Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage
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
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
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 fish eye lens
Caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend
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
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage
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
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
- Rush, "Limelight", 1981
versus
Begin the day
With a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude
Hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact
In your happy solitude
Invisible airwaves
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price
Almost free
Crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle
With the energy
Emotional feedback
On a timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price
Almost free
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah your honesty
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah your honesty
One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity, yeah
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity, yeah
And echoes with the sounds, of salesmen, of salesmen, of salesmen
- Rush, "The Spirit of Radio", 1980
Great observation, although Rush were not averse to glamming it up a bit in their day: https://www.rush.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2112-back-cover-600x600.jpg
ReplyDeleteChuck Eddy commented that the best line in Spirit of Radio is "shatter the illusion of integrity." In other words, integrity in rock was always just a myth.
I think Chuck misunderstands, or at least warps that line to fit his own beliefs ("selling out" = usually a good thing for music etc etc). My sense is that Rush - specifically Neil Peart - believe in the ideal of integrity, but they also know that the way of the world - the machinery of the rock business - will wear that down. So it's not that it is and always was an illusion, but that the odds are stacked against anyone trying to keep their integrity. That's why there's the tinge of desperation in the line "it's really just a question of your honesty, yeah your honesty".
ReplyDeleteI love just about every line in that song - "not so coldly charted" reminds me of that feeling you can get as a rock fan when you come across a copy of Billboard or Music Week and open it up and suddenly you see the way music is talked about, "heatseekers", units, marketing strategies etc etc - it's like if you were suddenly confronted by a cross-section of the internal organs and digestive tracts of your sweetheart. In its own way, a demystification that strips away all the glamour and romance surrounding music.
I like also the line "almost free" - like there is a utopian promise of music pointing to something that isn't yet realised.
he's a sharp lyricist, Peart ("Limelight" also ace) - the clarity of the way he sets things out is omparable to Gang of Four in a way - shame about the Ayn Rand infatuation though!