# Rush (band)

Rush (1968–2018) was a Canadian progressive rock band comprising bassist, keyboardist and vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart (who replaced original drummer John Rutsey in 1974).

## Song lyrics

All lyrics written by Neil Peart, except as noted.

### Rush (1974)

* Well I get up at 7 yeah and I go to work at 9 I got no time for living I'm working 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 workin' man. I get home at five o'clock and I take a sip out an ice cold beer always seem to be wondering why there's nothing going on around here 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 workin' man.
** Working Man, written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson

### Fly By Night (1975)

* Live for yourself -- there's no one else More worth living for Begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more
** Anthem
* 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.
** By-Tor and the Snow Dog
* Snow Dog is victorious The land of the Overworld is saved again
** By-Tor and the Snow Dog
* Quiet and pensive My thoughts apprehensive The hours drift away Leaving my homeland Playing a lone hand My life begins today
** Fly by Night
* 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
** Rivendell

### Caress Of Steel (1975)

* For they marched up to Bastille Day La guillotine -- claimed her bloody prize Hear the echoes of the centuries Power isn't all that money buys
** Bastille Day
* I am born, I am me, I am new, I am free. Look at me, I am young, sight unseen, life unsung.
** In the Valley from The Fountain of Lamneth

### 2112 (1976)

* 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 dreams might be
** Something For Nothing

### A Farewell To Kings (1977)

* 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
** A Farewell To Kings
* 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.
** Xanadu
* And the men who hold high places Must be the ones to start To mold a new reality Closer to the Heart
** Closer To The Heart, written by Neil Peart and Peter Talbot
* When life becomes so 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 Your love has shown me proof
** Madrigal

### Hemispheres (1978)

* They battled through the ages, But still neither force would yield. The people were divided, Every soul a battlefield.
** Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
* 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.
** Circumstances
* So the maples formed a union And demanded equal rights. "The oaks are just too greedy; We will make them give us light." 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

### Permanent Waves (1980)

* Invisible airwaves crackle with life Bright antennae bristle with the energy Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength Bearing a gift beyond price Almost Free
** The Spirit of Radio
* All this machinery making modern music Can still be open-hearted. Not so coldly charted, it's really just a question Of your honesty, yeah, your honesty.
** The Spirit Of Radio
* One likes to believe in the freedom of music but glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity.
** The Spirit Of Radio
* A planet of playthings, We dance on the strings Of powers we cannot perceive "The stars aren't aligned - Or the gods are malign" Blame is better to give than receive.
** Freewill
* You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice. If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill; I will choose a path that's clear- I will choose Free Will.
** Freewill
* Each of us A cell of awareness Imperfect and incomplete. Genetic blends With uncertain ends On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.
** Freewill
* We are secrets to each other Each one's life a novel No-one else has read. Even joined in bonds of love, We're linked to one another By such slender threads.
** Entre Nous
* We are planets to each other, Drifting in our orbits To a brief eclipse. Each of us a world apart, Alone and yet together, Like two passing ships.
** Entre Nous
* 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.
** Different Strings
* Wheels within wheels in a spiral array, A pattern so grand and complex, Time after time we lose sight of the way, Our causes can't see their effects.
** Natural Science
* In their own image Their world is fashioned- No wonder they don't understand
** Natural Science
* Science, like nature Must also be tamed With a view towards its preservation Given the same State of integrity It will surely serve us well
** Natural Science

### Moving Pictures (1981)

* A modern day warrior, Mean, mean stride, Today's Tom Sawyer, Mean, mean pride.
** Tom Sawyer, written by Neil Peart and Pye Dubois
* 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.
** Tom Sawyer
* And what you say about his company Is what you say about society.
** Tom Sawyer
* Living in the limelight The universal dream For those who wish to seem Those who wish to be Must put aside the alienation Get on with the fascination The real relation The underlying theme
** Limelight
* All the world's indeed a stage, And we are merely players, Performers and portrayers, Each another's audience Outside the gilded cage.
** Limelight
* 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.
** Witch Hunt (Part III of Fear)
* Everybody got to elevate from the norm.
** Vital Signs
* Leave out the fiction Fact is, this friction will only be worn by persistence Leave out conditions Courageous convictions will drag a dream to existence
** Vital Signs

### Signals (1982)

* 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
* The boy lies in the grass, unmoving Staring at the sky His mother starts to call him As a hawk goes soaring by And the boy pulls down his baseball cap And covers up his eyes
** The Analog Kid
* He's got a force field and a flexible plan He's got a date with fate in a black sedan He'll play fast forward for as long as he can But he won't need a bed he's a digital man
** Digital Man
* We've got nothing to fear -- but fear itself? Not pain or failure, not fatal tragedy? Not the faulty units in this mad machinery? Not the broken contacts in emotional chemistry?
** The Weapon (Part II of Fear)
* He's noble enough to know what's right but weak enough not to choose it He's wise enough to win the world but fool enough to lose it
** New World Man

### Grace Under Pressure (1984)

* I remember- How we talked and drank Into the misty dawn - I hear the voices We ran by the water On the wet summer lawn - I see the foot prints I remember-
** Afterimage
* I clutch the wire fence until my fingers bleed A wound that will not heal -- a heart that cannot feel -- Hoping that the horror will recede Hoping that tomorrow, we'll all be freed
** Red Sector A
* 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...
** The Enemy Within (Part I of Fear)
* One humanoid escapee an android on the run seeking freedom beneath the lonely desert sun
** The Body Electric
* 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...
** Between the Wheels

### Power Windows (1985)

* So much poison in power The principles get left out So much mind on the matter The spirit gets forgotten about
** Grand Designs
* The big bang -- took and shook the world Shot down the rising sun the end was begun -- it would hit everyone When the chain reaction was done The big shots -- try to hold it back Fools try to wish it away The hopeful depend on a world without end Whatever the hopeless may say
** Manhattan Project
* You can do a lot in a lifetime If you don't burn out too fast You can make the most of the distance First you need endurance First you've got to last
** Marathon
* They shoot without shame In the name of a piece of dirt For a change of accent Or the colour of your shirt Better the pride that resides In a citizen of the world Than the pride that divides When a colourful rag is unfurled
** Territories
* Dreams flow across the heartland Feeding on the fires Dreams transport desires Drive you when you're down Dreams transport the ones Who need to get out of town
** Middletown Dreams
* Right to the heart of the matter Right to the beautiful part Illusions are painfully shattered Right where discovery starts In the secret wells of emotion Buried deep in our hearts
** Emotion Detector
* 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

### Hold Your Fire (1987)

* I let my past go too fast No time to pause If I could slow it all down Like some captain, whose ship runs aground I can wait until the tide comes around
** Time Stand Still
* I thought of time and distance The hardships of history I heard the hope and the hunger When China sang to me...
** Tai Shan

### Presto (1989)

* All of us get lost in the darkness dreamers learn to steer by the stars All of us do time in the gutter dreamers turn to look at the cars.
** The Pass
* 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
* I had a dream of a winter garden a midnight rendezvous. Silver, blue and frozen silence what a fool I was for you!
** Presto
* Take heart from earth and weather the brightness of new birth Take heart from the harvest shave the harvest from the earth.
** Anagram (For Mongo)

### Roll The Bones (1991)

* We go out in the world and take our chances Fate is just the weight of circumstances That's the way that lady luck dances Roll the bones.
** Roll The Bones
* Why are we here? Because we're here Roll the bones, roll the bones Why does it happen? Because it happens Roll the bones, roll the bones.
** Roll The Bones
* Well, I was only a kid, cruising around in a trance Prisoner of fate, victim of circumstance I was lined up for glory, but the tickets sold out in advance The way the big wheel spins.
** The Big Wheel
* All around this great big world All the crap we had to take Bombs and basement fallout shelters All our lives at stake.
** Heresy

### Counterparts (1993)

* 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.
** Animate
* Young enough not to care too much About the way things used to be I'm young enough to remember the future -- The past has no claim on me.
** "Cut To The Chase
* There is a fine line Between love and illusion.
** Between Sun & Moon
* You and I, we are pressed into these solitudes Color and culture, language and race Just variations on a theme Islands in a much larger stream.
** Alien Shore

### Test For Echo (1996)

* I've got celestial mechanics To synchronize my stars Seasonal migrations -- daily variations World of the unlikely and bizarre.
** Totem, written by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart
* I can learn to resist Anything but frustration I can learn to persist With anything but aiming low.
** Resist, written by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart

### Vapor Trails (2002)

* A certain amount of resistance To the forces of the light and love A certain measure of tolerance A willingness to rise above.
** One Little Victory
* All this time we're burning like bonfires in the dark A billion other blazes are shooting off their sparks Every spark a drifting ember of desire To fall upon the earth and spark another fire.
** Peaceable Kingdom
* Dream - Temporary madness Dream - A voice in the wilderness Dream - Unconscious revelations The morning says, the answer is yes.
** Nocturne

### Snakes & Arrows (2007)

* 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.
** Far Cry
* Sometimes the fortress is too strong Or the love is too weak What should have been our armor Becomes a sharp and angry sword
** Armor and Sword
* Now it's come to this Like we're back in the Dark Ages From the Middle East to the Middle West It's a plague that resists all science
** The Way The Wind Blows

### Clockwork Angels (2012)

* In a world where I feel so small I can't stop thinking big.
** Caravan
* Until our final breath The joy and pain that we receive Must be what we deserve I was brought up to believe.
** BU2B
* Life goes from bad to worse I still choose to live Find a measure of love and laughter And another measure to give.
** BU2B2
* All my illusions Projected on her The ideal, that I wanted to see.
** Halo Effect
* 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.
** The Wreckers
* 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.
** Wish Them Well
* The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect.
** The Garden
* The future disappears into memory With only a moment between. Forever dwells in that moment.
** The Garden

## Quotes about Rush

* Heavy on lyrical conception, the legendary trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart offered various complex pieces and themes often involving science fiction fantasy. Though a guitar-driven band at heart, Peart was widely considered one of the great drummers of all time. As a collective, Rush's musical genius is hard to beat.
** Jeff Mezydlo of Yardbarker (February 2025)

## External links

* Official site
* Rush Section at LyricWiki
* Lyrics at Power Windows