MOVING PICTURES

Released:  February 1981
Mercury/PolyGram


SONG LIST
  1. Tom Sawyer (4:33)
  2. Red Barchetta (6:06)
  3. YYZ (4:24)
  4. Limelight (4:19)
  5. The Camera Eye (10:56)
  6. Witch Hunt (4:43)
  7. Vital Signs (4:43)


ALBUM CREDITS

Geddy Lee - Bass guitars, Oberheim polyphonic, OB-X, Mini Moog, Taurus pedal synthesizers, vocals
Alex Lifeson - Six and twelve string electric and acoustic guitars, Taurus pedals
Neil Peart - Drums, timbales, gong bass drums, orchestra bells, glockenspiel, wind chimes, bell tree, crotales, cowbells, plywood

Produced by Rush and Terry Brown


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