Hey-Aye!
Upfront, Konvict
Hey-Aye, OoO Yeaa!
I gotta find a way to get outta here
This ain’t the way that I wanna live, no
This ain’t the way somethin’ gotta give
In a rush, rush (gotta keep on movin’)
I’m in a rush, rush (gotta keep on movin’)
Cause I find myself on the fast track side to life, drivin’ me crazy
In the hood daylight to night and you can find me grindin’ daily
And it ain’t gon’ change as long as we getting money keep the same mind frame
Same hood, betta pop that thang, same big whip on the block same fly dame
Wit my lady just rollin’, with the sunshine and the wind blowin’
Gotta keep my mind cleared from all this crime hopefully one day learn from it, but
I gotta find a way to get outta here
This ain’t the way that I wanna live, no
This ain’t the way somethin’ gotta give
In a rush, rush (gotta keep on movin’)
I’m in a rush, rush (gotta keep on movin’)
Girl, it’s like I can’t see the sun, six in the mornin’ I’m still on the run
Day to the night rushin’ around town tryin’ to get this done for the case come down
Gotta feed my fate, face to face with no place to race except straight
I can feel them close on my heels, gotta keep goin’ so I’m takin’ the wheel
Tryin’ to outrun my fears, outrun my peers, outrun the killers and escape them years
Yet again, so I take out my pen and say “If you find this letter please pray for me”
I gotta find a way to get outta here
This ain’t the way that I wanna live, no
This ain’t the way somethin’ gotta give
In a rush, rush (gotta keep on movin’)
I’m in a rush, rush (gotta keep on movin’)
Now can you picture me growin’ up on the bad side of town
Where them outlaws are hangin’ out all the women get down
Where cash moneys the only answer to problems around
And if ya missin’ your people most likely they underground
This cruel world, this cruel world
Leave this town forever, break away and just start err
I gotta find a way to get outta here
This ain’t the way that I wanna live, no
This ain’t the way somethin’ gotta give
In a rush, rush (gotta keep on movin’)
Walk with me.
Open your sensitive mouth and talk to me.
Hold out your delicate hands and feel me,
Couldn't make any plans to conceal me.
Open your sensitive mouth,
Hold out your delicate hands,
With such a sensitive mouth,
I'm easy to see through.
When I come up, when I rush...
I rush for you.
Cry for you,
Seen the tears roll down from my eyes for you.
Heard my truth distorting to lies for you,
Watched my love becoming a prize for you.
Seen the tears in my eyes,
Heard my truth turn to lies.
Seen the tears in my eyes,
I'm not proud of what I do.
When I come up, when I rush...
I rush for you.
I come up to meet you up there somewhere,
When I rush to greet you my soul is bared.
Gave more for you, dropped my crutches
And crawled on the floor for you.
Went looking behind every door for you,
And because of the things that I saw for you.
I spiritually grew.
When I come up, when I rush...
There's no bread, let them eat cake
There's no end to what they'll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth
But they're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Free the dungeons of the innocent
The king will kneel and let his kingdom rise
Bloodstained velvet, dirty lace
Naked fear on every face
See them bow their heads to die
As we would bow as they rode by
And we're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Sing, oh choirs of cacophony
The king has kneeled, to let his kingdom rise
Lessons taught but never learned
All around us anger burns
Guide the future by the past
Long ago the mould was cast
For they marched up to Bastille Day
La guillotine claimed her bloody prize
Hear the echoes of the centuries
I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It's not ours to understand
The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil will take the rest
All is for the best
Believe in what we're told
Blind man in the market
Buying what we're sold
Believe in what we're told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death
In a world of cut and thrust
I was always taught to trust
In a world where all must fail
Heaven's justice will prevail
The joy and pain that we receive
Each comes with its own cost
The price of what we're winning
Is the same as what we've lost
Until our final breath
The joy and pain that we receive
Must be what we deserve
Ten score years ago, defeat the kingly foe
A wondrous dream came into being
Tame the trackless waste, no virgin land left chaste
All shining eyes, but never seeing
Beneath the noble bird
Between the proudest words
Behind the beauty, cracks appear
Once with heads held high
They sang out to the sky
Why do their shadows bow in fear?
Watch the cities rise
Another ship arrives
Earth's melting pot and ever growing
Fantastic dreams come true
Inventing something new
The greatest minds, and never knowing
The guns replace the plow, facades are tarnished now
The principles have been betrayed
The dreams's gone stale, but still, let hope prevail
The city crouches, steaming
In the early morning half-light
The sun is still a rumor
And the night is still a threat
Slipping through the dark streets
And the echoes and the shadows
Something stirs behind me
And my palms begin to sweat
Sometimes I freeze - until the light comes
Sometimes I fly - into the night
Sometimes I fight - against the darkness
Sometimes I'm wrong - sometimes I'm right
Coiled for the spring
Or caught like a creature in the headlights
Into a desperate panic
Or a tempest of blind fury
Like a cornered beast
Or a conquering hero
The menace threatens, closing
And I'm frozen in the shadows
I'm not prepared to run away
And I'm not prepared to fight
I can't stand to reason
Or surrender to a reflex
I will trust my instincts
Or surrender to my fright
Sometimes we freeze - until the light comes
Sometimes we're wrong - and sometimes we're right
Sometimes we fight - against the darkness
Sometimes we fly - into the night
Blood running cold
Mind going down into a dark night
Of a desperate panic
Or a tempest of blind fury
Like a cornered beast
Or a conquering hero
Sometimes I freeze
Sometimes I fight
Sometimes I fly
Into the night
¡¡
To live between a rock and a hard place
In between time
Cruising in prime time
Soaking up the cathode rays
To live between the wars in our time
Living in real time
Holding the good time
Holding on to yesterdays
You know how that rabbit feels
Going under your speeding wheels
Bright images flashing by
Like windshields towards a fly
Frozen in the fatal climb
But the wheels of time
Just pass you by
Wheels can take you around
Wheels can cut you down
We can go from boom to bust
From dreams to a bowl of dust
We can fall from rockets' red glare
Down to "Brother can you spare..."
Another war
Another wasteland
And another lost generation
It slips between your hands like water
This living in real time
A dizzying lifetime
Reeling by on celluloid
Struck between the eyes
By the big-time world
Walking uneasy streets
Hiding beneath the sheets
Time and motion
Wind and sun and rain
Days connect like boxcars in a train
Fill them up with precious cargo
Squeeze in all that you can find
Spontaneous elation
And the long enduring kind
Time and motion
Flesh and blood and fire
Lives connect in webs of gold and razor wire
Spin a thread of precious contact
Squeeze in all that you can find
Spontaneous relations
And the long enduring kind
The mighty ocean
Dances with the moon
The silent forest
Echoes with the loon
Time and motion
Live and love and dream
Eyes connect like interstellar beams
Superman in super nature
Needs all the comfort he can find
Spontaneous emotion
When the dragons grow too mighty
To slay with pen or sword
I grow weary of the battle
And the storm I walk toward
When all around is madness
And there's no safe port in view
I long to turn my path homeward
To stop a while with you
When life becomes as barren
And as cold as winter skies
There's a beacon in the darkness
In a distant pair of eyes
In vain to search for honor
In vain to search for truth
But these things can still be given
Pack up all those phantoms
Shoulder that invisible load
Keep on riding North and West
Haunting that wilderness road
Like a ghost rider
Carry all those phantoms
Through bitter wind and stormy skies
From the desert to the mountain
From the lowest low to the highest high
Like a ghost rider
Keep on riding North and West
Then circle South and East
Show me beauty but there is no peace
For the ghost rider
Shadows on the road behind
Shadows on the road ahead
Nothing can stop you now
There's a shadow on the road behind
There's a shadow on the road ahead
Nothing can stop you now
Sunrise in the mirror
Lightens that invisible load
Riding on a nameless quest
Haunting that wilderness road
Like a ghost rider
Just an escape artist
Racing against the night
A wandering hermit
Racing toward the light
From the white sands
To the canyon lands
To the redwood stands
To the barren lands
Sunrise on the road behind
Sunset on the road ahead
There's nothing to stop you now
I was brought up to believe
Belief has failed me now
The bright glow of optimism
Abandoned me somehow
Belief has failed me now
Life goes from bad to worse
No philosophy consoles me
In a clockwork universe
Life goes from bad to worse
I still choose to live
Find a measure of love and laughter
And another measure to give
I still choose to live
And give even while I grieve
Though the balance tilts against me
Tobes of Hades, lit by flickering torchlight
The netherworld is gathered in the glare
Prince By-Tor takes the cavern to the north light
The sign of Eth is rising in the air
By-Tor, knight of darkness
Centurion of evil, devil's prince
Across the River Styx, out of the lamplight
His nemesis is waiting at the gate
The Snow Dog, ermine glowing in the damp night
Coal-black eyes shimmering with hate
By-Tor and the Snow Dog
Square for battle, let the fray begin
The battle's over and the dust is clearing
Disciples of the Snow Dog sound the knell
Rejoicing echoes as the dawn is nearing
By-Tor, in defeat, retreats to Hell
Snow Dog is victorious
Midway hawkers calling
'Try your luck with me'
Merry-go-round wheezing
The same old melody
A thousand ten cent wonders
Who could ask for more
A pocketful of silver
The key to heaven's door
Lakeside Park
Willows in the breeze
Lakeside Park
So many memories
Laughing rides
Midway lights
Shining stars on summer nights
Days of barefoot freedom
Racing with the waves
Nights of starlit secrets
Crackling driftwood flames
Drinking by the lighthouse
Smoking on the pier
Still we saw the magic
Was fading every year
Everyone would gather
On the twenty-fourth of May
Sitting in the sand
To watch the fireworks display
Dancing fires on the beach
Singing songs together...
Though it's just a memory
Music by Geddy Lee and Neil Peart
Instrumental
So many things I think about
When I look far away
Things I know, things I wonder
Things I'd like to say
The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown
We suspend our disbelief
And we are not alone
Mystic rhythms
Capture my thoughts
Carry them away
Mysteries of night, escape the light of day
Mystic rhythms
Under northern lights
Or the African sun
Primitive things stir the hearts of everyone
We sometimes catch a window
A glimpse of what's beyond
Was it just imagination
Stringing us along?
More things than are dreamed about
Unseen and unexplained
We suspend our disbelief
And we are entertained
Mystic rhythms
Capture my thoughts
Carry them away
Nature seems to spin a supernatural way
Mystic rhythms
Under city lights
Or a canopy of stars
We feel the powers and we wonder what they are
Mystic rhythms
Capture my thoughts
Carry them away
Mysteries of night, escape the light of day
Mystic rhythms
Under northern lights
Or a canopy of stars
We feel the push and pull of restless rhythms from afar
Draw a line
Strong and clear
Make it bend to your will
All the lines
In a face
So hard to make stand still
'Til the flaws disappear
'Til what's wrong disappears
'Til all that's wrong will
Disappear
Working at perfekt
Got me down on my knees
Success to failure
Just a matter of degrees
Success to failure
Just a matter of degrees
All the colours of the day
Have somehow disappeared
All the colours of the universe
Are closer than they appear
Are not as close as they appear
Are not as close as they appear
Not as close as they appear
Nothing is perfekt
Certainly not me
Success to failure
Is just a matter of degrees
Working at perfekt
Got me down on my knees
But when it's right
It's right as rain
And when it's right
There is no pain
And when it's right
You start again
Working at perfekt
Got you down on your knees
Success to failure
Just a matter of degrees
Success to failure
(Part IV, "Gangster of Boats" Trilogy)
Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Instrumental
Love is born with lightning bolts
Electro-magnetic force
Burning skin and fireworks
A storm on a raging course
Like a force of nature
Love can fade with the stars at dawn
Sometimes it takes all your strength
Just to keep holding on
At the speed of love
A radiance that travels
At the speed of love
My heart goes out to you
Love is born with solar flares
From two magnetic poles
It moves towards a higher plane
Where two halves make two wholes
Like a force of nature
Love shines in many forms
One night we are bathed in light
One day carried away in the storms
At the speed of love
Nothing changes faster
Than the speed of love
My heart goes out to you
We don't have to talk
We don't even have to touch
I can feel your presence
In the silence that we share
Got to keep moving
At the speed of love
Nothing changes faster
Than the speed of love
Got to keep on shining
At the speed of love
Nothing changes faster
Than the speed of love
At the speed of love
A radiance that travels
At the speed of love
And the meek shall inherit the earth...
We've taken care of everything
The words you hear, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
It's one for all, all for one
We work together, common sons
Never need to wonder how or why
We are the priests
Of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers
Fill the hollowed halls
We are the priests
Of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life
Are held within our walls
Look around this world we made
Equality our stock in trade
Come and join the brotherhood of man
Oh what a wide contented world
Let the banners be unfurled
Hold the red star proudly high in hand
We are the priests
Of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers
Fill the hollowed halls
We are the priests
Of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life
Are held within our walls
Things crawl in the darkness
That imagination spins
Needles at your nerve ends
Crawl like spiders on your skin
Pounding in your temples
And a surge of adrenaline
Every muscle tense to fence the enemy within
I'm not giving in to security under pressure
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes
Experience to extremes...
Suspicious-looking stranger
Flashes you a dangerous grin
Shadows across your window...
Was it only trees in the wind?
Every breath a static charge,
A tongue that tastes like tin
Steely-eyed outside to hide the enemy within
To you, is it movement or is it action?
Is it contact or just reaction?
And you...revolution or just resistance?
Is it living, or just existence?
Yeah, you! It takes a little more persistence
To get up and go the distance
Chorus
The way out
Is the way in
The way out
Is the way in...
Out of touch
With the weather and the wind direction
With the sunrise
And the phases of the moon
Out of touch
With life in the land of the loving
With the living night
And the darkness at high noon
You can never break the chain
There is never love without pain
A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart
Out of sync
With the rhythm of my own reactions
With the things that last
And the things that come apart
Out of sync
With love in the land of the living
A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart
A healing hand, a secret touch on the heart
There is never love without pain
Shapes of things before my eyes,
Just teach me to despise.
Will time make men more wise?
Here within my lonely frame,
My eyes just hurt my brain.
But will it seem the same?
Come tomorrow, will I be older?
Come tomorrow, may be a soldier.
Come tomorrow, may I be bolder than today?
Now the trees are almost green.
But will they still be seen?
When time and tide have been.
Fall into your passing hands.
Please don't destroy these lands.
Don't make them desert sands.
Soon I hope that I will find,
Thoughts deep within my mind.
Like the fly on the wheel, who says,
What a lot of dust we're raising.
Are you under the illusion
That you're part of this scheme?
Seems like a lifetime ago
You could look with pride
On your world of dreams
What is the meaning of this`?
And the stars look down
What are you trying to do?
And the stars look down
Was it something I said
And the stars look down
Like the rat in a maze who says
Watch me choose my own direction.
Are you under the illusion
The path is winding your way?
Are you surprised by confusion
When it leads you astray?
Have you lived a lifetime today -
Or do you feel like you just got carried away?
What is the meaning of this?
And the stars look down
What are you trying to do?
And the stars look down
Was it something I said?
And the stars look down
Something you'd like me to do?
And the stars look down
¡¡
When I was a boy I thought about the times I'd be a man
I'd sit inside a bottle and pretend that I was in a jam
In my lonely room I'd sit my mind in an ice cream cone
You can throw me if you wanna 'cause I'm a bone and I go
Oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!
If I don't start cryin' it's because that I have got no eyes
My father's in the fireplace and my dog lies hypnotized
Through a crack of light I was unable to find my way
Trapped inside a night but I'm a day and I go
Oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!
Girl before the mirror
Appraises her disguise
Child become a mother
Tries to fix her eyes
No more of his excuses
It has to be today
She can keep her fantasy
If she can get away
Paint her name on a one-way street
Painted cheeks with angry heat
Wounded pride on painted eyes
Paint the night with battle cries
All puffed up with vanity
We see what we want to see
To the beautiful and the wise
The mirror always lies
Boy before the mirror
Checks his camouflage
Polishes his armor
And the charger in the garage
No more lame excuses
It has to be tonight
He can take the princess
If he can take the fight
Pound the drums with martial beat
Pound the streets with marching feet
Wounded pride, distorted eyes
Paint the night with battle cries
All puffed up with vanity
We see what we want to see
To the powerful and the wise
The mirror always lies
Boys and girls together
Mistake conceit for pride
Ambition for illusion
Dreams for self-delusion
Girls and boys together
See what it is we lack
Boys and girls together
Let's paint the mirror black
I can learn to resist
Anything but temptation
I can learn to co-exist
With anything but pain
I can learn to compromise
Anything but my desires
I can learn to get along
With all the things I can't explain
I can learn to resist
Anything but frustration
I can learn to persist
With anything but aiming low
I can learn to close my eyes
To anything but injustice
I can learn to get along
With all the things I don't know
I can learn to resist
Anything but temptation
I can learn to co-exist
With anything but pain
I can learn to compromise
Anything but my desires
I can learn to get along
With all the things I can't explain
You can surrender
Without a prayer
But never really pray
Pray without surrender
You can fight
Fight without ever winning
But never ever win
Win without a fight
I can learn to close my eyes
To anything but injustice
I can learn to get along
With all the things I don't know
I can learn to close my eyes
To anything but injustice
I can learn to get along
I'm runnin' here, I'm runnin' there
I'm lookin' for a girl
'Cause there's nothin' I need, there's nothin' I want more
In the whole wide world
Well, I need it quick and I need it now
Before I start to fade away
That's why I'm searchin', that's why I'm lookin'
Each and ev'ry day
Ooh, I need some love
I said I need some love
Ooh yes, I need some love
This feelin' I can't rise above
Ooh, yeah, yeah
Well, I been hustlin' here, I been hustlin' there
I been searchin' for about a week
And I started feelin' this strange sensation
My knees are startin' gettin' weak
Well, I need what keeps a young man alive
I'm sayin' I need it now
I'm gonna get the message across to you
... "The massive grey walls of the Temples rise from the heart of every Federation city. I have always been awed by them, to think that every single facet of every life is regulated and directed from within! Our books, our music, our work and play are all looked after by the benevolent wisdom of the priests..."
We've taken care of everything
The words you hear the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
It's one for all and all for one
We work together common sons
Never need to wonder how or why
We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls
We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life are held within our walls
Look around this world we made
Equality our stock in trade
Come and join the Brotherhood of Man
Oh what a nice contented world
Let the banners be unfurled
Hold the Red Star proudly high in hand
We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls.
We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life are held within our walls.
Oh, hello, Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason
For the thought that I caught that my head is the event of the season
Why in crowds just a trace of my face could seem so pleasin'
I'll cop out to the change, but a stranger is putting the tease on
I was down on a frown when the messenger brought me a letter
I was raised by the praise of a fan who said I upset her
Any girl in the world could have easily known me better
She said you're strange, but don't change, and I let her
In a while, will the smile on my face turn to plaster
Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster
For the race of my head and my face is moving much faster
Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Instrumental
Sweet memories
Flashing very quickly by
Reminding me
And giving me a reason why
I know that
My goal is more than a thought
I'll be there
When I teach what I've been taught
And I've been taught...
You know we've told you before
But you didn't hear us then
So you still question why
No! You didn't listen again
You didn't listen again
Sweet memories
I never thought it would be like this
Reminding me
Just how close I came to missing
I know that
This is the way for me to go
You'll be there
When you know what I know
And I know...
You know we've told you before
But you didn't hear us then
So you still question why
No! You didn't listen again
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
Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Instrumental
If we're so much the same like I always hear
Why such different fortunes and fates?
Some of us live in a cloud of fear
Some live behind iron gates
Why such different fortunes and fates?
Some are blessed and some are cursed
Some live behind iron gates
While others only see the worst
Some are blessed and some are cursed
The golden one or scarred from birth
While others only see the worst
Such a lot of pain on the earth
The golden one or scarred from birth
Somethings can never be changed
Such a lot of pain on this earth
It's somehow so badly arranged
Somethings can never be changed
Some reasons will never come clear
It's somehow so badly arranged
If we're so much the same like I always hear
Some are blessed and some are cursed
The golden one or scarred from birth
While others only see the worst
Such a lot of pain on the earth
I looked in the mirror today
My eyes just didn't seem so bright
I've lost a few more hairs
I think I'm going bald
I think I'm going bald
Seems like only yesterday
We would sit and talk of dreams all night
Dreams of youth
And simple truths
Now we're so involved
So involved with life
Walk down vanity fair
Memory lane everywhere
Wall Street shuffles there
Dressed in flowing hair
Once we loved the flowers
Now we ask the price of the land
Once we would take water
But now it must be wine
Now we've been
And now we've seen
What price peace of mind
Take a piece of my mind
My life is slipping away
I'm aging every day
But even when I'm grey
Well, I can see what you mean
It just takes me longer
And I can feel what you feel
It just makes you stronger
I know, I know, I know
Oh, the feeling grows
I see, I see, I see
It's got to be
You can take me for a little while
You can take me, you can make me smile in the end
Well, I can do what you do
You just do it better
And I can cry like you cry
It just makes me sadder
Well, I can shine like you shine
It doesn't make me brighter
But if I think like you think
The clouds prepare for battle
In the dark and brooding silence
Bruised and sullen storm clouds
Have the light of day obscured
Looming low and ominous
In twilight premature
Thunder heads are rumbling
In a distant overture...
All at once, the clouds are parted
Light streams down in bright unbroken beams...
Follow men's eyes as they look to the skies
Half the world hates
What half the world does every day
Half the world waits
While half gets on with it anyway
Half the world lives
Half the world makes
Half the world gives
While the other half takes
Half the world is
Half the world was
Half the world thinks
While the other half does
Half the world talks
With half a mind on what they say
Half the world walks
With half a mind to run away
Half the world lies
Half the world learns
Half the world flies
As half the world turns
Half the world cries
Half the world laughs
Half the world tries
To be the other half
Half of us divided
Like a torn-up photograph
Half of us are trying
To reach the other half
Half the world cares
While half the world is wasting the day
Half the world shares
I said I played this song so many times before
That the melody keeps repeating
Growin' new ideas, flowing chords and notes
Like a mountain river bleeding
Well, I say as I look back all the thoughts I've had
They reflect just what I'm learning
Yes, you know that the hardest part
Yes, I say it is to stay on top, on top of a world forever churning
Well, you say you're there, but I can see that your eyes are glad
Well, do you see, can't you see, can't you see what I'm feeling?
Yes, I've seen your face before, why, I said I've seen it everywhere
Showing up to me without a scent revealing
Well, I said will it ever change?
Well yes Lord, I said, will it stay the same?
I'd surely like to know before it's over
Well, I said I played some, yes I said it won't be long
Won't be long before I've stop and play, play it over
You know I've, I've seen your face before
Is it ever gonna, ever gonna change again?
Oh, oh, I've, I've been in one place too long
Is it ever gonna, ever gonna change again?
You know I've, I've seen your face before
Is it ever gonna, ever gonna change again?
Oh, oh I've, I've been in one place too long
You turn my head
I spin my wheels
Running on empty
You know how that feels
I'm on a roll now
Or is it a slide?
Can't be too careful
With that dangerous pride
If I could only reach that dial inside
And turn it up
Face up...Face up or you can only back down
Face up...Hit the target or you better hit the ground
Face up...There's still time to turn the game around
Face up...Turn it up
Or turn that wild card down
Face up...Turn it up
Don't complain
Don't explain
I don't think my new resolve
Can stand the strain
I'm in a groove now
Or is it a rut?
I need some feedback
But all the lines are cut
I get so angry, but I keep my mouth shut
And turn it up
You get all squeezed up inside
Like the days were carved in stone
You get all wired up inside
And it's bad to be alone
You can go out, you can take a ride
And when you get out on your own
You get all smoothed out inside
And it's good to be alone
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart
Book One ---- The Voyage
Prologue
In the constellation of Cygnus
There lurks a mysterious, invisible force
The Black Hole
Of Cygnus X-1
Six Stars of the Northern Cross
In mourning for their sister's loss
In a final flash of glory
Nevermore to grace the night....
1
Invisible
To telescopic eye
Infinity
The star that would not die
All who dare
To cross her course
Are swallowed by
A fearsome force
Through the void
To be destroyed
Or is there something more?
Atomized ---- at the core
Or through the Astral Door ----
To soar....
2
I set a course just east of Lyra
And northwest of Pegasus
Flew into the light of Deneb
Sailed across the Milky Way
On my ship, the 'Rocinante'
Wheeling through the galaxies,
Headed for the heart of Cygnus
Headlong into mystery
The x-ray is her siren song
My ship cannot resist her long
Nearer to my deadly goal
Until the Black Hole ----
Gains control....
3
Spinning, whirling,
Still descending
Like a spiral sea,
Unending
Sound and fury
Drowns my heart
Every nerve
Is torn apart....
To be continued
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
I. (Prelude)
When our weary world was young
The struggle of the ancients first began
The gods of love and reason
Sought alone to rule the fate of man
They battled through the ages
But still neither force would yield
The people were divided
Every soul a battlefield
Every soul a battlefield
II. (Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom)
I bring truth and understanding
I bring wit, and wisdom fair
Precious gifts beyond compare
We can build a world of wonder
I can make you all aware
I will find you food and shelter
Show you fire to keep you warm
Through the endless winter storm
You can live in grace and comfort
In the world that you transform
The people were delighted
Coming forth to claim their prize
They ran to build their cities
And converse among the wise
But one day the streets fell silent
Yet they knew not what was wrong
The urge to build these fine things
Seemed not to be so strong
The wise men were consulted
And the bridge of death was crossed
In quest of Dionysus
To find out what they had lost
III. (Dionysus: Bringer of Love)
I bring love to give you solace
In the darkness of the night
In the heart's eternal light
You need only trust your feelings
Only love can steer you right
I bring laughter, I bring music
I bring joy and I bring tears
I will soothe your primal fears
Throw off those chains of reason
And your prison disappears
The cities were abandoned
And the forests echoed song
They danced and lived as brothers
They knew love could not be wrong
Food and wine they had aplenty
And they slept beneath the stars
The people were contented
And the gods watched from afar
But the winter fell upon them
And it caught them unprepared
Bringing wolves and cold starvation
And the hearts of men despaired
IV. (Armageddon: The Battle of Heart and Mind)
The universe divided
As the heart and mind collided
With the people left unguided
For so many troubled years
In a cloud of doubts and fears
Their world was torn asunder
Into hollow hemispheres
Some fought themselves, some fought each other
Most just followed one another
Lost and aimless like their brothers
For their hearts were so unclear
And the truth could not appear
Their spirits were divided
Into blinded hemispheres
Some who did not fight
Brought tales of old to light
My Rocinante sailed by night
On her final flight
To the heart of Cygnus' fearsome force
We set our course
Spiralled through that timeless space
To this immortal place
V. (Cygnus: Bringer of Balance)
I have memory and awareness
But I have no shape or form
As a disembodied spirit
I am dead and yet unborn
I have passed into olympus
As was told in tales of old
To the city of immortals
Marble white and purest gold
I see the gods in battle rage on high
Thunderbolts across the sky
I cannot move, I cannot hide
I feel a silent scream begin inside
Then all at once the chaos ceased
A stillness fell, a sudden peace
The warriors felt my silent cry
And stayed their struggle, mystified
Apollo was atonished
Dionysus thought me mad
But they heard my story further
And they wondered, and were sad
Looking down from Olympus
On a world of doubt and fear
Its surface splintered
Into sorry hemispheres
They sat a while in silence
Then they turned at last to me
We will call you Cygnus,
The God of balance you shall be
VI. (The Sphere: A Kind of Dream)
We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim
Let the truth of love be lighted
Let the love of truth shine clear
Sensibility
Armed with sense and liberty
With the heart and mind united
Signal transmitted
Message received
Reaction making impact
Invisibly
Elemental telepathy
Exchange of energy
Reaction making contact
Mysteriously
Eye to I
Reaction burning hotter
Two to one
Reflection on the water
H to O
No flow without the other
Oh but how
Do they make contact
With one another?
Electricity? Biology?
Seems to me it's Chemistry
Emotion transmitted
Emotion received
Music in the abstract
Positively
Elemental empathy
A change of synergy
Music making contact
Naturally
One, two, three
Add without subtraction
Sound on sound
Multiplied reaction
H to O
No flow without the other
Oh, but how
Do we make contact
Instrumental
Polarize me
Sensitize me
Criticize me
Civilize me
Compensate me
Animate me
Complicate me
Elevate me
Goddess in my garden
Sister in my soul
Angel in my armor
Actress in my role
Daughter of a demon lover
Empress of the hidden face
Priestess of the pagan mother
Ancient queen of inner space
Spirit in my psyche
Double in my role
Alter in my image
Struggle for control
Mistress of the dark unconscious
Mermaid of the lunar sea
Daughter of the great enchantress
Sister to the boy inside of me
My counterpart, my foolish heart
A man must learn to rule his tender part
A warming trend, a gentle friend
A man must build a fortress to defend
A secret face, a touch of grace
A man must learn to give a little space
A peaceful state, a submissive trait
A man must learn to gently dominate
Polarize me
Sensitize me
Criticize me
Civilize me
Compensate me
Animate me
Complicate me
When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow?
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance
Cities full of hatred, fear and lies
Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude and
Scoffing at the wise
The hypocrites are slandering
The sacred Halls of Truth
Ancient nobles showering
Their bitterness on youth
Can't we find the minds that made us strong?
Can't we learn to feel what's right
And what's wrong?
What's wrong?
Cities full of hatred, fear and lies
Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude and
Scoffing at the wise
Can't we raise our eyes and make a start?
Can't we find the minds to lead us
And the meek shall inherit the earth
We've taken care of everything the words you hear, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
It's one for all and all for one we work together, common sons
Never need to wonder how or why
We are the priests of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls
We are the priests, of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life are held within these walls
Look around at this world we've made equality our stock in trade
Come and join the brotherhood of man
Oh, what a nice, contented world let the banners be unfurled
Hold the Red Star proudly high in hand
We are the priests of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls
We are the priests, of the Temples of Syrinx
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
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
Faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
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
Our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore shelves
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
I've gone flying, trying to meet you
You've been hiding, riding me to a state
Like this
Give me that window to,
Give me that window to,
Give me that window to the world
We are sailing, flailing through the ether
You've been trailing, failing me with you're
View of bliss
Give me that window to,
Give me that window to,
Give me that window to the world
A little more than this,
A little less than that
You've got magic in your hands
You've conspired, inspired me to
Find a place like this
Give me that window to'
Give me that window to'
Well, I see you standin' there
With your finger in the air
Everything we do, you wanna leave it up to you
Who do you think you are?
You think you are a star?
Tryin' to run the town
Always tryin' to put us down
Well, you think that you're right
You think you're out of sight
Tell me something, mister
Why'd you have to make us so uptight?
Well, you say you've been tryin'
You know that you're lyin'
I think you need some groovin'
Who do you think you're foolin', now?
Well, you better start changin'
Your life needs rearrangin'
You better do some talkin'
Or you better do some walkin' now
Yeah, you think that you're right
You think you're out of sight
Tell me something, mister
Why'd you have to make us so uptight?
I know what you're doing
All that you been doin' wrong
I don't know what you're feelin'
Oh, but you been feelin' long
Well, you think that you're right
Tell me something, mister
Sunlight dances through the leaves
Soft winds stir the sighing trees
Lying in the warm grass
Feel the sun upon your face
Eleven songs and endless nights
Sweet wine and soft relaxing lights
Time will never touch you
Here in this enchanted place
I've traveled now for many miles
It feels so good to see the smiles of
Friends who never left your mind
When you were far away
From the golden light of coming dawn
Till the twilight when the sun is gone
We treasure every season
And every passing day
You feel there's something calling you, you're wanting to return
To where the misty mountains rise and friendly fires burn
A place you can escape the world where the dark Lord cannot go
Peace of mind and sanctuary by loud water's flow
We feel the coming of a new day
Darkness gives way to light a new way
Stop here for a while until the world
The world calls you away
Yet you know I've had the feeling
Standing with my senses reeling
This is the place to grow old 'til
I reach my final day
You feel there's something calling you, you're wanting to return
To where the misty mountains rise and friendly fires burn
A place you can escape the world where the dark lord cannot go
How many times
Do we tire of all the little battles
Threaten to call it quits
Tempted to cut and run
How many times
Do we weather out the stormy evenings
Long to slam the front door
Drive away into the setting sun
Keep going on till dawn
How many times must another line be drawn
We could be down and gone
But we hold on
How many times
Do we chaff against the repetition
Straining against the faith
Measured out in coffee breaks
How many times
Do we swallow our ambition
Long to give up the same old way
Find another road to take
Keep holding on so long
Cause theres a chance that we might not be so wrong
We could be down and gone
But we hold on
How many times
Do we wonder if it's even worth it
Theres got to be some other way
Way to get me through the day
Keep going on till dawn
How many times must another line be drawn
We could be down and gone
Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea
Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship Fantasy
I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land
I can see the footprints in the virtual sand
Net boy, net girl
Send your signal 'round the world
Let your fingers walk and talk
And set you free
Net boy, net girl
Send your impulse 'round the world
Put your message in a modem
And throw it in the Cyber Sea
Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixellated space
Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race
I can save the universe in a grain of sand
I can hold the future in my virtual hand
Let's dance tonight
To a virtual song
Press this key
And you can play along
Let's fly tonight
On our virtual wings
Press this key
To see amazing things
Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains
Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain
I can smell her perfume
I can taste her lips
I can feel the voltage from her fingertips
Net boy, net girl
Stratospheric traces of our transitory flight
Trails of condensation held
In narrow paths of white
The sun is turning black
The world is turning gray
All the stars fade from the night
The oceans drain away
Horizon to horizon
Memory written on the wind
Fading away like an hourglass, grain by grain
Swept away like voices in a hurricane
In a vapor trail
Atmospheric phases make the transitory last
Vaporize the memories that freeze the fading past
Silence all the song birds
Stilled by the killing frost
Forests burn to ashes
Everything is lost
Washed away like footprints in the rain
The angels' share
The secrets of their universe
It's seldom fair
Partly blessing, partly curse
All those things we cannot know
We dream, we hypothesize
Maybe these are secrets shared by those
Watching from the sky
If we are only members of the human race
No supernatural beings from a supernatural place
If you can't solve the problem Come and tell me to my face
The angels' share
All the human mysteries
There is no prayer
To the thieves of celestial history
The myth of perfect reason
We're forgotten at birth
It's a kind of clandestine conspiracy
A seraphin joke of eternity
If we are only members of the human race
No supernatural beings from a supernatural place
If you can't solve the problem Come and tell me to my face
All those things we cannot know
We dream, we hypothesize
Maybe these are secrets shared by those
Watching from the side
If we are only members of the human race
No supernatural beings from a supernatural place
Waiting for the winds of change
To sweep the clouds away
Waiting for the rainbow's end
To cast its gold your way
Countless ways, you pass the days
Waiting for someone to call
And turn your world around
Looking for an answer
To the question you have found
Looking for an open door
Whoa, you don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dream might be
No, you don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dream might be
What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story
In your head is the answer
Let it guide you along
Let your heart be the anchor
And the beat of your song
Oh, you don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free, no
Whoa, you don't get something for nothing
Trick of the light
Or just
A loss of perspective
Flaw in the grand plan
Just
The way it is
Looks good from a distance
The closer I come
It...
Becomes more daunting
These moments will pass
Still
Halfway up the hill
My fingers may bleed
But I’ve got to get there
Still
Standing on the hill
My spirit’s released
But I’ve got to get there
Lost in an abstract thought
Dazed and distracted
Winded yet still I’m caught
With a fragment of doubt
Slowed by reflection
These moments will pass
Still
Halfway up the hill
My fingers may bleed
But I’ve got to get there
Still
Standing on the hill
My spirit’s released
But I’ve got to get there
It’s just confusion
An illusion
Easily overdone
Here comes resolution
Absolution
It’s not an illusion
Not a fiction
Easily overcome
Here comes revolution
Absolution
Trick of the light
Or just
Too much perspective
Looks good from a distance
The closer I come
Becomes more daunting
These moments will pass
As the waves crash in
On the western shore
The wind blows fierce from the east
Wave tops torn into flying spindrift
As the waves crash in
On the western shore
It makes me feel uneasy
The spray that's torn away
Is an image of the way I feel
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
As sun goes down
On the western shore
The wind blows hard from the east
It whips the sand into a flying spindrift
As the sun goes down
On the western shore
It makes me feel uneasy
In the hot dry rasp of the devil winds
Who cares what a fool believes
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
Words that fly against the wind and waves
(A little closer to you)
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
What am I suppose to do?
Where are the words that will make you see
(Drum Solo)
To seek the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honey dew
And drink the milk of paradise
I have heard the whispered tales of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book, I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops of eastern lands unknown
Time and man alone
Searching for the lost Xanadu, Xanadu
To stand within the pleasure dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honey dew
And drink the milk of paradise
A thousand years have come and gone but time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an ever lasting view
Waiting for the world to end, weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost Xanadu, Xanadu
Held within the pleasure dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Never more shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honey dew
And drunk the milk of paradise
I get up at seven, yeah
And I go to work at nine
I got no time for livin'
Yes, I'm workin' all the time
It seems to me
I could live my life
A lot better than I think I am
I guess that's why they call me
They call me the working man
They call me the working man
I guess that's what I am
I get home at five o'clock
And I take myself out a nice, cold beer
Always seem to be wonderin'
Why there's nothin' goin' down here
Well, they call me the working man
I've got a livin' that's rough, a future that's tough
You know what I mean
Blankers and boasters, all the bluffers and posers
I'm not into that scene
You can tell me that I got no class
Look around, you'll see who's laughin' last
Don't give me speeches 'cause they're oh so droll
Leave me alone, let me rock and roll
Got an itchin' to rock, a hate for small talk
I'm funny that way
Got my sights on the stars, won't get that far
But I'll try anyway
I just like to please, I don't like to tease
I'm easy like that
Don't like long rests, I must confess
I'm an impatient cat
I do the best that I can
I'm just what I am
I do the best I can
Well, I know what I am
Rock and rollin's a scream, makin' millions my dream
Well, I do that a lot
I'll just give it a try, won't let good times pass me by
Driving away to the east, and into the past
History receeds in my rear-view mirror
Carried away on a wave of music down a desert road
Memory humming at the heart of a factory town
All my life
I've been workin' them angels overtime
Riding and driving and living
So close to the edge
Workin' them angels - Overtime
Riding through the Range of Light to the wounded city
Filling my spirit with the wildest wish to fly
Taking the high road to the wounded city
Memory strumming at the heart of a moving picture
All this time
I've been workin' them angels overtime
Riding and diving and flying
Just over the edge
Workin' them angels - Overtime
Driving down the razor's edge 'tween the past and the future
Turn up the music and smile
Get carried away on the songs and stories of vanished times
Memory drumming at the heart of an English winter
All that you can do is wish them well
All that you can do is wish them well
Spirits turned bitter by the poison of envy
Always angry and dissatisfied
Even the lost ones, the frightened and mean ones
Even the ones with a devil inside
Thank your stars you're not that way
Turn your back and walk away
Don't even pause and ask them why
Turn around and say goodbye
People who judge without a measure of mercy
All the victims who will never learn
Even the lost ones, you can only give up on
Even the ones who make you burn
The ones who've done you wrong
The ones who pretended to be so strong
The grudges you've held for so long
It's not worth singing that same sad song
Even though you're going through hell
Just keep on going
Let the demons dwell
Nothing can survive in a vacuum
No one can exists all alone
We pretend things only happen to strangers
We've all got problems of our own
It's enough to learn to share our pleasures
We can't soothe pain with sympathy
All that we can do is be reminded
We shake our heads at the tragedy
Every day we're standing in a time capsule
Racing down a river from the past
Every day we're standing in a wind tunnel
Facing down the future coming fast
Looking at the long range forecast
Catching all the names in the news
Checking out the state of the nation
Learning the environmental blues
Truth is after all a moving target
Hairs to split, and pieces that don't fit
How can anybody be enlightened?
Truth is after all so poorly lit
It's just the age
It's just a stage
We disengage
We turn the page
Every day we're standing in a time capsule
(It's just a stage)
We disengage, we turn the page
Racing down the river running fast
Every day we're standing in a wind tunnel
(It's just a stage)
We disengage, we turn the page
I've got twelve disciples and a Buddha smile
Garden of Allah, Viking Valhalla
A miracle once in a while
I've got a pantheon of animals in a pagan soul
Vishnu and Gaia, Aztec and Maya
Dance around my totem pole
Totem pole...
I believe in what I see
I believe in what I hear
I believe that what I'm feeling
Changes how the world appears
Angels and demons dancing in my head
Lunatics and monsters underneath my bed
Media messiahs preying on my fears
Pop culture prophets playing in my ears
I've got celestial mechanics
To synchronize my stars
Seasonal migrations, daily variations
World of the unlikely and bizarre
I've got idols and icons, unspoken holy vows
Thoughts to keep well-hidden
Sacred and forbidden
Free to browse among the holy cows
That's why I believe
Angels and demons inside of me
Saviors and Satans all around me
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
And 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 Tawyer
He gets high on you
And the energy you trade
He gets right on to the friction of the day
The breakers roar on an unseen shore
In the teeth of a hurricane
We struggle in vain
A hellish night - a ghostly light
Appears through the driving rain
Salvation in a human chain
All I know is that sometimes you have to be wary
Of a miracle too good to be true
All I know is that sometimes the truth is contrary
Everything in life you thought you knew
All I know is that sometimes you have to be wary
’Cause sometimes the target is you
Driven to ground, with that awful sound
Drowned by the cheer from ashore
We wonder what for
The people swarm through the darkling storm
Gather everything they can score
’Til their backs won’t bear any more
The breakers roar on an unseen shore
In the teeth of an icy grave
The human chain leaves a bloody stain
Washed in the pounding waves
All I know is that memory can be too much to carry
A pleasant faced man steps up to greet you
He smiles and says he's pleased to meet you
Beneath his hat the strangeness lies
Take it off, he's got three eyes
Truth is false and logic lost
Now the fourth dimension is crossed...
You have entered the Twilight Zone
Beyond this world strange things are known
Use the key, unlock the door
See what your fate might have in store...
Come explore your dreams' creation
Enter this world of imagination...
You wake up lost in an empty town
Wondering why no one else is around
Look up to see a giant boy
You've just become his brand new toy
No escape, no place to hide
Here where time and space collide
You have entered the Twilight Zone
Beyond this world strange things are known
Use the key, unlock the door
See what your fate might have in store...
Come explore your dreams' creation
Like the fly on the wheel who says
'What a lot of dust we're raising'
Are you under the illusion
That you're part of this scheme?
Seems like a lifetime ago
You could look with pride
On your world of dreams
What is the meaning of this?
And the stars look down
What are you trying to do?
And the stars look down
Was it something I said
And the stars look down
Like the rat in a maze who says
'Watch me choose my own direction'
Are you under the illusion
The path is winding your way?
Are you surprised by confusion
When it leads you astray?
Have you lived a lifetime today...
Or do you feel like you just got carried away?
What is the meaning of this?
And the stars look down
What are you trying to do?
And the stars look down
Was it something I said?
And the stars look down
Something you'd like me to do?
Living in the Present Tense
When you lose the past
And the future makes no sense
You're living in the Present Tense
Crawling out, secure and confident
Imbued with innocence
Ready for the whirl
Suddenly the view was more intense
Living in a different kind of world
You're living
Living in the present tense
There's nothing to blame
No victim of consequence
You're living in the Present Tense
Something you said
It made me
Step outside ..the moment
Eyes pan right and left
around my world
Open yourself
Up to the possibility
Aware of some reality
Outside your world
In a silent universe
The moment can be so real
You almost can't stand it
In a distant universe
Distracted from ourselves
You can't help but wonder
In a crowded universe
When the talking turns to noise
You almost start laughing
You're living
Living in the present tense
When you lose the past
And the future makes no sense
You're Living in the Present Tense
Nothing to blame
No victim of consequence
Things crawl in the darkness
That imagination spins
Needles at your nerve ends
Crawl like spiders on your skin
Pa pa pa pounding in your temples
And a surge of adrenaline
Every muscle tense to fence the enemy within
I'm not giving in to security under pressure
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes
Experience to extremes
Suspicious looking stranger
Flashes you a dangerous grin
Shadows across your window
Was it only trees in the wind?
Every breath a static charge
A tongue that tastes like tin
Steely-eyed outside to hide the enemy within
I'm not giving in to security under pressure
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes
Experience to extremes
To you, is it movement or is it action?
Is it contact or just reaction?
And you...revolution or just resistance?
Is it living, or just existence?
Yeah, you! It takes a little more persistence
To get up and go the distance
I'm not giving in
I'm not missing out
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes
I'm not giving in to security under pressure
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes
Experience to extremes
VERSE
In this one of many possible worlds
All for the best or some bizarre test
It is what it is and whatever
Time is still the infinite jest
The arrow flies when you dream
The hours tick away
The cells tick away
The Watchmaker keep to his schemes
The hours tick away
They tick away
CHORUS
The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect
So hard to earn, so easily burned
The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect
So hard to earn, so easily burned
In the fullness of time
A garden to nurture and protect
VERSE
In the rise and set of the sun
To the stars goes spinning
Spinning 'round the night
Oh it is what it is and forever
Each moment of memory aflight
The arrow flies while you dream
The hours tick away
The cells tick away
The Watchmaker has time up his sleeve
The hours tick away
They tick away
CHORUS
The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect
So hard to earn, so easily burned
In the fullness of time
A garden to nurture and protect
(Its a measure of a life)
The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect
The way you live,
the gifts that you give
And the fullness of time is the only return I do expect
BRIDGE
The future disappears into memory
With only a moment between
Forever dwells in that moment
Hope is what remains to be seen
Forever dwells in that moment
Hope is what remains to be seen
SOLO
OUTRO
In the fullness of time a garden to nurture and protect
(Its a measure of a life)
I don't have an explanation
For another lonely night
I just feel this sense of mission
And the sense of what is right
Take it easy on me now
I'd be there if I could
I'm so full of what is right
I can't see what is good
It's a hopeless situation
Lie awake for half the night
You're not sure what's going on here
But you're sure it isn't right
Make it easy on yourself
There's nothing more you can do
You're so full of what is right
You can't see what is true
A quality of justice
A quantity of light
A particle of mercy
Makes the color of right
Gravity and distance
Change the passage of light
Gravity and distance
Here we go...vertigo
Video vertigo
Test for echo
Here we go...in slo-mo
Video vertigo
Test for echo
Some kind of trouble on the sensory screen
Camera curves over caved-in cop cars
Bleacher-creatures, would-be desperadoes
Clutch at plausible deniability
Don't touch that dial
We're in denial
Until the showcase trial on TV
Here we go...vertigo
Video...vertigo
Test for echo
Some kind of pictures on the sense o'clock news
Miles of yellow tape, silhouetted chalk lines
Tough-talking hood boys in pro-team logo knock-offs
Conform to uniforms of some corporate entity
Don't change that station
It's a Gangsta Nation
Now crime's in syndication on TV
What a show
Vertigo
Video vertigo
Test for echo
Touch and go in slo-mo
Video vertigo
Test for echo
Some kind of drama live on satellite
Hidden camera coverage from the crime scene to the courtroom
Nail-biting hood boys in borrowed ties and jackets
Clutching at the straws of respectability
Can't do the time?
Don't do the crime
Sweet memories
flashing very quickly by
reminding me
and giving me a reason why
I know that
my goal is more than a thought
I'll be there
when I teach
what I've been taught
and I've been taught
You know we told you before
but you didn't hear us then
so you still question why
no, you didn't listen again
Sweet memories
I never thought it would be like this
reminding me
oh just how close I came to missing
I know that
this is the way for me to go
you'll be there
when you know
what I know
and I know
You know we told you before
but you didn't hear us then
so you still question why
Trust to your instincts
If it's safely restrained
Lightning reactions
Must be carefully trained
Heat of the moment
Curse of the young
Spit out your anger
Don't swallow your tongue
Stick it out
Don't swallow the poison
Spit it out
Don't swallow your pride
Stick it out
Don't swallow your anger
Spit it out
Don't swallow the lies
Natural reflex
Pendulum swing
You might be too dizzy
To do the right thing
Trial under fire
Ultimate proof
Moment of crisis
Don't swallow the truth
Each time we bathe our reactions
In artificial light
Each time we alter the focus
To make the wrong moves seem right
You get so used to deception
You make yourself a nervous wreck
You get so used to surrender
Meant to tell you
Tell you from the start
Meant to show you
What’s inside this shallow heart
But I could not find the words
Worthy enough to say
I slipped along the way
I slipped along the way
Tried to be there
Be there when you fall
Tried to make you feel big
When life makes you feel small
But I could not find the steps
Quickly enough to take
I slipped along the way
I slipped along the way
Want to change things
Want to clear the air
Fix the things around us
So badly in need of repair
But I might not have the sense
Sense enough to change
When the dragons grow too mighty
to slay with pen or sword
I grow weary of the battle
and the storm I walk toward
when all around is madness
and there's no safe port in view
I long to turn my path homeward
to stop awhile with you.
When life becomes as barren
and as cold winter skies
there's a beacon in the darkness
in a distant pair of eyes
in vain to search for honor
and in vain to search for truth
but these things can still be given
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, 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
Then run like the wind as excitement shivers up and down my spine
But 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
Ooh, fired 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
It goes 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
All of the seasons
And all of the days
All of the reasons
Why I've felt this way
So long
So long
Then lost in that feeling
I looked in your eyes
I noticed emotion
And that you had cried
For me
I can see
What would touch me deeper
Tears that fall from eyes
That only cry?
Would it touch you deeper
Than tears that fall from eyes
That know why?
A lifetime of questions
Tears on your cheek
I tasted the answers
And my body was weak
For you
It's not a place
It's a yearning
It's not a race
It's a journey
It's not an act
It's attraction
It's not a style
It's an action
It's a dream for the waking
It's a flower touched by flame
It's a gift for the giving
It's a power with a hundred names
Surge of energy, spark of inspiration
The breath of love is electricity
Maybe time is bird in flight
Endlessly mocking
Here we come out of the cradle
Endlessly rocking
Endlessly rocking
It's a hand
That rocks the cradle
It's a motion
That swings the sky
It's method on the edge of madness
It's a balance on the edge of a knife
It's a smile on the edge of sadness
It's a dance on the edge of life
The whiteness of confusion
Is unfolding from my mind
I stare around in wonder
Have I left my life behind?
I catch the scent of ambergris
And turn my head, surprised
My gaze is caught and held and I
Am helpless, mesmerized
Panacea, liquid grace
Oh let me touch your fragile face
Enchantment falls around me
And I know I cannot leave
Here's a meaning for my life
A shelter from the storm
Pacify my troubles with
Her body, soft and warm
Naked in our unity
A smile for every tear
Gentle hands that promise me
Comfort through the years
Yet I know I must be gone
Before the light of dawn
Panacea, passion pure
I can't resist your gentle lure
My heart will lie beside you
It went right by me
At the time it went over my head
I was looking out the window
I should have looked at your face instead
It went right by me
Just another wall
There should have been a moment
When we let our barriers fall
I never meant what you're thinking...
That's not what I meant at all.
Well, I guess we all have these feelings
We can't leave unreconciled
Some of them burned on our ceilings
Some of them learned as a child
The things that we're concealing
Will never let us grow
Time will do its healing
You've got to let it go
Closed for my protection
Open to your scorn
Between these two directions
My heart is sometimes torn
I lie awake with my secrets
Spinning around my head
Something that somehow escaped me
Something you shouldn't have said
I was looking out the window
I should have looked at your face instead.
I find no absolution
In my rational point of view
Maybe some things are instinctive
But there's one thing you could do
You could try to understand me
I could try to understand you
You could try to understand me
One man standing on the plains of Abraham
Watching the damaged sunrise
One man standing near the edge of a quiet breakdown
I watch the sea, it helps to anchor me
I watch the sea, it helps to anchor me
Once you start hiding you keep on hiding
Till your paranoia calms down
Once you start watching you keep on watching
Till you're tied up and your spell bound
Just between the ice ages anyway
I want to talk, but I haven't got too much to say
I don't mean to be so Nihilistic
Forgive me if I seem to be too realistic
Once you start running you keep on running
Till your muscles start to break down
Once you start falling you keep on falling
Till you hit the cold cold ground
I watch TV - What do you want from me?
I watch TV - What do you want from me?
Just between the ice ages anyway
I want to talk, I haven't got enough to say
I don't mean to be so nihilistic
Forgive me if I seem to be too realistic
Once you start hiding you keep on hiding
Till you feel you're safe and sound
Once you start watching you keep on watching
Till you're tied up and you're spell bound
I watch the sea, it helps to anchor me
did I have the dream?
or did the dream have me?
set off on a night-sea journey
without memory or desire
drifting throught lost latitudes
with no compasee and no chart
flying through halluncination
distant voices, signal fires
lighting up my inconsious
and the secret place of heart
Dream - temporary madness
dream - a voice in the wilderness
dream - unconscious revelations
the morning says, the answer is yes
floating through a darkened mirror
deep reflection in disguise
soaring through lost altitudes
without wonder, without fear
symbols on a feild of vision
behind the curtain of sleeping eyes
on the instant of waking
another world of dreams appears
dream - walk in the wilderness
dream - unconscious recreation
A world of difference
A world so out of touch
Overwhelmed by everything
But wanting more so much
Call it blind frustration
Call it blind man's bluff
Call each other names
Your voices rude
Your voices rough
Then you learn the lesson
That it's cool to be so tough
Handle with kid gloves
Handle with kid gloves
Then you learn the lessons
Taught in school won't be enough
Put on your kid gloves
Put on your kid gloves
Then you learn the lesson
That it's tough to be so cool
A world of indifference
Heads and hearts too full
Careless of the consequence
Of constant push and pull
Anger got bare knuckles
Anger play the fool
Anger wear a crown of thorns
Reverse the golden rule
Then you learn the lesson
That it's tough to be so cool
Handle with kid gloves
Handle with kid gloves
Then you learn the weapons
And the ways of hard knock school
Put on your kid gloves
Put on your kid gloves
Then you learn the lesson
Hey, now, baby
Well, I like your smile
Won't you come and talk to me
For a little while?
Well, you're makin' me crazy
The way you roll them eyes
Won't you come and sit with me?
I'll tell you all my lies
Hey, baby, it's a quarter to eight
I feel I'm in the mood
Hey baby, the hour is late
I feel I've got to move
Well, hey, now, baby
Don't you talk so fast
I'm just tryin' to make these good times
I'm tryin' to make it last
Everything's getting hazy
Now honey, where'd you go?
I just want to find out, baby...
Where'd you learn what you know?
Well, hey, now, baby
I said I like your style
You really got me, baby
Way down deep inside
Ooh, you drive me crazy
Baby, you're the one
I just want to rock and roll you woman
When the waters rose in the darkness
In the wake of the endless flood
It flowed into our memory
It flowed into our blood
When something broke the surface
Just to see the starry dome
We still feel that relation
When the water takes us home
In the flying spray of the ocean
The water takes you home
Springing from the weight of the mountains
Like the heart of the earth would burst
Flowing out from marble fountains
In the dreams of a desert thirst
Something swam through the jungles
Where the mighty rivers roam
Something breaks the silence
When the water takes you home
I hear the wordless voices
When the water takes me home
Waves that crash on the shoreline
Torrents of tropical rain streaming down
Beyond our memory
Streaming down inside our veins
When something left the ocean
To crawl high above the foam
We still feel that elation
When the water takes us home
In a driving rain of redemption
A to B
Different degrees...
So much style without substance
So much stuff without style
It's hard to recognize the real thing
It comes along once in a while
Like a rare and precious metal beneath a ton of rock
It takes some time and trouble to separate from the stock
You sometimes have to listen to a lot of useless talk
Shapes and forms against the norm
Against the run of the mill
Swimming against the stream
Life in two dimensions is a mass production scheme
So much poison in power, the principles get left out
So much mind on the matter, the spirit gets forgotten about
Like a righteous inspiration overlooked in haste
Like a teardrop in the ocean, a diamond in the waste
Some world-views are spacious
And some are merely spaced
Against the run of the mill
Static as it seems
We break the surface tension with our wild kinetic dreams
Curves and lines
There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Pariah dogs and wandering madmen
Barking at strangers and speaking in tongues
The ebb and flow of tidal fortune
Electrical changes are charging up the dawn
It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit
It's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing
One day I feel I'm on top of the world
And the next it's falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back home
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel,
And the next it's rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back home
Whirlwind life of faith and betrayal
Rise in anger, fall back, and repeat
Slow degrees on the dark horizon
Full moon rising lays ever at your feet
It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit
It's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing
One day I feel I'm on top of the world
And the next it's falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back home
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel,
And the next it's rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back home
It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit
You can almost see the circle growing
You can almost feel the planet glowing
One day I feel I'm on top of the world
And the next it's falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back home
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel,
And the next it's rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back home
One day I fly through a crack in the sky
And the next it's falling in on me
I can get back on
I had a woman not too long ago
A cool hearted woman, let my feelings show
Damn, that woman, I do all I got
Ooh, all I wanted was to treat her good
That woman was all to me
Yeah, she left me feeling misery
Can't understand it, no matter how I try
She one time hurt me down inside
Fancy dancer, oh, can't you see
You can't dance to get to know me
Fancy dancer, I hope you'll find
The peace of mind
All this happened for a few long years
No more dice, a few more tears
Love said babe, I gotta go
True bitter feelings, you mean you don't know
You give me the love, I guess you're right
Love is gonna blow up in your face
Listen good to what I say
Driven up and down in circles
Skidding down a road of black ice
Staring in and out storm windows
Driven to a fool's paradise
It's my turn to drive
But it's my turn to drive
Driven to the margin of error
Driven to the edge of control
Driven to the margin of terror
Driven to the edge of a deep, dark hole
Driven day and night in circles
Spinning like a whirlwind of leaves
Stealing in and out back alleys
Driven to another den of thieves
But it's my turn to drive
But it's my turn to drive
Driven in...Driven to the edge
Driven out...On the thin end of the wedge
Driven off...By things I've never seen
Driven on...By the road to somewhere I've never been
But it's my turn to drive
But it's my turn to drive
The road unwinds towards me
What was there is gone
The road unwinds before me
And I go riding on
But it's my turn to drive
Who's come to slay the dragon?
Come to watch him fall?
Making arrows out of pointed words
Giant killers at the call?
Too much fuss and bother
Too much contradiction and confusion
Peel away the mystery
Here's a clue to some real motivation
All there really is
The two of us
And we both know why we've come along
Nothing to explain
It's a part of us
To be found within a song
What happened to our innocence
Did it go out of style?
Along with our naivete
No longer a child
Different eyes see different things
Different hearts beat on different strings
But there are times
Cold fire, it's a cold fire, it's a cold fire, it's a cold fire
It was long after midnight when we got to unconditional love
She said, "Sure, my heart is boundless but don't push my limits too far"
I said, "If love is so transcendent I don't understand these boundaries"
She said, "Just don't disappoint me you know how complex women are"
I'll be around if you don't let me down too far
I'll be around if you don't let me down
It was just before sunrise when we started on traditional roles
She said, "Sure, I'll be your partner but don't make too many demands"
I said, "If love has these conditions
I don't understand those songs you love"
She said, "This is not a love song, this isn't fantasy land"
Don't go too far
A phosphorescent wave on a tropical sea is a cold fire
Don't cross the line
The pattern of moonlight on the bedroom floor is a cold fire
Don't let me down
The flame at the heart of a pawnbroker's diamond is a cold fire
Don't break the spell
The look in your eyes as you head for the door is a cold fire
I'll be around if you don't push me down too far
I'll be around if you don't push me down
I'll be around if you don't push me down too far
I'll be around if you don't push me down
Don't go too far
A phosphorescent wave on a tropical sea is a cold fire
Don't cross the line
The pattern of moonlight on the bedroom floor is a cold fire
Don't let me down
The flame at the heart of a pawnbroker's diamond is a cold fire
Don't break the spell
The look in your eyes as you head for the door is a cold fire
I'll be around if you don't let me down too far
I'll be around if you don't let me down
I'll be around if you don't push me down too far
I'll be around if you don't push me down
I'll be around if you don't let me down
Love is blind if you are gentle, love can turn to a long, cold burn
A boy alone, so far from home
Endless rooftops from my window
I felt the gloom of empty rooms
On rainy afternoons
Sometimes in confusion
I felt so lost and disillusioned
Innocence gave me confidence
To go up against reality
All the same we take our chances
Laughed at by time
Tricked by circumstances
Plus ca change
Plus c'est la meme chose
The more that things change
The more they stay the same
Now I've gained some understanding
Of the only world that we see
Things that I once dreamed of
Have become reality
These walls that still surround me
Still contain the same old me
Just one more who's searching for
In a world lit only by fire
Long train of flares under piercing stars
I stand watching the steamliners roll by
The caravan thunders onward
To the distant dream of the city
The caravan carries me onward
On my way at last
On my way at last
I can't stop thinking big
I can't stop thinking big
On a road lit only by fire
Going where I want, instead of where I should
I peer out at the passing shadows
Carried through the night into the city
Where a young man has a chance of making good
A chance to break from the past
The caravan thunders onward
Stars winking through the canvas hood
On my way at last
In a world where I feel so small
The restless wind
Has seen all things
In every kind of light
Rising with the full moon
To go howling through the night
The sleepless wind
Has heard all things
Between the sea and sky
In the canyons of the city
You can hear the buildings cry
Oh the wind can carry
All the voices of the sea
Oh the wind can carry
All the echoes home to me
Run with wind and weather
To the music of the sea
All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Chase the wind around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light
Play of light
A photograph
The way I used to be
Some half forgotten stranger
Doesn't mean that much to me
Trick of light
Moving picture
Moments caught in flight
Make the shadows darker
Or the colors shine too bright
Oh the light can carry
All the visions of the sea
Oh the light can carry
All the images to me
Run to light from shadow
Sun gives me no rest
Promise offered in the east
Broken in the west
Chase the sun around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light
All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Shadows hide the play of light
So much I want to see
Chase the light around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light
I'll go with the wind
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