Z said that those mumblings were..." I'll repeat that. DO NOT send me mail on this subject without a written source to back up what you say. I will ignore your mail if you do not have a written source. I will not consider your email to be a correction to the FAQ. Sending me mail like this will be a waste of your time. Don't do it.} What is the mob saying at the beginning of "Witch Hunt"? "It is purposely mixed so that you cannot understand what is being said, but the tenor of the situation, the hatred, the ill will, and the fear comes through loud and clear. This effect was created by emptying the studio (in the middle of a snowy night) of production staff, road crew and band, and depositing everyone in the cold outside the isolated facility. With tape recorders rolling, Neil gave his best fanatic's speech, gradually getting more and more whipped up as everyone involved let themselves get carried away." - from _Visions_ Here's how Alex Lifeson described that session in an interview called "In The Studio" from the MP era. "We went outside of Le Studio and it was so cold, it was really cold; we were well into December by then, I think. We were all out there. We put a couple of mics outside. We started ... rauw, raew, wrow ... (starts mumbling), ranting and raving. We did a couple of tracks of that. I think we had a bottle of Scotch or something with us to keep us warm. So as the contents of the bottle became less and less, the ranting and raving took on a different flavor and you got little lines of ... you remember Roger Ramjet (sp?), the cartoon Roger Ramjet? What was the bad guy's name ... his gang of hoods, they always had these little things they would say whenever they were mumbling ... mrrblaarrr ... mrrblaarrr ... crauss. It started to take all this ... we were in the control room after we had layed down about twelve tracks of mob - in hysterics. Every once in awhile you'd hear somebody say something really stupid." What is that thing on Neil's chest in the "Vital Signs" video? It's a microphone. A PZM, to be exact. It was used in an attempt to get the drums to be recorded the way Neil hears them. Has anybody noticed that Geddy says "Everybody got to evelate from the norm" at the end of "Vital Signs"? Yes. = Questions about _Exit ... Stage Left_ Has anybody noticed that the ESL cover photo contains stuff from all of the band's previous studio albums? Yes. Here's the list: "Rush" from the first album on the side of a box The owl from FBN Picture of back cover of COS Man w/star logo from 2112 The puppet king from AFTK The businessman from HEM The naked guy from HEM The lady off the cover of PEW Two movers from MP What does Geddy say just before "Jacob's Ladder" on ESL? "We'd like to do an old song for you right now ... This was done a long time ago by the [possibly "that"] old T.C. Broonsie. This is called 'Jacob's Ladder.'" - thanks to Michael Sensor Who is T.C. Broonsie? Terry Brown. = Questions about _Signals_ What is the _Signals_ cover supposed to mean? "Well, I was given the word "Signals." It was such a broad concept that it was baffling for all of us. We really had trouble with that one, and I decided that, with such a phenomenally important word with the kind of potency it potentially had, to go with something really dumb, really inane. But something which would still tie in with songs such as "Chemistry," and the subdivision aspect of the fire hydrants, lawns, and neighborhood dogs." - Hugh Syme In an effort to explain the _Signals_ sleeve, Geddy states: "Well, we wanted the album to sound different and we also thought that the packaging should have a different feel. When we were talking about _Signals_, Hugh had this concept of taking the idea down to a basic human level - territorial or even sexual. So that's how the design with the dog and the fire hydrant came about. The little map on the back features make-believe subdivisions, with a lot of silly names and places. The red dots represent all the fire hydrants and basically the whole thing maps out a series of territories." - from _Success Under Pressure_ I just picked up the MFSL CD of _Signals_, and I've noticed that some lyrics are omitted in "The Weapon". Has anybody else noticed this, and why did this happen? Yes, other people have noticed this. You're not the first one to notice it, and you're not imagining it. I sent email to mofi@mofi.com to find out the definitive word, and here is the reply I received: >The master tapes, which were provided to us directly from the Rush offices >in Canada, did not include these vocals. Apparently, these vocals were >edited in at a later time. Who is the writer in "Losing It" about? Neil discusses this song in _Modern Drummer_ magazine, in the April 1984 issue. The writer represents Ernest Hemingway. The dancer "... drew a bit from that film with Shirley MacLaine called _The Turning Point_ ..." Who are Young and Crippen? They were the astronauts on the first shuttle flight. What are the voices at the end of "Countdown" saying? - This is a combination of what several people (the list is getting too long) think the end sequence on 'Countdown' goes like... PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER(PAO) - Columbia is now reaching precise window in space for main engine cutoff Mark - 2 minutes, 40 seconds...Columbia now 39 nautical miles altitude, 42 nautical miles downrange... CAPSULE COMMUNICATOR (CAPCOM) - Columbia you're lookin' a little hot, and all your calls'll be a little early... PAO - Young and Crippen really moving out now velocity now reading sixty-two hundred feet per second CREW - What a view, what a view! CAPCOM - Glad you're enjoying it CREW - Jay, how does it all look? CAPCOM - Columbia, Houston, er, we have forty seconds still... left; configure LOS, you're looking good for an over the hill, we'll see you in Madrid. And we enjoyed the music Bob, thank ya. CREW - Ah, we enjoyed it, we just wanted to share something with ya And Fletch says "LOS, if I remember my brief bout with 'shuttle & space frenzy', is Loss Of Signal". This apparently is when signal loses contact with ground control due to some kind of 'blind spot' - when the shuttle went somewhere over Madrid, in this case, they'd get signal back. None of us is really, totally certain about much of this, but I, for one, reckon it's about right. Bob's comments: Fletch is generally right, but what really happened was back in the first days of the shuttle program, there were only ground based antennas for communications with the shuttle. (as opposed to satellites which provide communication about 80-90% of the time today) The shuttle would lift off and be in contact with the ground until it went over the horizon from the antenna site, hence the term "over the hill". The next station to contact the shuttle orbiter would be in Madrid, Spain. Therefore, "see you in Madrid" is the term used. "Configure LOS" means that the crew would throw a switch in the cockpit to stop the shuttle from receiving signals from the ground to its computers until such time as they knew they were over the next ground site. Why? Because the shuttle at that time didn't have the signal decryption equipment on board that it has today. Anyone could have sent commands to the shuttle (perhaps a soviet trawler in the Atlantic, or some genius kid who built a homemade radio to talk with the shuttle) If you can command to the shuttle you can do all sorts of undesirable things. Things have changed a lot today, we only go over the hill once per orbit, instead of five or six times, and there's encryption/decryption devices on board the orbiter to prevent undesired communications with it. Another point: Astronaut Dan Brandenstein was the CAPCOM for the first shuttle launch. = Questions about _Grace Under Pressure_ Is that crackling noise about 10-20 seconds into "Distant Early Warning" on the _Grace Under Pressure_ CD supposed to be there, or is my copy defective? It's supposed to be there. There is a rumbling at that point on the _A Show Of Hands_ CD and on the _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video, but people without subwoofers may be unable to detect it. Who was Absalom? He was a character from the Bible, son of King David (the one who killed Goliath). He killed his half-brother for raping their half-sister. Then, he tried to over-throw David and get the throne. A battle resulted, and (against David's wishes) Absalom was killed by King David's Mighty Men, when his hair was caught in a tree and suspended him above the ground. David grieved for his son by lamenting, "Absalom, Absalom, my son." I have thought about this story's connection quite a bit. Perhaps it is about David, and how he had the "weight of the world" on his shoulders and he was worrying about Absalom. -- from Teri Piatt (tpiatt@lazy.helios.nd.edu) To quote Neil: "Before I ever knew who or what Absalom was, I always loved the sound of it. I had thought perhaps it was an ancient prayer or something. There is a book by William Faulkner called _Absalom, Absalom_, which, again, I loved the sound of. I wanted to put it in the song, as a play on words with 'absolute' and 'obsolete,' but I thought I'd better find out for sure what it meant. So I called my wife and asked her to look it up in the encyclopedia. When I learned the real story, and its Biblical roots, I decided that it was still appropriate, as it was the ultimate expression of compassion, which is what the song was really about. 'Absalom, Absalom. My son, my son. Would God I had died for thee.' (Now don't anyone go reading any religion into that!)" Who is the boy in the "Distant Early Warning" video? He was thought to be Geddy's son, Julian, but this is apparently NOT the case. Is "Afterimage" about anybody in particular? The song is about Robbie Whelan, a good friend of the band who died in a car accident. He has the "Right Field" credit in the _Signals_ liner notes. What is "Red Sector A" about? Red Sector A is the area the band watched a shuttle launch from. On the other hand ... In the July 1985 Backstage Club mailing, Neil Peart said that, "It is one of the 'grace under pressure' themes which captured my imagination on the last album, and is not meant to portray a specific human atrocity, although many of the historical accounts which inspired it were of course set in World War II. There have been many periods of slavery and mass imprisonment in the world and also many fictional accounts of the future. I was thinking of all these things, and wanted to try to express something timeless enough to encompass them all." What songs make up the "Fear" trilogy? The "Fear" trilogy consists of: Part 1: The Enemy Within (Grace Under Pressure) Part 2: The Weapon (Signals) Part 3: Witch Hunt (Moving Pictures) Has this trilogy ever been performed live? Yes. It's on the _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video. Why do the songs appear in reverse order? "It's really kind of strange how it turned out, and it's not meant to be as mysterious and clever as it looks. It was more accidental. At the time of _Moving Pictures_, I had actually sketched out each of the three songs in my notebook and talked to the other guys about them and what I was going to go for, but the easiest one for me to clarify in my mind and in words was 'Witch Hunt,' because it was the simplest concept to deal with, and then 'The Weapon' came next because my thinking led up to that point, but in fact a couple snatches of lyrics and even both of the verses for 'The Enemy Within' were written as long ago as that, and all of the titles and everything were fixed on, and what I wanted to write about, but 'The Enemy Within' was the most difficult one to deal with, so it ended up being the last one done, so they happened to go in the order 3-2-1." - Neil Peart, in an interview on KGB 101 FM, San Diego, 10/2/84 What is the significance of 1001001 in "The Body Electric?" In the video, the protagonist is a prisoner attempting to escape from some sort of prison. The number on his uniform is 1001001. Many people have converted this number into decimal and noticed that ASCII 73 is a capital I and read significance into that, but I've never seen anything "official" on the subject. My _opinion_ is that 1001001 was used because it fits and sounds neat. = Questions about _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video Who is Count Floyd? He was a character on the Canadian TV show SCTV {similar to "Saturday Night Live"}. The Count Floyd character had a show that featured really bad movies {movies so bad that even Elvira wouldn't show them}. Beau Dure has told me that Count Floyd was played by Joe Flaherty. I have not verified this information, but ALTTED@delphi.com did. Kevin Williams told me that Frank Zappa confirms this in his _The Real Frank Zappa Book_ autobiography. = Questions about _Power Windows_ Has anybody noticed that _Power Windows_ is "brought to you by the letter M"? Yes. We've noticed the similar accreditations in _Presto_ and _Roll The Bones_, too. Why is _Power Windows_ brought to us by the letter M? From the April 1992 Kerrang interview: "That started on _Power Windows_," recalls Alex, "when we were sequencing the tracks and Neil commented that 50 percent of the songs began with an 'M' - 'Marathon,' 'Manhattan Project,' 'Middletown Dreams,' and 'Mystic Rhythms.' It's as innocent as that. It's nothing to do with 'Sesame Street'!" "We throw a lot of silly little things into the credits," shrugs Geddy, "little inside jokes. It's just an immature habit we developed!" = Questions about _Hold Your Fire_ What do the three spheres on the _Hold Your Fire_ cover represent? "It's so difficult to describe the album cover because you want to leave a little bit of mystery, and you want it to be interpreted by the person who is holding the thing in front of them. So I'm really not going to say too much about what the cover says to me, but it's nothing extremely mystical or anything. It has nothing to do with brown rice." - Geddy Lee, on "Rockline," 10/5/87 How many Rush symbols are there in the _Hold Your Fire_ inside photo? It has been suggested that the newspapers on the steps may have "Dewey Defeats Truman" headlines. Unfortunately, the headlines aren't visible, even in the big print of the picture in the HYF tourbook. the fire hydrant from "Signals" the TV from "Power Windows" the clock indicating 9:12 (21:12 military time) the number 15 on the main building - in the "Hold Your Fire" tour book, they mentioned that this was their 15th album to date. the juggler is clearly holding his fire. at the very far left, underneath the chains, is a trunk with the logo from their first album. This was spotted on a 12-inch picture disk from the album. It cannot be seen in many other versions of the picture. The Chinese neon sign above the restaurant reads "Tai-Shan." A friend told me that the car is a Mercury, but I don't know this for sure. Look right off of the juggler's right shoulder in the open window. There is someone's hand shown holding a pistol. SMayelvis@aol.com sent me the following description of this one: >The gun barrel is pointing at you and the hand >looks like the hand of Uncle Sam in the "I Want You" posters. In one of the upper right hand windows of the right hand most apartment building you can see part of the head and crown of the Statue of Liberty who we all know holds a burning torch in her right hand. The arches on the building are suspiciously similar to the MP cover. Special mention goes to nth@cs.brown.edu (Nate Huang) for the most obscure observation yet: "The restaurant sign has the same recognizable font style as the lettering on the Grace Under Pressure cover." {Yes, I know it's not exactly the same. Please don't tell me that again.} Leaning against the trash can in the front is an oxford shoe, just like the one the girl wears on the ESL cover. The back side of the owl on FBN is resembled on the lamp post on the far right side. (Only on the CD and tour book) {I think this is pushing it a little, but I can see how one might see it as an owl ... Dan} A copy of the painting on the far left on MP is wrapped up in cloth and leaning against the front steps. How did Pye Dubois come to be involved with "Force Ten"? What does the title of that song mean? "It was more or less an afterthought in the writing stage. We took two months to do all of our writing and preproduction, you know, preparation for the making of the record, and we had nine songs, and we had about a day and a half left of time booked before we were supposed to leave and get ready to make the record. And our producer and all of us were pushing for ten tracks on the album, and some lyrics had been submitted to us by a friend of ours, Pye Dubois, who co-wrote 'Tom Sawyer' with us in years gone by. And Neil was able to put some of his own thoughts to one of the songs that he had and present it to us in the morning of the last day that we were there, and we loved the results, so we got together and brainstormed for about 2 or 3 hours, and we had Force Ten." - Geddy Lee, on "Rockline," 10/5/87 Gregg Jaeger (jaeger@buphy.bu.edu) sent me this tidbit: In the _Presto_ mailing from the Backstage Club a writer asks: "What does the title 'Force Ten' refer to?" and Neil responds: "The Beaufort scale - look it up!" {Yes, I know that the definition of the Beaufort scale could be put here in this file. It won't be. Don't bother to type it in and send it to me. I won't put it in the FAQ. Why, you ask? Well, if Neil told us to look it up, who am I to ruin the surprise? So look it up - you'll like it. } Has Aimee Mann ever appeared live with Rush? How are her vocals in "Time Stand Still" reproduced live? Paul DeCarli, who has worked with Rush on their last 3 tours as a systems operator (edits and programs all the samplers that are triggered from the stage), sent me the following info on this subject: Aimee's voice comes from an audio track of the film that is projected behind the band. TSS is one of the few songs played to a click track for visual and audio track synchronization. Should there be a problem with the film (projector difficulties) the band plays on and Geddy triggers the identical parts from samples. What film are the clips in the "Lock And Key" video and the _A Show Of Hands_ laserdisc, just before "Lock And Key," from? It's called _The Last Mile_. It can be purchased as part of the Video Film Classics series from Video Classics Inc. and Kartes Video Communications Inc. What is "Tai Shan" about? "Tai' Shan" (from _Hold Your Fire_) is the name of an actual "holy mountain" in China. The mythical (?) emperor Huang Ti had so much power that he was able to summon all the spirits of the world to him on top of Tai' Shan to proclaim his power. Legend has it that if you climb to the top of this mountain and "raise your hands to heaven," you _will_ live to be at least 100 years old. Neil wrote these lyrics while sitting at the top of the mountain. = Questions about _A Show Of Hands_ What does Geddy have sitting on his keyboards in the _A Show Of Hands_ video? According to Dan Dickerman : >I have yet to find a clear shot of the dolls, but from what I can decipher >it seems he has 6 dolls and a brandy snifter (with cash, of course) >distributed onto 2 keyboards: nearest the snifter is Boris Badenov >(Bullwinkle fame) and further to our left is a group of 3 consisting >of Rocky the Flying Squirrel (Bullwinkle), a toy robot, and something >that looks vaguely like a cowboy drawing both pistols (knees bent, etc). > >[ I think this last one might be Roger (?) Kneebend, one of Julian's old > toys, which the group sort of adopted as a mascot during the recording > sessions. I'll try to find the reference to him ... :rush-mgr ] > >On the other keyboard (facing the front of the stage) is a thinner toy >robot and (this one's really a ballpark guess) a cartoon dog (though >none that I recognize) that is acting the part of the gracious waiter. What is the round thing on Alex's guitar in the _A Show Of Hands_ video? Here's what rjf@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu says it is: That circular "thing" on Alex's guitar is a patrol patch used by some Boy Scouts. That particular one is the "panther" patrol patch. What is happening during the "censored" section of the _A Show Of Hands_ video? "That's kind of a joke, but it doesn't seem like many people are getting that joke. Actually, Alex, at certain parts of that song, would just start rambling into the microphone - all kinds of various nonsense, and it actually never got recorded anywhere. So no one had any idea, including him, what he had actually said. But we loved the shot of him just ranting into this microphone, so we decided we would put up this bogus 'radioactive' warning about the fact that we had 'censored' what he had said, and we thought we did it in kind of an obvious way - it looked like it was phony, because we put the radioactivity symbols right on the screen, but nobody seems to be getting that." - Geddy Lee, in the 12/4/89 "Rockline" interview Alex laughs. "I'm not singing, it's more spontaneous babbling! You get kinda goofy at the end of a show, especially near the end of a lengthy tour. That was just crazy rambling, verbal farting. It was Geddy's idea to put it on the video." - Alex Lifeson, in the April 1992 _Kerrang_ interview In the _A Show Of Hands_ video, does Geddy really say "Catch the fish?" Yes, he does. I received the following explanation from Steve Gadless on Sept 23 1994: In response to the question regarding Geddy's singing of, "Catch the fish" in Tom Sawyer, I read the answer in an issue of A Show of Fans. [ The article was apparently in issue #5. ] What happened is that the road crew had been torturing Neil for the entire Moving Pictures tour by leaving fish everywhere. Neil would show up for a sound check and there would be a fish on his snare drum. After the show, the band would return to their dressing rooms and there would be a fish in Neil's. The re would be fish EVERYWHERE Neil looked. In short, he was being tormented by fish. At the sound check of one of the shows, Neil got fed up and took the fish off his snare drum and threw it away. Little did he know that when he did that, the road crew was telling Alex and Geddy to watch their feet during Tom Sawyer. A few of the roadies had retrieved the discarded fish and slit it open so that it would fit on top of a remote control car they had bought. When the band was playing Tom Sawyer that night, onto the stage drives this fish. Upon seeing it, Alex and Geddy both cracked up and Neil actually stopped playing to watch this fish go by. Coincidentally, this occured at the "Catch the spit" portion of the song. From that day on, anytime the band has performed the song, Geddy has said, "Catch the fish". the _A Show Of Hands_ video, has anybody noticed that Alex's guitar keeps changing? Yes. This has been discussed several times in TNMS. The _A Show Of Hands_ video was filmed during a 3-night concert series at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. Test footage was shot the first night. The majority of the video comes from the second night, but several shots were used from the third night's performance. In some cases, this was because the shots taken on the second night weren't quite right, but in a few places, like the beginning of _2112_, it was Geddy having fun in the editing stage. Yes, Alex does break a string at the end of "Tom Sawyer," but the guitar changes more than once, so it isn't just Alex swapping in a new guitar. = Questions about _Presto_ What are the hands in the _Presto_ liner doing? They are making scissors, paper, and stone, like in the children's game. There is a discussion of the scissors/paper/stone symbols in the Presto tour book. This is paraphrased in TNMS #212. What is "Chain Lightning" about? "I'm a weather fanatic - I really love weather, and I watch the weather and look for a good weatherman. And, one night I was watching it, and there are two incidents in that song that are synchronicity to one weather report, where the weatherman showed a picture of sun dogs, and described them, and they are just two little points of light that appear at sunset, often in the winter when the sky is clear and crystalline, and they are like little prisms, and they sit about ten degrees north and south of the setting sun, and they are just beautiful little diamonds of light, and often times there's a circle of light - one line, that connects them. So they are a really beautiful natural phenomenon, and I love the name too. 'Sun dogs' just has a great sound to it. And in that same weather forecast, the weatherman announced a meteor shower that night, and so my daughter and I went out on the lake in the middle of the night and watched this meteor shower. So the whole idea of the song was response and how people respond to things, and it's a thing I've found a lot in traveling around the world, too. It's not enough just to travel and see things. You have to respond to them - you have to feel them, and a lot of the thrust of that song is how things are transferred, like chain lightning or enthusiasm or energy or love are things that are contagious, and if someone feels them, they are easily transferrable to another person, or in the case of watching a meteor shower, it's made more special if there is someone else there. 'Reflected in another pair of eyes' is the idea that it's a wonderful thing already, just you and the meteor shower, but if there's someone else there with you to share it, then it multiplies, you know, it becomes exponentially a bigger experience, so response is a theme that recurs in several of the songs and was one of my probably dominant sub-themes in the writing." - Neil Peart, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD What is "The Pass" about? "There was a lot I wanted to address in that song, and it's probably one of the hardest ones I've ever written. I spent a lot of time on it, refining it, and even more doing research. There was one song previously, called 'Manhattan Project' where I wanted to write about the birth of the nuclear age. Well, easier said than done, especially when [writing] lyrics, you've got a couple of hundred words to say what you want to say. So each word counts, and each word had better be accurate, and so I found in the case of the Manhattan Project, I was having to go back and read histories of the time, histories of the place, biographies of all the people involved, and that's not without its own rewards, but it's a lot of work to go to to write a song - having to read a dozen books and collate all your knowledge and experience just so you can write, you know, if it says the scientists were in the desert sands, well, make sure they were and why, and all that. So with this song it was the same. I felt concerned about it, but, at the same time, I didn't want the classic thing of 'Oh, life's not so bad, you know, it's worth living' and all that. I didn't want one of those pat, kind of cliched, patronizing statements, so I really worked hard to find out true stories, and among the people that I write to are people who are going to universities, to MIT, and collecting stories from them about people they had known and what they felt, and why the people had taken this desperate step and all of that and trying really hard to understand something that, fundamentally, to me is totally un-understandable. I just can't relate to it at all, but I wanted to write about it. And the facet that I most wanted to write about was to de-mythologize it - the same as with 'Manhattan Project' - it de-mythologized the nuclear age, and it's the same thing with this facet - of taking the nobility out of it and saying that yes, it's sad, it's a horrible, tragic thing if someone takes their own life, but let's not pretend it's a hero's end. It's not a triumph. It's not a heroic epic. It's a tragedy, and it's a personal tragedy for them, but much more so for the people left behind, and I really started to get offended by the samurai kind of values that were attached to it, like here's a warrior that felt it was better to die with honor, and all of that kind of offended me. I can understand someone making the choice; it's their choice to make. I can't relate to it, and I could never imagine it, for myself, but still I thought it's a really important thing to try to get down." - Neil Peart, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD What is "Scars" about? "I think it's part of everyone's experience that a certain record reflects a certain period of their life, and that's a pleasurable scar, you know, there's a mark left on you, a psychological fingerprint left by a very positive experience. And music is an easy one, but it translates to so many other parts of life where it's a given that, for instance, the sense of smell is one of the strongest forces in your memory, where a given smell will suddenly conjure up a whole time of your life, and again, it triggers another scar, it triggers another psychological imprint that was left by a pleasurable thing. So it was just, again, the metaphor of scars and using it to say that, as the song does, that these are positive and negative aspects of life that have both left their mark. Trying to make it universal, it's not autobiographical, and I took a whole autobiographical story of my own and made it one line, basically, but there are other things in there, parts of life that I've responded to in a sense of joy, and in a sense of compassion, and there's the exaltation of walking down a city street and feeling like you're above the pavement, and Christmas in New York is the perfect time to feel that, really, where you just get charged up by the whole energy and the positive feelings of it all." - Neil Peart, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD What is the song "Anagram (for Mongo)" about? "It doesn't really say one thing; it says a bunch of little things, and I think that's OK as long as it sounds good. You know, as long as it rolls off the tongue kind of thing? So I think different songs are different exercises, to a degree, and I think that if they feel like exercises, then there's something wrong with the song. But if they can slip by in a kind of cohesive and fluid way, or if the effect is to be disjoint, and sometimes that's what you're after. Sometimes you want it to be jarring and disjointed and nonsensical. I think it depends on what you're trying to do, and whether you've achieved it in your mind, and whether it actually worked, and 'Anagram,' I think, did work, even though it's a game - the whole song is a game. The choruses are quite smooth and quite interesting, and they have a nice sound to them and they kind of mock the whole song itself, so I think it was effective there." - Geddy Lee, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD Has anybody noticed that "Anagram (for Mongo)" contains lots of anagrams? Yes. {I resisted putting this into the FAQ for a long time, since this seems to be about as shocking as pointing out that "The Big Money" is about, of all things, money, or that "Countdown" is about a launch. But it shows up in TNMS every once in a while. Dan} It has been pointed out to me that, according to the Oxford definition of an anagram, this song contains very few anagrams. To form a true anagram, you have to use all of the letters in one word to make another. What does (for Mongo) after "Anagram" on the "Presto" album mean? It's a joke from the movie _Blazing Saddles_, referring to the "Candygram for Mongo" scene, according to Geddy on "Rockline" 12/4/89. What is "Red Tide" about? "It's a bit of a selfish concern, really. I really love wildlife, and I spend a lot of my time in the outdoors when I'm not working, so that's important to me. One of my main hobbies is cycling, so air quality kind of becomes of critical importance. So it is a selfish thing, and it's something I've written about before, on the previous album - the song 'Second Nature'. So, again, you want to say things in a way that is not only not preachy, but also not boring. So finding the images like 'Second Nature' - I was really fond of that analogy of saying 'we want our homes to be a second nature', you know. That was, again, taking a common phrase and being able to twist it to say what you want it to say. So, with 'Red Tide' it was a little more adamant, because I think the time is a little more critical, and I had to be firmer about it, but still there are ways of getting at it, and to me there are jokes in there, too, that probably no one in the world will ever get, but in the first verse, when I'm talking about 'Nature's new plague' and then 'Lovers pausing at the bedroom door to find an open store' and all that, to me that was obviously referring to AIDS, but it was the irony of modern life, you know, where spontaneous love still certainly does occur, but here are two lovers who have just met in the middle of the night, and they have to go find a store before they can consummate their new relationship, you know, and to me, when I put those things down, I have a smile, but I know that it's one that will never be shared." - Neil Peart, on the _Rush-Profiled!_ CD = Questions about _Roll The Bones_ Who does the RTB spoken "rap" section? Geddy Lee, according to Neil on the 12/2/1991 "Rockline". Who is the boy in the RTB video and on the RTB cover? According to "The New Music Magazine" 11/11/91, his name is Michael Vander Veldt. Is there a "Gangster of Boats" trilogy? No songs other than "Where's My Thing?" are labeled as being part of this trilogy. But why is "Where's My Thing" labeled as Part IV of the trilogy? "Strictly an inside joke, in the sense that the other two guys keep threatening that if I don't come up with an album title in time, they're gonna call it 'Gangster of Boats,' for reasons best known to them. And then the joke in that, of course, is it's 'Part IV of a trilogy', so we thought that was apropos." - Neil Peart, "Rockline," 12/2/91 "The Gangster of Boats thing is just.. it's a joke. We've decided tonight that it's not a very funny joke because because people keep asking serious questions about it." -- Geddy Lee, in the January 24, 1994 "Rockline" interview Is there a reason for the arrangement of the numbers on the dice on the RTB cover? "No order-just descending into chaos." -- from the Counterparts release January 1994 Backstage Newsletter Has anybody noticed that the "Gangster of Boats" is mentioned in the HYF liner notes? Yes. What does the pattern of skulls and bones at the bottom of the inside front cover of the RTB tourbook mean? Is there a pattern to it? It's Morse code for "Remember Death." = Questions about _Counterparts_ Is there any connection between "Where's My Thing" and "Leave That Thing Alone?" Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson discussed this during the _Counterparts_ world premiere: GL: Only that the fact that they both have "things" in the title. AL: Yeah, and they're on our records. GL: The "things" are different are different things. AL: It's not the same thing. GL: It's not the same thing. Really, you have to say, "It's just not the same thing." AL: No, no... it's just a... thing. GL: It's a different thing. AL: A totally different thing GL: Yeah. What do the strings of ones and zeroes in the _Counterparts_ liner notes mean? No official explanation has been released. If you can find an interview with somebody connected to the band explaining it, let me know and I'll update the FAQ, but DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, send me your pet theories without an "official" source to back you up. What is "Animate" about? "I hope that it's going to be clear that it's about one person. It's set up on purpose a little bit vague to sound like it might be about a relationship between two people, and almost a love song in a sense. But, that became such a cliche certainly through the '80s, of the modern sensitive man, and it was wrong in many ways. I draw upon my research, if you like, on this, everywhere from Carl Jung to Camille Paglia, about what the modern man was supposed to be. And to many people in the '80s, the modern man was supposed to be a woman, and you know, to be sensitive and nurturing, and all, and to completely lose the masculine side of the character, the "animus". So, just in the reading about that and the thinking about that, and observing certainly people around me, and how they behave and how the pretended to be ... how they pretended they really were, and so on. It became a bit of an act of men pretending to be more sensitive than they actually were, and sometimes women pretending to be more aggressive than they actually were. So, it was basically pleading for a balance of that; I feel that, yes, men do have a large female component to their characters, as it can only be. It's natural, again as counterparts we are both duplicates and opposites. The Oxford dictionary definition of the word includes both of those things. So, that's definitely true of genders as well, and in the song I was trying to get at the idea of that you can be both strong and sensitive; you can be both ambitious and soft, really, but not to deny either and to keep them in balance. So the dominance and submission metaphor had to come into play, but I used it again of a person dominating himself, in this case, because it's a man. He's dominating his softer side, but at the same time he also has to dominate his "a" words -- the aggression, and the ambition, and the traditional biological male things, which in spite of all modern sociological changes, we are in the last 20 or 30 years of sexual revolution, trying to change tens of thousands of years of human evolution: really, men as the hunter and woman as a nurturer. So, those things have to be recognized, and yes we can change them, we've changed a lot of things. You know, we used to be comfortable with slavery and call ourselves Christians; that's changed now. There are definitely changes we can make in acting more civilized, but at the same time it's foolish to deny that which courses through our veins. So the song really tries to reconcile that very complicated and also very topical thing." -- Neil Peart, From world premiere of _Counterparts_, aired 10/14/93, sent to me by jfurry@newbridge.com (Jeffrey Furry) What is "Stick it Out" about? "It's just a play on the words, really. "Stick It Out" meaning both a kind of arrogant display, "stick it out", but also the endurance thing; if you have a difficult thing to endure, stick it out and you get to the end. It was the pun on both of those, really, so again the duality in the song is a bit leaning both ways. The sense of forbearance, of holding back, and also the idea of fortitude: stick it out, you know, survive. But that was more of a piece of fun, that song I would say, both lyrically and musically it verges on parody, and that was one I think we just had fun with, and lyrically I certainly did, too. "Stick it out" and "spit it out" and all that was just a bit of word play." -- Neil Peart, From world premiere of _Counterparts_, aired 10/14/93, sent to me by jfurry@newbridge.com (Jeffrey Furry) What is being said at the beginning of "Alien Shore"? Nobody has said anything official on the subject. Please don't send me your pet theories without sending me a reference to a band member interview to back you up. = Questions about _Test For Echo_ What is a mandola? It is a fretted, stringed instrument, closely related to the mandolin, and is typically tuned like a viola, C-G-D-A, from lowest to highest strings. The mandola, like the mandolin, has eight strings, organized into four pairs. What is said in the middle of _Limbo_? "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?", it's a quote from _Monster Mash_, by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers (No, I am not making this up!) Who is/was Sisyphus? According to Greek legend, Sisyphus was a king of Corinth who was condemned to forever roll a huge stone uphill that always rolled down again. What is the meaning of "Brought to you by the letter R-r-r-r?" It's not an echo. It's actually a Scottish brogue, according to Alex. What do the runes on the edge of the _Test for Echo_ CD mean? Here's an answer from a NMS roving reporter: From: "Andrew Jennings" Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 20:11:08 -0400 Subject: Runes?, Glyphs? Inuit Writing! Yes, and finally Yes, the writing is from the Northern Canadian Arctic and is probably of an eastern dialect. Hi again... I live in Ottawa, Canada and so went to an Inuit based institution to settle this speculation on the writing on the "Test For Echo" CD. And again I found it pretty obvious that the writing was of Inuit origin since the figure on the front was of Inuit origin. (I am seriously not trying to sound all knowing or pompous here. It is just that I studied the northern people of Canada when I was in elementary school in the '70's and recognize the script/characters and symbols of the Inuit.) The writing is of the Northern Aboriginal peoples of the Arctic, and probably and eastern dialect. The translation is not exact, as the dialect was not exactly the same as the transators and as is often the case, a direct translation isn't always possible. So, it goes something like this..."Echo - we are watching for it" Now, my translator's are Inuit from the central area of the canadian arctic and said that some of the charactes did not directly match the dialect that they spoke and read but that this translation should be very close. They said that the word "watching" could also be, "waiting", or "listening" and that this was the difficult idea/expression to translate to english. After they gave me the translation I told them where the inuit writing was from and that the album was called "Test for Echo". I think that the translation is a pretty good way of describing what "Test For Echo" means. So, there we go. If anyone has anymore info on the exact dialect or such I would love to hear from them. Btw., Henry (the main translator) refers to the Inukshuk (you know, the stone man on the album cover) as just an inuti 'landmarker'. He had a Nunavut poster on his wall which had an Inukshuk as the symbol of his 'land'. That's all for now folks. [ I'd vote for "Echo -- we're listening for it". Anyone else have a chance to get this translated? Great work! : rush-mgr ] Andrew Jennings andrewj@magi.com ############################################################################## Please send me your suggestions for additions or corrections. But remember that FAQ stands for "Frequently Asked Questions", not "Obscure Rush Trivia".