Neil Peart

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Neil Peart 2008

Neil Peart (September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian musician, writer, lyricist, and drummer for the band Rush.

Rush Lyrics[edit]

  • How I prayed just to get away
    To carry me anywhere
    Sometimes the angels punish us
    By answering our prayers

    -- Carnies (2012)
  • ...if the music stops and there's only the sound of the rain
    All the hope and glory -- All the sacrifice in vain
    (And) If love remains, though everything is lost
    We will pay the price, but we will not count the cost

    -- Bravado (1991)
  • Like a steely blade in a silken sheath
    We don't see what they're made of
    They shout about love, but when push comes to shove
    They live for the things they're afraid of

    And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them...

    - The Weapon (Part II of 'Fear') (1982)
  • 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

    -- Freeze (Part IV of 'Fear') (2002)
  • Wave after wave
    Will flow with the tide
    And bury the world as it does
    Tide after tide
    Will flow and recede
    Leaving life to go on
    As it was...

    -- Natural Science (1980)
  • 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.

    -- Something for Nothing (1976)


  • There's no bread, let 'em eat cake
    There's no end to what they'll take
    Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
    Wash the salt into the earth

    -- Bastille Day (1975)
  • All the same we take our chances,
    Laughed at by time, tricked by circumstances,
    Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose,
    The more that things change, the more they stay the same.

    -- Circumstances (1978)
  • A scorching blast of golden fire as it slowly leaves the ground
    Tears away with a mighty force
    The air is shattered by the awesome sound

    -- Countdown (1982)
  • Features distorted in the flickering light
    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

    -- Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1981)
  • I'm not looking back, but I want to look around me now.
    -- Time Stand Still (1987)
  • Today is different, and tomorrow the same.
    It's hard to take the world the way that it came.
    Too many rapids keep us sweeping along.
    Too many captains keep on steering us wrong.
    It's hard to take the heat.
    It's hard to lay blame.
    To fight the fire, while we're feeding the flames.

    -- Second Nature (1987)
  • Faith is cold as ice.
    Why are little ones born only to suffer
    for the want of immunity, or a bowl of rice?
    Well, who would hold a price on the heads of the innocent children
    if there's some immortal power to control the dice?

    -- Roll The Bones (1991)
  • You move me, you move me.
    with your buildings and your eyes
    Autumn woods and Winter skies.
    You move me, you move me.
    Open sea and city lights, busy streets and dizzy heights.
    You call me, you call me.

    -- The Analog Kid (1982)
  • The middle aged madonna
    calls her neighbor on the phone.
    Day by day, the seasons pass
    and leave her life alone.
    But she'll go walking out that door
    on some bright afternoon
    to go and paint big cities
    from a lonely attic room.

    -- Middletown Dreams (1985)
  • Miracles will have their claimers
    More will bow to Rome
    He and she are in the house
    But there's only me at home.

    -- Anagram (For Mongo) (1989)
  • I feel the sense of possibilities
    I feel the wrench of hard realities
    The focus is sharp in the city

    -- The Camera Eye (1981)
  • 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

    -- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)
  • Growing up it all seems so one-sided
    Opinions all provided
    The future pre-decided
    Detached and subdivided
    In the mass production zone
    Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone

    -- Subdivisions (1982)
  • Cast in this unlikely role
    Ill-equipped to act
    With insufficient tact
    One must put up barriers
    To keep oneself intact

    -- Limelight (1981)
  • No hero in your tragedy,
    No daring in your escape,
    No salutes for your surrender,
    Nothing noble in your fate,
    Christ, what have you done?

    -- The Pass (1989)
  • The world weighs on my shoulders
    But what am I to do?
    You sometimes drive me crazy
    But I worry about you
    I know it makes no difference
    To what you’re going through
    But I see the tip of the iceberg
    And I worry about you...

    -- Distant Early Warning (1984)
  • Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies
    But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be
    Sadder still to watch it die, then never to have known it
    For you, the blind who once could see
    The bell tolls for thee...

    -- Losing It (1982)
  • Anarchist reactionary, running-dog revisionist
    Hindu, Muslim, Catholic creation, evolutionist
    Rational, romantic, mystic, cynical, idealist
    Minimal expressionist, post-modern neo-symbolist

    Armchair rocket scientist, graffiti existentialist
    Deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist
    Be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop, lite-pop-metallist
    Gold adult contemporary, urban country capitalist

    -- You Bet Your Life (1991)
  • I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate, Are the liberators here?
    Do I hope or do I fear?
    For my father and my brother, it’s too late but I must help my mother stand up straight.
    Are we the last ones left alive?
    Are we the only human beings to survive?

    -- Red Sector A (1984)
  • 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

    -- Between The Wheels (1984)
  • 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

    -- Cygnus X-1, Book One; The Voyage (1977)
  • They say there are strangers who threaten us
    In our immigrants and infidels
    They say there is strangeness too dangerous
    In our theaters and bookstore shelves
    That those who know what's best for us
    Must rise and save us from ourselves

    -- Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1980)
  • Now there's no more oak oppression
    For they passed a noble law
    And the trees are all kept equal
    By hatchet, axe and saw

    -- The Trees (1978)
  • Imagine a man when it all began
    The pilot of 'Enola Gay'
    Flying out of the shockwave on that August day
    All the powers that be, and the course of history
    Would be changed forevermore

    -- Manhattan Project (1985)
  • We each pay a fabulous price
    For our visions of paradise
    But a spirit with a vision is a dream
    With a mission

    -- Mission (1987)
  • 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

    -- Vital Signs (1981)
  • A planet of playthings
    We dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive
    The stars aren't aligned or the gods are maligned
    Blame is better to give than receive

    -- Freewill (1980)
  • Life is just a candle, and a dream must give it flame...
    -- The Fountain of Lamneth (1975)
  • Danger plus survival equals fun.
    --From A Work in Progress
  • All the busy little creatures
    chasing out their destinies.
    Living in their pools
    they soon forget about the sea...

    -- Natural Science (1980)
  • A few guys with guns can spoil everything.
    -- The Masked Rider (1996)
  • Everything in moderation, with occasional excess
    -- Ghost Rider (2002)
  • To you, is it movement, or is it action?
    Is it contact or just reaction?
    And you, revolution, just resistance?
    Is it living, or just existence?

    -- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)
  • Adventures suck when you're having them.
    -- Roadshow (2006)
  • How can anybody be enlightened?
    Truth is after all so poorly lit

    -- Turn The Page (1987)
  • Life is like an aimless river
    The time is now again

    -- Ceiling Unlimited (2002)
  • No one gets to their heaven without a fight
    -- Armor and Sword (2007)
  • Quick to judge -- Quick to anger -- Slow to understand
    Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand

    -- Witch Hunt (Part III of 'Fear') (1981)
  • When we are young
    Wandering the face of the Earth
    Wondering what our dreams might be worth
    Learning that we're only immortal
    For a limited time

    -- Dreamline (1991)
  • Unstable condition
    A symptom of life
    In mental and environmental change
    Atmospheric disturbance
    The feverish flux
    Of human interface and interchange

    -- Vital Signs (1981)
  • You can surrender
    Without a prayer
    But never really pray
    Pray without surrender
    You can fight
    Without ever winning
    But never ever win
    Without a fight

    -- Resist (1996)

Other[edit]

  • Genius is the fire that lights itself. -Commenting on Buddy Rich.
  • The secret to life is, you get up in the morning, and you go to work - from the book Travelling Music
  • I can't play to that! - on Rock Band[1]
  • Among the people whose thinking I like is Ayn Rand, but there are a whole lot of others. It's a kind of disciple mentality that people are applying to me that they think I applied to her and it's all wrong. I'm nobody's disciple and you know 'No god, no government' none of that, so I don't like it applied to me any more than to them.[1]
  • I define my approach to each day I am given as, "What is the most excellent thing I can do today?" – from the book "Far and Near: On Days Like These"
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References[edit]