LYRICS
"TOM SAWYER"
Words by Neil Peart and Pye DuBois,
Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
A modern-day warrior Mean mean stride Today's Tom Sawyer Mean mean
pride
Though his mind is not for rent
Don't put him down as arrogant
His reserve, a quiet defense
Riding out the day's events ---
The river
What you say about his company
Is what you say about society
--- Catch the mist --- Catch the myth
--- Catch the mystery --- Catch the drift
The world is the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his skies are wide
Today's Tom Sawyer He gets high on you And the space he invades He
gets by on you
No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful, yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent ---
But change is
What you say about his company
Is what you say about society
--- Catch the witness --- Catch the wit
--- Catch the spirit --- Catch the spit
The world is the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his eyes are wide
Exit the warrior Today's Tom Sawyer He gets high on you And the energy
you trade He gets right on to The friction of the day
"RED BARCHETTA"
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Inspired by 'A Nice Morning Drive', by Richard S. Foster
My uncle has a country place, that no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm, before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the 'Eyes' and hop the Turbine freight
To far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits.
Jump to the ground As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline Run
like the wind, As excitement shivers up and down my spine Down in
his barn My uncle preserved for me, an old machine --- For fifty-odd
years To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris, that hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta, from a better, vanished time
I fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime...
Wind in my hair --- Shifting and drifting --- Mechanical music ---
Adrenaline surge ---
Well-weathered leather Hot metal and oil The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome The blur of the landscape Every nerve aware
Suddenly, ahead of me, across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires, to run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley as another joins the chase
Drive like the wind Straining the limits of machine and man Laughing
out loud With fear and hope, I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge I leave the giants stranded At the riverside
Race back to the farm To dream with my uncle At the fireside...
"YYZ"
Music by Geddy Lee and Neil Peart
Instrumental
"LIMELIGHT"
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage
Cast in this unlikely role,
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact
Living in the limelight The universal dream For those who wish to
seem
Those who wish to be Must put aside the alienation Get on with the
fascination The real relation The underlying theme
Living in a fisheye lens
Caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend
All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage
"THE CAMERA
EYE"
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Grim-faced and forbidding
Their faces closed tight
An angular mass of New Yorkers
Pacing in rhythm
Race the oncoming night
They chase through the streets of Manhattan
Head-first humanity
Pause at a light
Then flow through the streets of the city
They seem oblivious To a soft spring rain Like an English rain So
light, yet endless From a leaden sky
The buildings are lost In their limitless rise My feet catch the
pulse And the purposeful stride
I feel the sense of possibilities
I feel the wrench of hard realities
The focus is sharp in the city
II
Wide-angle watcher
On life's ancient tales
Steeped in the history of London
Green and grey washes
In a wispy white veil
Mist in the streets of Westminster
Wistful and weathered
The pride still prevails
Alive in the streets of the city
Are they oblivious To this quality? A quality of light Unique to
every city's streets
Pavements may teem With intense energy But the city is calm In this
violent sea
"WITCH HUNT"
part III of 'Fear'
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
The night is black Without a moon The air is thick, and still
The vigilantes gather on The lonely torchlit hill
Features distorted in the flickering light
The faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right ---
Confident their ways are best
The righteous rise With burning eyes Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies To beat, and burn, and kill
They say there are strangers, who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness, too dangerous
In our theatres and bookstore shelves
That those who know what's best for us ---
Must rise and save us from ourselves
Quick to judge Quick to anger Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice And fear Walk hand in hand
"VITAL SIGNS"
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Unstable condition:
A symptom of life
In mental,
And environmental
Change
Atmospheric disturbance ---
The feverish flux,
Of human interface
And interchange
The impulse is pure --- Sometimes our circuits get shorted, By external
interference.
Signals get crossed --- And the balance distorted By internal incoherence
A tired mind become a shape-shifter
Everybody need a mood lifter
Everybody need reverse polarity
Everybody got mixed feelings
About the function and the form
Everybody got to deviate
From the norm
An ounce of perception ---
A pound of obscure,
Process information
At half speed
Pause:
Rewind --- replay ---
Warm memory chip
Random sample ---
Hold the one you need
Leave out the fiction --- The fact is; This friction, Will only be
worn by persistence
Leave out conditions --- Courageous convictions, Will drag the dream
into existence
A tired mind become a shape-shifter
Everybody need a soft filter
Everybody need reverse polarity
Everybody got mixed feelings
About the function and the form
Everybody got to elevate
From the norm
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