FAQ: Rush Fans Frequently Asked Questions [2/3]
ru...@avian.dars.muohio.edu
This file is current as of: Sun Jan 28 02:30:20 EST 1996
Rush Fans Frequently Asked Questions List, Part 2 of 3
Generated: Sun Jan 28 02:30:01 EST 1996
This file contains questions that seem to crop up frequently in The
National Midnight Star and alt.music.rush. If you received a copy of
this file in email, other than as an issue of TNMS, it is probably
because you asked one of these questions.
* * * * * P L E A S E N O T E * * * * *
The FAQ maintainer is now Randy Kaelber, a moderately young
programmer/analyst working at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio (Miami was
a University before Florida was a state.), long time Rush fan, and
charter member of The National Midnight Star. If you have questions or
have a request, send the request to ru...@avian.dars.muohio.edu. I can
also receive personal mail at ler...@muohio.edu or kael...@muohio.edu.
Please don't bother Dan Delany regarding the FAQ. He will likely just
tell you to write me! After over 5 years of exlemplary stewardship, Dan
has decided to step down as the FAQ maintainer. I hope that you will
notice little difference in the handling of the FAQ, other than mail and
news headers pointing to a new address. I'm still getting a handle on the
automated operations of this FAQ, and there's bound to be a problem or
two, so please be patient with me. :)
One more note: anywhere you see the writer speaking in first person, the
first person is most likely Dan Delany, so if I refer to myself anyhwere,
I will make it known that it is the "Randy I" instead of the "Dan I".
* * * * * T H A N K Y O U ! * * * * *
This file has been expanded into 3 files because some mailers have
problems with files that are longer than 60K. Part 1 contains general
questions about the band. Part 2 contains questions inspired by
specific albums and songs up to and including stuff on _A Show Of Hands_.
Part 3 contains questions about material starting with _Presto_.
The FAQ is available via anonymous ftp from syrinx.umd.edu
(129.2.8.114) in the /rush/misc directory. The file you are reading
now is current as of the date at the top of the file. If you are reading
this within a few days of that time, please don't send me mail asking for
the FAQ - you've got it! Note to people who want a copy of the current
FAQ: I maintain the FAQ as an ASCII file.
Additionally, I will only send the FAQ to the address that I receive the
request from. Please don't send me mail asking me to send the FAQ to your
friend's email address. I won't.
I'd appreciate it if people who submit questions submit anything they know
about possible answers, since I don't have all of the answers myself! I'd
also appreciate it if anybody who wants to send me corrections makes sure
that they have the most current FAQ before sending me corrections, in order
to make sure that they don't send me a correction that has already been
done.
THE FAQ IS A FILE OF FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT RUSH AND THEIR
ANSWERS. IT IS NOT AN "OBSCURE RUSH TRIVIA" FILE.
Please consider this before sending me a suggestion for an addition.
I'll repeat that because it's important and people don't get it.
THE FAQ IS A FILE OF FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT RUSH AND THEIR
ANSWERS. IT IS NOT AN "OBSCURE RUSH TRIVIA" FILE.
Please consider this before sending me a suggestion for an addition.
I am not the ultimate repository of all Rush knowledge. Everything that
I know about potential future tours or albums is already in the FAQ.
Please don't ask me questions about when the next album will be released,
when the next tour will be, or when Rush will visit your city next. If
I knew that information, I would put it into the FAQ.
I know that it's fun to come up with pet theories for how things
are related to each other. But please don't send them to me saying that
"It *can't* be a coincidence!" I routinely ignore such email. Send me
a reference to an interview or a quote or something from a band member
that supports what you say, and I'll be happy to add it to this file.
If you have a pet theory that you want feedback on, post it to TNMS
or alt.music.rush.
For example: Don't point out to me that 1001001 in binary is equivalent to
73 decimal, and 73 decimal is ASCII for the letter "I," and the letter "I"
was significant to the plot of Ayn Rand's _Anthem_, and Neil Peart read
lots of Ayn Rand, therefore "The Body Electric" is a reference to _Anthem_.
Believe me, you won't be the first to point that out. But Neil Peart has
never said anything on that particular subject as far as I know, so I'm
not going to put that into the FAQ. (Especially since I think it's
a coincidence!) Remember, coincidences happen, even in Rush songs!
An additional thing to consider is that many questions are answered in,
of all places, the liner notes on the albums. Please look there before
posting a question.
DISCLAIMER: The information in this file is accurate to the best of my
knowledge, but I'm not perfect. If you have an answer to one of these
questions that doesn't match the one given here that you can verify, let me
know, and I'll put it in. But if you make a bet based on this
information and you lose, don't blame me.
One more thing: If you send me mail and I don't answer right away, please
be patient. I eventually read all of my mail. However, Rush FAQ-related
stuff has a lower priority than my job.
I'd like to thank Bruce Holtgren <70724...@CompuServe.COM> for lots of
editing advice on the FAQ. He volunteered to proofread the entire set of
FAQ files for me, and he seems to be much better at that than I am.
Thanks, Bruce!
Here are the questions I get asked the most, so I'll put them here at the
start:
What is The National Midnight Star?
It's a Rush fans newsletter that is distributed via email.
Submissions are all sent to one address, and the moderator goes through
the submissions periodically and sends out a digest containing lots
of submissions.
(If you don't know where the name "The National Midnight Star"
comes from, that means you don't watch enough Canadian TV. For a
hint, listen to "Red Lenses".)
How can I subscribe to The National Midnight Star?
Send email to rush-r...@syrinx.umd.edu asking to have your name added
to the list. Don't send email to me - I can't add you!
I'll repeat that. I have absolutely nothing to do with
the management of TNMS. I can't add your name to the subscription list.
What other ways are there on the Internet for Rush fans to get together?
There is a Rush IRC channel, called #p/g!, but I don't know anything
about IRC so I can not help anybody use it.
Latest Word on the next album/tour:
For information that is potentially more recent than the info here,
check at http://syrinx.umd.edu/rush/HTML/latest.html for fun.
I haven't seen any official word about the rumors of a boxed set of
Rush CDs. Until I see official word on the subject, I'll treat that
as a rumor.
Burning For Buddy II is also slated to be released this fall. (Can
anyone verify this information further, as it is now winter?)
Recording for the new Rush album is in progress with Peter
Collins as the producer.
Alex Lifeson's project, "Victor" is now available. According to
various people, some hunting may be in order to find it. The album also
has Les Claypool of Primus on one track, Edwin from I Mother Earth, and
Lisa Dalbello doing some vocals. Contrary to prior statements, Sebastian
Bach is NOT on the album, although he did do some work on it initially.
The Canadian Catalog number is for Anthem Records, ANSD 1072. The U.S.
version is currently unknown.
-------- The following questions and answers are in this file: --------
= Questions about _Fly By Night_
Where did By-Tor's name come from?
What is The Sign of Eth?
Is Rivendell a real place?
= Questions about _Caress Of Steel_
In "By-Tor And The Snow Dog" By-Tor is the bad guy, but he's a hero in "The
Necromancer." What happened?
Where is Lakeside Park?
What is the significance of May 24?
Has anybody noticed that "Didacts and Narpets" is an anagram for "Addicts
and Parents"?
Does anybody know the lyrics to "Didacts and Narpets"?
In the COS liner notes, a city is mentioned in small print after each
song. Why is this?
What does "Terminat hora diem, terminat auctor opus" mean?
= Questions about _2112_
Has anybody noticed that you can hear part of the 1812 Overture in 2112?
Where did the story of _2112_ come from?
Has anybody noticed the whispering in the background in "The Twilight Zone"?
= Questions about _All The World's A Stage_
What do the voices at the end of the album (vinyl only) say?
= Questions about _A Farewell To Kings_
What is "Cinderella Man" about?
I read that "Xanadu" was based on a famous poem. Does anybody have a copy?
Where does the name Cygnus X-1 come from?
Where does the name Rocinante come from?
= Questions about _Hemispheres_
What do the French lyrics in "Circumstances" mean?
Is there a message in "The Trees"?
What does "La Villa Strangiato" mean?
Where do the different parts of "La Villa Strangiato" start/end?
= Questions about _Permanent Waves_
Has anybody ever noticed that the signs on the right side of the _Permanent
Waves_ cover say Lee, Lifeson and Peart?
Why was the headline on the newspaper on the cover of _Permanent Waves_
blocked out? (Note: The Anthem Canadian release does not have this problem.)
What is the "words of the profits" quote in "The Spirit Of Radio" about?
What is "Free Will" about?
In "Free Will" which lyrics are correct (the ones on the album sleeve or
the ones Geddy sings)?
But I'm *sure* that what the lyric sheet says isn't what Geddy sings!
Where is "Lotus-Land?"
I heard something about a song called "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."
Apparently it was supposed to be on _Permanent Waves_, but was dropped.
Is there a way to get a tape of it?
= Questions about _Moving Pictures_
What building is on the cover of _Moving Pictures_?
What do the pictures on the MP cover mean?
What is "Tom Sawyer" about?
My _Moving Pictures_ CD is missing the first half second or so from
"Tom Sawyer." Can I get a new one?
My _Moving Pictures_ CD contains pictures of Geddy and Alex, but not Neil.
Why is this? Can I get a CD with all 3 pictures?
Who is Pye Dubois?
What is a barchetta?
Where can I get a copy of "A Nice Morning Drive," by Richard S. Foster?
What does "YYZ" mean?
How does Neil play plywood?
At 8:54 and 8:56 in "The Camera Eye," there are some mumblings that I can't
quite make out. Does anybody know for sure what is being said?
(These mumblings are at 8:55 and 8:57 in the MFSL gold pressing of
_Moving Pictures_.)
What is the mob saying at the beginning of "Witch Hunt"?
What is that thing on Neil's chest in the "Vital Signs" video?
Has anybody noticed that Geddy says "Everybody got to evelate from the norm"
at the end of "Vital Signs"?
= Questions about _Exit ... Stage Left_
Has anybody noticed that the ESL cover photo contains stuff from all of
the band's previous studio albums?
What does Geddy say just before "Jacob's Ladder" on ESL?
Who is T.C. Broonsie?
= Questions about _Signals_
What is the _Signals_ cover supposed to mean?
I just picked up the MFSL CD of _Signals_, and I've noticed that some lyrics
are omitted in "The Weapon". Has anybody else noticed this, and why did
this happen?
Who is the writer in "Losing It" about?
Who are Young and Crippen?
What are the voices at the end of "Countdown" saying?
= Questions about _Grace Under Pressure_
Is that crackling noise about 10-20 seconds into "Distant Early Warning" on
the _Grace Under Pressure_ CD supposed to be there, or is my copy defective?
Who was Absalom?
Who is the boy in the "Distant Early Warning" video?
Is "Afterimage" about anybody in particular?
What is "Red Sector A" about?
What songs make up the "Fear" trilogy?
Has this trilogy ever been performed live?
Why do the songs appear in reverse order?
What is the significance of 1001001 in "The Body Electric?"
= Questions about _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video
Who is Count Floyd?
= Questions about _Power Windows_
Has anybody noticed that _Power Windows_ is "brought to you by the letter M"?
Why is _Power Windows_ brought to us by the letter M?
= Questions about _Hold Your Fire_
What do the three spheres on the _Hold Your Fire_ cover represent?
How many Rush symbols are there in the _Hold Your Fire_ inside photo?
How did Pye Dubois come to be involved with "Force Ten"? What does
the title of that song mean?
Has Aimee Mann ever appeared live with Rush? How are her vocals in
"Time Stand Still" reproduced live?
What film are the clips in the "Lock And Key" video and the _A Show Of
Hands_ laserdisc, just before "Lock And Key," from?
What is "Tai Shan" about?
= Questions about _A Show Of Hands_
What does Geddy have sitting on his keyboards in the _A Show Of Hands_
video?
What is the round thing on Alex's guitar in the _A Show Of Hands_ video?
What is happening during the "censored" section of the _A Show Of Hands_
video?
In the _A Show Of Hands_ video, does Geddy really say "Catch the fish?"
In the _A Show Of Hands_ video, has anybody noticed that Alex's guitar
keeps changing?
-------- Questions and answers follow. -------
= Questions about _Fly By Night_
Where did By-Tor's name come from?
Rush's road manager, Howard, came up with the title at a party. There
were two dogs at the party, one a German shepherd and the other
a tiny white nervous dog. Howard used to call the shepherd By-Tor
because anyone that walked into the house was bitten. The other dog was
a snow-dog (white ...). So from that night on Howard called the pair of
dogs "By-Tor and the Snow Dog." - from scrs...@uhura.cc.rochester.edu
What is The Sign of Eth?
- This is what Muff (smi...@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu) posted to the NMS:
I remember looking up "eth" in the dictionary after I found my
brother's FBN album in '74 or '75. In fact, I looked up a LOT of words
from that album back then. :D From American Heritage:
eth n. Variant of edh.
edh n. 1. A letter appearing in Old English, Old Saxon, Old Norse, and
modern Icelandic to represent an interdental fricative. 2. The symbol in
the International Phonetic Alphabet representing the interdental voiced
fricative, as in /the/, /with/.
An edh looks like: \_--~\
\
-~~-
/ \
{ }
\ /
~-~
Well, sorta. Like a lower-case "o" with a wavy propellor. What symbolism
an edh has in By-Tor's tale, I have no idea.
- Also, Josh Beatty (iqm...@uriacc.uri.edu) wrote the following:
"Eth" is a letter in the Old English alphabet that was dropped from
the alphabet as it evolved into Middle and Modern English. It repre-
sented the sound /th/, as in "cloth" for example. It looked like a lower-
case "o" with a cross on top. Capitalized, it was like a "D" with a horiz-
ontal line through the straight part. This was also the symbol used for
a capitalized "Thorn", another Old English letter representing /th/.
"Thorn" was adapted into the Old English alphabet from a Germanic rune
of the same name. The rune, in its turn, was associated with the Gothic
(as in the tribe of the Goths, not cathedrals) word "thurisaz", which
meant "demon".
So "Eth" itself has some historical background in representing demons
and hell, obviously appropriate in the context of the song. I suppose
I see "The sign of Eth is rising in the air..." in two ways: first, that
it represents simply the demonic power in the Tobes of Hades, and secondly,
that it represents By-Tor himself and that when the sign is, rising,
By-Tor is coming forth from Hades to do battle with the Snow Dog (don't we
assume usually that Hades is underground? By-Tor would have to rise to
get out of there to most anyplace?)
Is Rivendell a real place?
Rivendell was a sage haven for travellers in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of
the Rings".
= Questions about _Caress Of Steel_
In "By-Tor And The Snow Dog" By-Tor is the bad guy, but he's a hero in "The
Necromancer." What happened?
When asked about this on "Rockline," Geddy said something along the lines
of, "He saw the light." Neil commented, "I guess he's like
all of us - sometimes good, and sometimes he's bad!" in the December
1985 Backstage Club newsletter.
Where is Lakeside Park?
It's in St. Catherine's, on Lake Ontario.
Don't email me directions if you went there a long time ago and think
you remember how to get there.
What is the significance of May 24?
It's Victoria Day, commemorating Queen Victoria's birthday.
Has anybody noticed that "Didacts and Narpets" is an anagram for "Addicts
and Parents"?
Yes.
Does anybody know the lyrics to "Didacts and Narpets"?
Here's the best version I've seen:
Deep Voice: "Stay!"
Geddy "Go!"
Deep "Work!"
Ged "No!"
Deep "Think!"
Ged "Live!"
Deep "Earn!"
Ged "Give!"
Deep/Ged <Wait or Fight?>/<Right>
Deep/Ged <Laugh?>/<Right or Wait?>
Listen!
In the October 1991 news release from the Rush Backstage Club, Neil
says:
"Okay, I may have answered this before, but if not, the shouted words
in that song represent an argument between Our Hero and the Didacts
and Narpets - teachers and parents. I honestly can't rememer what the
actual words were, but they took up opposite positions like:
"Work! Live! Earn! Give!" and like that."
In the COS liner notes, a city is mentioned in small print after each
song. Why is this?
"Ah yes. This goes back to the 'bad old days' when all we did was tour,
and consequently had to do most of our song writing on the road, with
acoustic guitars and notebooks in hotel rooms. Not the best method of
composition, you may imagine, but the only one available to us at the time.
Those cities represent the places in which those songs were written."
- Neil Peart, in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter
What does "Terminat hora diem, terminat auctor opus" mean?
It means something like: "As the hour ends the day, the author ends his
work."
Assorted CoS trivia:
"The Necromancer"
- The song is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". The three
travellers are Frodo, Sam and Gollum (more specific references wanted).
- Ambergris is a waxy substance from the intestines of the sperm whale,
highly valued for making perfume with.
- Panacea is a supposed cure for everything.
- Bacchus was the Greek & Roman god of wine, earlier called Dionysus.
- Lakeside Park is mentioned in _Strange Brew_.
= Questions about _2112_
Has anybody noticed that you can hear part of the 1812 Overture in 2112?
Yes.
Where did the story of _2112_ come from?
"The inspiration behind it was ... It's difficult always to trace those
lines because so many things tend to coalesce, and in fact it ended up
being quite similar to a book called _Anthem_ by the writer Ayn Rand. But
I didn't realize that while I was working on it, and then eventually as the
story came together, the parallels became obvious to me and I thought, 'Oh
gee, I don't want to be a plagiarist here.' So I did give credit to her
writings in the liner notes." - Neil Peart, in the December 2, 1991
"Rockline" interview
Has anybody noticed the whispering in the background in "The Twilight Zone"?
Yes.
= Questions about _All The World's A Stage_
What do the voices at the end of the album (vinyl only) say?
- According to Darryl Coombs (dco...@dragger.ifmt.nf.ca), this is it:
Geddy: Wow
Woah
Waa
What a show
Man oh man, I guess that's it
Allright
I'm going <-- (not sure if Ged)
Yeah, yeah, ok, ok.
Door slam.
= Questions about _A Farewell To Kings_
What is "Cinderella Man" about?
The song is loosely based on a movie called "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town",
starring Gary Cooper as a man from a small town who inherits lots of
money and moves to the big city.
I read that "Xanadu" was based on a famous poem. Does anybody have a copy?
The poem is "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Your local
library probably has a copy. It appeared in TNMS issue #88.
Where does the name Cygnus X-1 come from?
It is the name given to an X-ray source in the constellation of
Cygnus, believed to be a black hole. For a more detailed
explanation, check issue 567 of TNMS, available via anonymous ftp
from syrinx.umd.edu in the rush/special directory.
Where does the name Rocinante come from?
In Greek mythology, Rocinante is the name of the horse that Zeus rides.
It was the name of Steinbeck's motor home in _Travels With Charlie_.
It was also the name of Don Quixote's horse.
= Questions about _Hemispheres_
What do the French lyrics in "Circumstances" mean?
"The more that things change, the more they stay the same."
Is there a message in "The Trees"?
"No. It was just a flash. I was working on an entirely different thing
when I saw a cartoon picture of these trees carrying on like fools. I
thought, "What if trees acted like people?" So I saw it as a cartoon
really, and wrote it that way. I think that's the image that it conjures
up to a listener or a reader. A very simple statement." -- Neil Peart,
in the April/May 1980 _Modern Drummer_ magazine
What does "La Villa Strangiato" mean?
"Weird City" is a rough translation of the title, according to _Visions_.
Atthe Tossavainen <d37...@kaira.hut.fi> has told me that
"La villa, be it Spanish or Italian, doesn't mean a village or a
city, but rather a HOUSE. Strangiato is probably just pidgin Spanish, a
made-up word."
The song itself is based on several of Alex's nightmares and some cartoon
themes. Much of this music can be heard on a CD called The Carl Stalling
Project - "Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958." Warner Bros. -
26027-2 (approximately 77 minutes on CD). These are the original soundtracks
from Loony Tunes/Merrie Melodies, mostly in the '40s and '50s. - thanks to
jdin...@polyslo.calpoly.edu for catalog info
scha...@serc.nl (Frank Schaapherder) gave me this information:
The first part of "La Villa Strangiato," "Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!,"
is based on the German song "Gute Nacht, Freunde," written by
A. Yondrascheck. I noted the resemblance between the two songs
immediately when I first heard "La Villa." The notes until the fast
part are almost identical. Also note the similarities in the titles -
they have the same meaning, and the reference to German in Rush's
title (Mein Froinds).
Where do the different parts of "La Villa Strangiato" start/end?
This chart was made up by Brad Armstrong <71161...@CompuServe.COM>.
Thanks, Brad!
"La Villa Strangiato (An exercise in Self-Indulgence)"
Studio Live (ESL CD)
I. "Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!" 0.00 0.16
II. "To sleep, perchance to dream ..." 0.27 0.49
III. "Strangiato theme" 2.00 2.18
IV. "A Lerxst in Wonderland" 3.16 3.36
V. "Monsters!" 5.43 6.09
VI. "The Ghost of the Aragon" 6.09 6.30
VII. "Danforth and Pape" 6.45 7.07
VIII. "The Waltz of the Shreves" 7.26 7.48
IX. "Never turn your back on a Monster!" 7.52 8.14
X. "Monsters! (Reprise)" 8.03 8.24
XI. "Strangiato theme (Reprise)" 8.17 8.40
XII. "A Farewell to Things" 9.21 9.14
Danforth and Pape is an intersection in Toronto. Actually, it's Danforth
Ave. and Pape St. This is a heavily Greek section of Toronto, and even the
street names are written in English and Greek. The actual intersection has
a donut place (there are LOTS in Canada) like two banks and a random store.
= Questions about _Permanent Waves_
Has anybody ever noticed that the signs on the right side of the _Permanent
Waves_ cover say Lee, Lifeson and Peart?
Yes.
Why was the headline on the newspaper on the cover of _Permanent Waves_
blocked out? (Note: The Anthem Canadian release does not have this problem.)
"There are always the inevitable last minute crises, such as the Chicago
Daily Tribune being still so embarrassed about their 'Dewey defeats Truman'
error of more than thirty years ago that they actually refused to let us
use it on the cover!" - Neil Peart, in the _Permanent Waves_ tourbook
To clarify this: When Harry Truman ran against Thomas Dewey for
president, Truman lost in most of the states with early returns. So,
it looked like Dewey was going to win. The Tribune released an early
morning paper the next day with a "Dewey defeats Truman" headline.
What is the "words of the profits" quote in "The Spirit Of Radio" about?
It's referring to "The Sounds of Silence," by (if I remember correctly)
Simon and Garfunkel. Here are the relevant lyrics:
"The Sounds of Silence":
"And the sign said:
'The words of the prophets are
written on the subway walls,
and tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence'"
"The Spirit of Radio":
"For the words of the profits,
Are written on the studio wall,
Concert hall -
Echoes with the sounds ...
Of salesmen."
What is "Free Will" about?
"The song is about freedom of choice and free will, and you
believing in what you decide you believe in." - Geddy Lee, in the
December 4, 1989 "Rockline" interview
In "Free Will" which lyrics are correct (the ones on the album sleeve or
the ones Geddy sings)?
"That's a funny question. I've had a few lately from people who are so
sure that what they hear is correct, that they disbelieve what I've put
in the lyric sheets! Imagine! People have quoted me whole verses of
what they hear, as opposed to what's printed, sure that they are right
and the cover (me) is wrong. Scary stuff, these egocentric individuals.
I assure you, other than perhaps dropping an "and" or a "but," we take
great care to make the lyric sheets accurate." - Neil Peart,
in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter
But I'm *sure* that what the lyric sheet says isn't what Geddy sings!
So what? People have argued about this far too much already. If it's
really bothering you, write a letter to the band and complain. Lighten
up - it's just a song!
Where is "Lotus-Land?"
"Lotus-land as it appears in 'Free Will' is simply a metaphor for an
idealized background, a 'land of milk and honey.' It is sometimes
also used as a pejorative name for Los Angeles, though that was not
in my mind when I wrote it." - Neil Peart
Lotus-land is mentioned in an episode in "The Odyssey" where Odysseus
goes to the land of the lotus-eaters, where the people hang out
and eat lotus petals or some such and are perfectly happy but
are basically brainless.
I heard something about a song called "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."
Apparently it was supposed to be on _Permanent Waves_, but was dropped.
Is there a way to get a tape of it?
According to _Visions_, it was never recorded. Some bits from it
ended up in "Natural Science."
= Questions about _Moving Pictures_
What building is on the cover of _Moving Pictures_?
According to rkle...@alfred.carleton.ca (Ron Kleiner):
The building on the cover of _Moving Pictures_ is the current seat of
the Government of Ontario, at Queen's Park.
What do the pictures on the MP cover mean?
"When Hugh Syme was developing the multitude of puns for the cover,
he wanted the guys 'moving pictures' to have some 'moving pictures'
to be moving past the people who were 'moved' by the 'picture' - get
it? So he asked us to think of some ideas for these pictures. The
'man descending to hell' is actually a woman - Joan of Arc - being
burned at the stake (as per 'Witch Hunt'), and the card-playing dogs
are there because it was a funny, silly idea - one of the most
cliche'd pictures we could think of - a different kind of
'moving picture.'" - Neil Peart, in the December 1985 Backstage Club
newsletter
What is "Tom Sawyer" about?
"I've been avoiding most of the questions that ask for explanations for
different songs, as really the song is meant to do the explaining for
me! But since you ask so nicely ... 'Tom Sawyer' was a collaboration
between myself and Pye Dubois, an excellent lyricist who wrote the
lyrics for Max Webster. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait
of a modern day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through
the world wide-eyed and purposeful. I added the themes of reconciling
the boy and man in myself, and the difference between what people are
and what others perceive them to be - namely me I guess." - Neil Peart,
in the December 1985 Backstage Club newsletter
My _Moving Pictures_ CD is missing the first half second or so from
"Tom Sawyer." Can I get a new one?
Yes. Here's the address for PolyGram QA:
Cecilia E. Schultz
Customer Service / Warranty Department
PolyGram Group Distribution, Inc.
6220 Churchman Bypass
Indianapolis, IN 46203
Phone: (800) 428-4437
Fax: (317) 788-1803
The following was posted in TNMS #1092 by SGSN...@WNP2.COM
(SNYDER, STEVE G.) and has not been verified by me:
I spoke to Polygram on April 26, 1995, and the address I was given to
return the defective CDs to is:
Attn: Celie / Warranty Dept
PGM
9999 E 121 Street
Fishers, IN 46038
My _Moving Pictures_ CD contains pictures of Geddy and Alex, but not Neil.
Why is this? Can I get a CD with all 3 pictures?
I have no information about why the picture of Neil is missing from the
Mercury CD of _Moving Pictures_. The missing picture is present in the
liner notes for the MFSL gold CD of this album.
Who is Pye Dubois?
Pye Dubois was the lyricist for Max Webster. "Tom Sawyer" began life
as a Max Webster song called "Louis The Warrior," but Pye gave the
lyrics to Neil after "Battlescar" was recorded. Pye also helped
Neil write "Force Ten."
What is a barchetta?
The barchetta is a type of Ferrari race car.
Barchetta is actually pronounced "Barketta", according to 2 Italian
friends of mine. Another source of information is:
"The Complete Ferrari" by Godfrey Eaton; 1986 by Cadogan Books Ltd.
Where can I get a copy of "A Nice Morning Drive," by Richard S. Foster?
It was printed in the November 1973 issue of "Road & Track" magazine.
It is also available for FTP on syrinx.umd.edu in the
rush/transcriptions/rush-related directory.
What does "YYZ" mean?
YYZ is the transmitter code for Toronto's Lester B. Pearson
International Airport. Every airport is assigned a unique 3 letter
code, and that code is always being transmitted so that pilots can
tell, roughly, where they are and verify that their navigational
radios are tuned properly. These codes are also written on your
luggage tags when you fly. The intro to the song is Morse code
for "YYZ."
John Ambrose <jamb...@eden.rutgers.edu> has pointed out that "YYZ"
is actually pronounced "Y Y Zed" in Canada. This is documented in
_Visions_.
How does Neil play plywood?
"Well you wear gloves so as not to get splinters, you take a piece of
1/4" plywood, and smack it down HARD on the top of a wooden stool.
Very demanding, technically - took years of practice." - Neil Peart
At 8:54 and 8:56 in "The Camera Eye," there are some mumblings that I can't
quite make out. Does anybody know for sure what is being said?
(These mumblings are at 8:55 and 8:57 in the MFSL gold pressing of
_Moving Pictures_.)
No. {The first time I posted this FAQ, I received no fewer than 8
emails from people who claimed to know exactly what is being
said there. Unfortunately, none of them agreed with each other,
which tells me that at least 7 of them were wrong, so I'm only
going to change this answer if somebody can come up with proof
that they are right, such as an interview or magazine article.
People don't seem to understand the last sentence very well, so
here's the rephrased version:
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT send me mail saying "I've listened
to "The Camera Eye" a zillion times, and I know you said you
want proof, but I know what I hear." I will ignore your email
unless you can say something like "In issue X of magazine Y,
band member Z said that those mumblings were..." I'll repeat that.
DO NOT send me mail on this subject without a written source
to back up what you say. I will ignore your mail if you do
not have a written source. I will not consider your email to
be a correction to the FAQ. Sending me mail like this will
be a waste of your time. Don't do it.
}
What is the mob saying at the beginning of "Witch Hunt"?
"It is purposely mixed so that you cannot understand what is being
said, but the tenor of the situation, the hatred, the ill will, and
the fear comes through loud and clear. This effect was created by
emptying the studio (in the middle of a snowy night) of production
staff, road crew and band, and depositing everyone in the cold outside
the isolated facility. With tape recorders rolling, Neil gave his
best fanatic's speech, gradually getting more and more whipped up as
everyone involved let themselves get carried away." - from _Visions_
Here's how Alex Lifeson described that session in an interview called
"In The Studio" from the MP era.
"We went outside of Le Studio and it was so cold, it was really cold;
we were well into December by then, I think. We were all out there.
We put a couple of mics outside. We started ... rauw, raew, wrow ...
(starts mumbling), ranting and raving. We did a couple of tracks of
that. I think we had a bottle of Scotch or something with us to keep
us warm. So as the contents of the bottle became less and less,
the ranting and raving took on a different flavor and you got little
lines of ... you remember Roger Ramjet (sp?), the cartoon Roger Ramjet?
What was the bad guy's name ... his gang of hoods, they always had
these little things they would say whenever they were mumbling ...
mrrblaarrr ... mrrblaarrr ... crauss. It started to take all this ... we
were in the control room after we had layed down about twelve
tracks of mob - in hysterics. Every once in awhile you'd hear
somebody say something really stupid."
What is that thing on Neil's chest in the "Vital Signs" video?
It's a microphone. A PZM, to be exact. It was used in an attempt
to get the drums to be recorded the way Neil hears them.
Has anybody noticed that Geddy says "Everybody got to evelate from the norm"
at the end of "Vital Signs"?
Yes.
= Questions about _Exit ... Stage Left_
Has anybody noticed that the ESL cover photo contains stuff from all of
the band's previous studio albums?
Yes. Here's the list:
"Rush" from the first album on the side of a box
The owl from FBN
Picture of back cover of COS
Man w/star logo from 2112
The puppet king from AFTK
The businessman from HEM
The naked guy from HEM
The lady off the cover of PEW
Two movers from MP
What does Geddy say just before "Jacob's Ladder" on ESL?
"We'd like to do an old song for you right now ... This was done a long
time ago by the [possibly "that"] old T.C. Broonsie. This is called
'Jacob's Ladder.'"
- thanks to Michael Sensor <sen...@codger.physics.duq.edu>
Who is T.C. Broonsie?
Terry Brown.
= Questions about _Signals_
What is the _Signals_ cover supposed to mean?
"Well, I was given the word "Signals." It was such a broad concept
that it was baffling for all of us. We really had trouble with that
one, and I decided that, with such a phenomenally important word with
the kind of potency it potentially had, to go with something really
dumb, really inane. But something which would still tie in with songs
such as "Chemistry," and the subdivision aspect of the fire hydrants,
lawns, and neighborhood dogs." - Hugh Syme
In an effort to explain the _Signals_ sleeve, Geddy states: "Well, we
wanted the album to sound different and we also thought that the packaging
should have a different feel. When we were talking about _Signals_, Hugh
had this concept of taking the idea down to a basic human level -
territorial or even sexual. So that's how the design with the dog and the
fire hydrant came about. The little map on the back features make-believe
subdivisions, with a lot of silly names and places. The red dots represent
all the fire hydrants and basically the whole thing maps out a series of
territories." - from _Success Under Pressure_
I just picked up the MFSL CD of _Signals_, and I've noticed that some lyrics
are omitted in "The Weapon". Has anybody else noticed this, and why did
this happen?
Yes, other people have noticed this. You're not the first one to notice
it, and you're not imagining it.
I sent email to mo...@mofi.com to find out the definitive word, and
here is the reply I received:
>The master tapes, which were provided to us directly from the Rush offices
>in Canada, did not include these vocals. Apparently, these vocals were
>edited in at a later time.
Who is the writer in "Losing It" about?
Neil discusses this song in _Modern Drummer_ magazine, in the April 1984
issue. The writer represents Ernest Hemingway. The dancer "... drew
a bit from that film with Shirley MacLaine called _The Turning
Point_ ..."
Who are Young and Crippen?
They were the astronauts on the first shuttle flight.
What are the voices at the end of "Countdown" saying?
- This is a combination of what several people (the list is getting
too long) think the end sequence on 'Countdown' goes like...
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER(PAO)
- Columbia is now reaching precise window in space for main engine cutoff
Mark - 2 minutes, 40 seconds...Columbia now 39 nautical miles altitude,
42 nautical miles downrange...
CAPSULE COMMUNICATOR (CAPCOM)
- Columbia you're lookin' a little hot, and all your calls'll be a little
early...
PAO
- Young and Crippen really moving out now velocity now reading sixty-two
hundred feet per second
CREW
- What a view, what a view!
CAPCOM
- Glad you're enjoying it
CREW
- Jay, how does it all look?
CAPCOM
- Columbia, Houston, er, we have forty seconds still... left; configure
LOS, you're looking good for an over the hill, we'll see you in Madrid.
And we enjoyed the music Bob, thank ya.
CREW
- Ah, we enjoyed it, we just wanted to share something with ya
And Fletch says "LOS, if I remember my brief bout with 'shuttle & space
frenzy', is Loss Of Signal". This apparently is when signal loses contact
with ground control due to some kind of 'blind spot' - when the shuttle
went somewhere over Madrid, in this case, they'd get signal back. None of
us is really, totally certain about much of this, but I, for one, reckon
it's about right.
Bob's comments:
Fletch is generally right, but what really happened was back in the first
days of the shuttle program, there were only ground based antennas for
communications with the shuttle. (as opposed to satellites which provide
communication about 80-90% of the time today) The shuttle would lift off
and be in contact with the ground until it went over the horizon from the
antenna site, hence the term "over the hill". The next station to contact
the shuttle orbiter would be in Madrid, Spain. Therefore, "see you in
Madrid" is the term used. "Configure LOS" means that the crew would throw
a switch in the cockpit to stop the shuttle from receiving signals from
the ground to its computers until such time as they knew they were over
the next ground site. Why? Because the shuttle at that time didn't have
the signal decryption equipment on board that it has today. Anyone could
have sent commands to the shuttle (perhaps a soviet trawler in the
Atlantic, or some genius kid who built a homemade radio to talk with the
shuttle) If you can command to the shuttle you can do all sorts of
undesirable things. Things have changed a lot today, we only go over the
hill once per orbit, instead of five or six times, and there's
encryption/decryption devices on board the orbiter to prevent undesired
communications with it.
Another point: Astronaut Dan Brandenstein was the CAPCOM for the first
shuttle launch.
= Questions about _Grace Under Pressure_
Is that crackling noise about 10-20 seconds into "Distant Early Warning" on
the _Grace Under Pressure_ CD supposed to be there, or is my copy defective?
It's supposed to be there. There is a rumbling at that point on the
_A Show Of Hands_ CD and on the _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video,
but people without subwoofers may be unable to detect it.
Who was Absalom?
He was a character from the Bible, son of King David (the one who killed
Goliath). He killed his half-brother for raping their half-sister. Then,
he tried to over-throw David and get the throne. A battle resulted, and
(against David's wishes) Absalom was killed by King David's Mighty Men,
when his hair was caught in a tree and suspended him above the ground.
David grieved for his son by lamenting, "Absalom, Absalom, my son." I
have thought about this story's connection quite a bit. Perhaps it is
about David, and how he had the "weight of the world" on his shoulders and
he was worrying about Absalom.
-- from Teri Piatt (tpi...@lazy.helios.nd.edu)
To quote Neil:
"Before I ever knew who or what Absalom was, I always loved the sound
of it. I had thought perhaps it was an ancient prayer or something.
There is a book by William Faulkner called _Absalom, Absalom_, which,
again, I loved the sound of. I wanted to put it in the song, as a play
on words with 'absolute' and 'obsolete,' but I thought I'd better find
out for sure what it meant. So I called my wife and asked her to look
it up in the encyclopedia. When I learned the real story, and its
Biblical roots, I decided that it was still appropriate, as it was the
ultimate expression of compassion, which is what the song was really
about. 'Absalom, Absalom. My son, my son. Would God I had died for
thee.' (Now don't anyone go reading any religion into that!)"
Who is the boy in the "Distant Early Warning" video?
He is Geddy's son, Julian.
Is "Afterimage" about anybody in particular?
The song is about Robbie Whelan, a good friend of the band who died
in a car accident. He has the "Right Field" credit in the _Signals_
liner notes.
What is "Red Sector A" about?
Red Sector A is the area the band watched a shuttle launch from.
On the other hand ...
In the July 1985 Backstage Club mailing, Neil Peart said that,
"It is one of the 'grace under pressure' themes which captured my
imagination on the last album, and is not meant to portray a specific
human atrocity, although many of the historical accounts which inspired
it were of course set in World War II. There have been many periods of
slavery and mass imprisonment in the world and also many fictional
accounts of the future. I was thinking of all these things, and wanted
to try to express something timeless enough to encompass them all."
What songs make up the "Fear" trilogy?
The "Fear" trilogy consists of:
Part 1: The Enemy Within (Grace Under Pressure)
Part 2: The Weapon (Signals)
Part 3: Witch Hunt (Moving Pictures)
Has this trilogy ever been performed live?
Yes. It's on the _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video.
Why do the songs appear in reverse order?
"It's really kind of strange how it turned out, and it's not meant to be
as mysterious and clever as it looks. It was more accidental. At the
time of _Moving Pictures_, I had actually sketched out each of the three
songs in my notebook and talked to the other guys about them and what I
was going to go for, but the easiest one for me to clarify in my mind
and in words was 'Witch Hunt,' because it was the simplest concept to
deal with, and then 'The Weapon' came next because my thinking led up to
that point, but in fact a couple snatches of lyrics and even both of the
verses for 'The Enemy Within' were written as long ago as that, and all
of the titles and everything were fixed on, and what I wanted to write
about, but 'The Enemy Within' was the most difficult one to deal with,
so it ended up being the last one done, so they happened to go in the
order 3-2-1." - Neil Peart, in an interview on KGB 101 FM, San
Diego, 10/2/84
What is the significance of 1001001 in "The Body Electric?"
In the video, the protagonist is a prisoner attempting to escape
from some sort of prison. The number on his uniform is 1001001.
Many people have converted this number into decimal and noticed
that ASCII 73 is a capital I and read significance into that,
but I've never seen anything "official" on the subject. My
_opinion_ is that 1001001 was used because it fits and sounds neat.
= Questions about _Grace Under Pressure Tour_ video
Who is Count Floyd?
He was a character on the Canadian TV show SCTV {similar to "Saturday
Night Live"}. The Count Floyd character had a
show that featured really bad movies {movies so bad that even
Elvira wouldn't show them}.
Beau Dure <du...@nr.infi.net> has told me that Count Floyd was played by
Joe Flaherty. I have not verified this information, but ALT...@delphi.com
did. Kevin Williams <KWIL...@wvec-tv13.com> told me that Frank Zappa
confirms this in his _The Real Frank Zappa Book_ autobiography.
= Questions about _Power Windows_
Has anybody noticed that _Power Windows_ is "brought to you by the letter M"?
Yes. We've noticed the similar accreditations in _Presto_ and
_Roll The Bones_, too.
Why is _Power Windows_ brought to us by the letter M?
From the April 1992 Kerrang interview:
"That started on _Power Windows_," recalls Alex, "when we were sequencing
the tracks and Neil commented that 50 percent of the songs began with an
'M' - 'Marathon,' 'Manhattan Project,' 'Middletown Dreams,' and 'Mystic
Rhythms.' It's as innocent as that. It's nothing to do with 'Sesame
Street'!"
"We throw a lot of silly little things into the credits,"
shrugs Geddy, "little inside jokes. It's just an immature habit we
developed!"
= Questions about _Hold Your Fire_
What do the three spheres on the _Hold Your Fire_ cover represent?
"It's so difficult to describe the album cover because you want to
leave a little bit of mystery, and you want it to be interpreted by
the person who is holding the thing in front of them. So I'm really
not going to say too much about what the cover says to me, but it's
nothing extremely mystical or anything. It has nothing to do with
brown rice." - Geddy Lee, on "Rockline," 10/5/87
How many Rush symbols are there in the _Hold Your Fire_ inside photo?
It has been suggested that the newspapers on the steps may have
"Dewey Defeats Truman" headlines. Unfortunately, the headlines aren't
visible, even in the big print of the picture in the HYF tourbook.
the fire hydrant from "Signals"
the TV from "Power Windows"
the clock indicating 9:12 (21:12 military time)
the number 15 on the main building - in the "Hold Your Fire"
tour book, they mentioned that this was their 15th album to
date.
the juggler is clearly holding his fire.
at the very far left, underneath the chains, is a trunk with
the logo from their first album. This was spotted on a 12-inch
picture disk from the album. It cannot be seen in many
other versions of the picture.
The Chinese neon sign above the restaurant reads "Tai-Shan."
A friend told me that the car is a Mercury, but I don't know this
for sure.
Look right off of the juggler's right shoulder in the open window.
There is someone's hand shown holding a pistol. SMay...@aol.com
sent me the following description of this one:
>The gun barrel is pointing at you and the hand
>looks like the hand of Uncle Sam in the "I Want You" posters.
In one of the upper right hand windows of the right hand most apartment
building you can see part of the head and crown of the Statue of Liberty
who we all know holds a burning torch in her right hand.
The arches on the building are suspiciously similar to the MP cover.
Special mention goes to n...@cs.brown.edu (Nate Huang) for the most
obscure observation yet: "The restaurant sign has the same recognizable
font style as the lettering on the Grace Under Pressure cover."
{Yes, I know it's not exactly the same. Please don't tell me that again.}
Leaning against the trash can in the front is an oxford shoe, just like
the one the girl wears on the ESL cover.
The back side of the owl on FBN is resembled on the lamp post on the far
right side. (Only on the CD and tour book)
{ I think this is pushing it a little, but I can see how one might
see it as an owl ... Dan }
A copy of the painting on the far left on MP is wrapped up in cloth and
leaning against the front steps.
How did Pye Dubois come to be involved with "Force Ten"? What does
the title of that song mean?
"It was more or less an afterthought in the writing stage. We took
two months to do all of our writing and preproduction, you know,
preparation for the making of the record, and we had nine songs, and
we had about a day and a half left of time booked before we were
supposed to leave and get ready to make the record. And our producer
and all of us were pushing for ten tracks on the album, and some
lyrics had been submitted to us by a friend of ours, Pye Dubois, who
co-wrote 'Tom Sawyer' with us in years gone by. And Neil was able to
put some of his own thoughts to one of the songs that he had and
present it to us in the morning of the last day that we were there,
and we loved the results, so we got together and brainstormed for
about 2 or 3 hours, and we had Force Ten." - Geddy Lee, on "Rockline,"
10/5/87
Gregg Jaeger (jae...@buphy.bu.edu) sent me this tidbit:
In the _Presto_ mailing from the Backstage Club a writer asks: "What
does the title 'Force Ten' refer to?" and Neil responds: "The
Beaufort scale - look it up!"
{Yes, I know that the definition of the Beaufort scale could be put
here in this file. It won't be. Don't bother to type it in and send
it to me. I won't put it in the FAQ. Why, you ask? Well, if
Neil told us to look it up, who am I to ruin the surprise? So
look it up - you'll like it. }
Has Aimee Mann ever appeared live with Rush? How are her vocals in
"Time Stand Still" reproduced live?
Paul DeCarli, who has worked with Rush on their last 3 tours as a
systems operator (edits and programs all the samplers that are triggered
from the stage), sent me the following info on this subject:
Aimee's voice comes from an audio track of the film that is projected
behind the band. TSS is one of the few songs played to a click track
for visual and audio track synchronization. Should there be a problem
with the film (projector difficulties) the band plays on and Geddy
triggers the identical parts from samples.
What film are the clips in the "Lock And Key" video and the _A Show Of
Hands_ laserdisc, just before "Lock And Key," from?
It's called _The Last Mile_. It can be purchased as part of the
Video Film Classics series from Video Classics Inc. and Kartes
Video Communications Inc.
What is "Tai Shan" about?
"Tai' Shan" (from _Hold Your Fire_) is the name of an actual "holy mountain"
in China. The mythical (?) emperor Huang Ti had so much power that he
was able to summon all the spirits of the world to him on top of
Tai' Shan to proclaim his power.
Legend has it that if you climb to the top of this mountain and
"raise your hands to heaven," you _will_ live to be at least 100
years old. Neil wrote these lyrics while sitting at the top of
the mountain.
= Questions about _A Show Of Hands_
What does Geddy have sitting on his keyboards in the _A Show Of Hands_
video?
According to Dan Dickerman <dick...@hpcugsya.cup.hp.com>:
>I have yet to find a clear shot of the dolls, but from what I can decipher
>it seems he has 6 dolls and a brandy snifter (with cash, of course)
>distributed onto 2 keyboards: nearest the snifter is Boris Badenov
>(Bullwinkle fame) and further to our left is a group of 3 consisting
>of Rocky the Flying Squirrel (Bullwinkle), a toy robot, and something
>that looks vaguely like a cowboy drawing both pistols (knees bent, etc).
>
>[ I think this last one might be Roger (?) Kneebend, one of Julian's old
> toys, which the group sort of adopted as a mascot during the recording
> sessions. I'll try to find the reference to him ... :rush-mgr ]
>
>On the other keyboard (facing the front of the stage) is a thinner toy
>robot and (this one's really a ballpark guess) a cartoon dog (though
>none that I recognize) that is acting the part of the gracious waiter.
What is the round thing on Alex's guitar in the _A Show Of Hands_ video?
Here's what r...@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu says it is:
That circular "thing" on Alex's guitar is a patrol patch used by
some Boy Scouts. That particular one is the "panther" patrol patch.
What is happening during the "censored" section of the _A Show Of Hands_
video?
"That's kind of a joke, but it doesn't seem like many people are
getting that joke. Actually, Alex, at certain parts of that song,
would just start rambling into the microphone - all kinds of various
nonsense, and it actually never got recorded anywhere. So no one had
any idea, including him, what he had actually said. But we loved the
shot of him just ranting into this microphone, so we decided we would
put up this bogus 'radioactive' warning about the fact that we had
'censored' what he had said, and we thought we did it in kind of an
obvious way - it looked like it was phony, because we put the
radioactivity symbols right on the screen, but nobody seems to be
getting that." - Geddy Lee, in the 12/4/89 "Rockline" interview
Alex laughs. "I'm not singing, it's more spontaneous babbling! You get
kinda goofy at the end of a show, especially near the end of a lengthy
tour. That was just crazy rambling, verbal farting. It was Geddy's
idea to put it on the video." - Alex Lifeson, in the April 1992
_Kerrang_ interview
In the _A Show Of Hands_ video, does Geddy really say "Catch the fish?"
Yes, he does. I received the following explanation from Steve Gadless
<SGAD...@uriacc.uri.edu> on Sept 23 1994:
In response to the question regarding Geddy's singing of, "Catch the fish"
in Tom Sawyer, I read the answer in an issue of A Show of Fans. [ The
article was apparently in issue #5. ]
What happened is that the road crew had been torturing Neil for the
entire Moving Pictures tour by leaving fish everywhere. Neil would
show up for a sound check and there would be a fish on his snare drum.
After the show, the band would return to their dressing rooms and there
would be a fish in Neil's. The re would be fish EVERYWHERE Neil looked.
In short, he was being tormented by fish. At the sound check of one
of the shows, Neil got fed up and took the fish off his snare drum and
threw it away. Little did he know that when he did that, the road crew
was telling Alex and Geddy to watch their feet during Tom Sawyer. A few
of the roadies had retrieved the discarded fish and slit it open so that it
would fit on top of a remote control car they had bought.
When the band was playing Tom Sawyer that night, onto the stage drives
this fish. Upon seeing it, Alex and Geddy both cracked up and Neil
actually stopped playing to watch this fish go by. Coincidentally, this
occured at the "Catch the spit" portion of the song. From that day on,
anytime the band has performed the song, Geddy has said, "Catch the fish".
In the _A Show Of Hands_ video, has anybody noticed that Alex's guitar
keeps changing?
Yes. This has been discussed several times in TNMS. The _A
Show Of Hands_ video was filmed during a 3-night concert series at the
National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. Test footage was
shot the first night. The majority of the video comes from the second
night, but several shots were used from the third night's performance.
In some cases, this was because the shots taken on the second night
weren't quite right, but in a few places, like the beginning of _2112_,
it was Geddy having fun in the editing stage.
Yes, Alex does break a string at the end of "Tom Sawyer," but the
guitar changes more than once, so it isn't just Alex swapping in a
new guitar.
##############################################################################
Please send me your suggestions for additions or corrections. But remember
that FAQ stands for "Frequently Asked Questions", not "Obscure Rush Trivia".
--
Randy Kaelber, DARS Programmer/Analyst, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056
alt.music.rush and National Midnight Star FAQ maintainer
http://avian.dars.muohio.edu/~kaelbers
ru...@avian.dars.muohio.edu
This file is current as of: Sun Jan 28 02:30:22 EST 1996
Rush Fans Frequently Asked Questions List, Part 3 of 3
= Questions about _Presto_
What are the hands in the "Presto" liner doing?
What is "Chain Lightning" about?
What is "The Pass" about?
What is "Scars" about?
What is the song "Anagram (for Mongo)" about?
Has anybody noticed that "Anagram (for Mongo)" contains lots of anagrams?
What does (for Mongo) after "Anagram" on the "Presto" album mean?
What is "Red Tide" about?
= Questions about _Roll The Bones_
Who does the RTB spoken "rap" section?
Who is the boy in the RTB video and on the RTB cover?
Is there a "Gangster of Boats" trilogy?
But why is "Where's My Thing" labeled as Part IV of the trilogy?
Is there a reason for the arrangement of the numbers on the dice on the RTB
cover?
Has anybody noticed that the "Gangster of Boats" is mentioned in the HYF
liner notes?
What does the pattern of skulls and bones at the bottom of the inside
front cover of the RTB tourbook mean? Is there a pattern to it?
= Questions about _Counterparts_
Is there any connection between "Where's My Thing" and "Leave That Thing
Alone?"
What do the strings of ones and zeroes in the _Counterparts_ liner notes
mean?
What is "Animate" about?
What is "Stick it Out" about?
What is being said at the beginning of "Alien Shore"?
-------- Questions and answers follow. -------
= Questions about _Presto_
What are the hands in the "Presto" liner doing?
They are making scissors, paper, and stone, like in the children's
game. There is a discussion of the scissors/paper/stone
symbols in the Presto tour book. This is paraphrased in TNMS #212.
What is "Chain Lightning" about?
"I'm a weather fanatic - I really love weather, and I watch the
weather and look for a good weatherman. And, one night I was watching
it, and there are two incidents in that song that are synchronicity to
one weather report, where the weatherman showed a picture of sun dogs,
and described them, and they are just two little points of light that
appear at sunset, often in the winter when the sky is clear and
crystalline, and they are like little prisms, and they sit about ten
degrees north and south of the setting sun, and they are just
beautiful little diamonds of light, and often times there's a circle
of light - one line, that connects them. So they are a really
beautiful natural phenomenon, and I love the name too. 'Sun dogs'
just has a great sound to it. And in that same weather forecast, the
weatherman announced a meteor shower that night, and so my daughter
and I went out on the lake in the middle of the night and watched this
meteor shower. So the whole idea of the song was response and how
people respond to things, and it's a thing I've found a lot in
traveling around the world, too. It's not enough just to travel and
see things. You have to respond to them - you have to feel them, and
a lot of the thrust of that song is how things are transferred, like
chain lightning or enthusiasm or energy or love are things that are
contagious, and if someone feels them, they are easily transferrable
to another person, or in the case of watching a meteor shower, it's
made more special if there is someone else there. 'Reflected in
another pair of eyes' is the idea that it's a wonderful thing already,
just you and the meteor shower, but if there's someone else there
with you to share it, then it multiplies, you know, it becomes
exponentially a bigger experience, so response is a theme that recurs
in several of the songs and was one of my probably dominant sub-themes
in the writing." - Neil Peart, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD
What is "The Pass" about?
"There was a lot I wanted to address in that song, and it's
probably one of the hardest ones I've ever written. I spent
a lot of time on it, refining it, and even more doing research.
There was one song previously, called 'Manhattan
Project' where I wanted to write about the birth of the nuclear
age. Well, easier said than done, especially when
[writing] lyrics, you've got a couple of hundred words to say
what you want to say. So each word counts, and each word had
better be accurate, and so I found in the case of the
Manhattan Project, I was having to go back and read histories
of the time, histories of the place, biographies of all the
people involved, and that's not without its own rewards, but
it's a lot of work to go to to write a song - having to read
a dozen books and collate all your knowledge and experience
just so you can write, you know, if it says the scientists
were in the desert sands, well, make sure they were and why,
and all that. So with this song it was the same. I felt
concerned about it, but, at the same time, I didn't want the
classic thing of 'Oh, life's not so bad, you know, it's worth
living' and all that. I didn't want one of those pat, kind
of cliched, patronizing statements, so I really worked hard
to find out true stories, and among the people that I write
to are people who are going to universities, to MIT, and collecting
stories from them about people they had known and
what they felt, and why the people had taken this desperate
step and all of that and trying really hard to understand
something that, fundamentally, to me is totally un-understandable.
I just can't relate to it at all, but I wanted to
write about it. And the facet that I most wanted to write
about was to de-mythologize it - the same as with 'Manhattan
Project' - it de-mythologized the nuclear age, and it's the
same thing with this facet - of taking the nobility out of it
and saying that yes, it's sad, it's a horrible, tragic thing
if someone takes their own life, but let's not pretend it's a
hero's end. It's not a triumph. It's not a heroic epic.
It's a tragedy, and it's a personal tragedy for them, but
much more so for the people left behind, and I really started
to get offended by the samurai kind of values that were attached
to it, like here's a warrior that felt it was better
to die with honor, and all of that kind of offended me. I
can understand someone making the choice; it's their choice
to make. I can't relate to it, and I could never imagine it,
for myself, but still I thought it's a really important thing
to try to get down." - Neil Peart, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD
What is "Scars" about?
"I think it's part of everyone's experience that a certain
record reflects a certain period of their life, and that's a
pleasurable scar, you know, there's a mark left on you, a
psychological fingerprint left by a very positive experience.
And music is an easy one, but it translates to so many other
parts of life where it's a given that, for instance, the
sense of smell is one of the strongest forces in your memory,
where a given smell will suddenly conjure up a whole time of
your life, and again, it triggers another scar, it triggers
another psychological imprint that was left by a pleasurable
thing. So it was just, again, the metaphor of scars and
using it to say that, as the song does, that these are positive
and negative aspects of life that have both left their
mark. Trying to make it universal, it's not autobiographical,
and I took a whole autobiographical story of my own and
made it one line, basically, but there are other things in
there, parts of life that I've responded to in a sense of
joy, and in a sense of compassion, and there's the exaltation
of walking down a city street and feeling like you're above
the pavement, and Christmas in New York is the perfect time
to feel that, really, where you just get charged up by the
whole energy and the positive feelings of it all."
- Neil Peart, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD
What is the song "Anagram (for Mongo)" about?
"It doesn't really say one thing; it says a bunch of little things, and
I think that's OK as long as it sounds good. You know, as long as it
rolls off the tongue kind of thing? So I think different songs are
different exercises, to a degree, and I think that if they feel like
exercises, then there's something wrong with the song. But if they
can slip by in a kind of cohesive and fluid way, or if the effect is
to be disjoint, and sometimes that's what you're after. Sometimes you
want it to be jarring and disjointed and nonsensical. I think it
depends on what you're trying to do, and whether you've achieved it in
your mind, and whether it actually worked, and 'Anagram,' I think,
did work, even though it's a game - the whole song is a game. The
choruses are quite smooth and quite interesting, and they have a nice
sound to them and they kind of mock the whole song itself, so I think
it was effective there." - Geddy Lee, on the _Rush - Profiled!_ CD
Has anybody noticed that "Anagram (for Mongo)" contains lots of anagrams?
Yes. {I resisted putting this into the FAQ for a long time, since
this seems to be about as shocking as pointing out that
"The Big Money" is about, of all things, money, or that
"Countdown" is about a launch. But it shows up in TNMS
every once in a while. Dan}
It has been pointed out to me that, according to the Oxford definition
of an anagram, this song contains very few anagrams. To form a true
anagram, you have to use all of the letters in one word to make another.
What does (for Mongo) after "Anagram" on the "Presto" album mean?
It's a joke from the movie _Blazing Saddles_, referring to the
"Candygram for Mongo" scene, according to Geddy on "Rockline" 12/4/89.
What is "Red Tide" about?
"It's a bit of a selfish concern, really. I really love
wildlife, and I spend a lot of my time in the outdoors when
I'm not working, so that's important to me. One of my main
hobbies is cycling, so air quality kind of becomes of critical
importance. So it is a selfish thing, and it's something
I've written about before, on the previous album - the song
'Second Nature'. So, again, you want to say things in a way
that is not only not preachy, but also not boring. So finding
the images like 'Second Nature' - I was really fond of
that analogy of saying 'we want our homes to be a second
nature', you know. That was, again, taking a common phrase
and being able to twist it to say what you want it to say.
So, with 'Red Tide' it was a little more adamant, because I
think the time is a little more critical, and I had to be
firmer about it, but still there are ways of getting at it,
and to me there are jokes in there, too, that probably no one
in the world will ever get, but in the first verse, when I'm
talking about 'Nature's new plague' and then 'Lovers pausing
at the bedroom door to find an open store' and all that, to
me that was obviously referring to AIDS, but it was the irony
of modern life, you know, where spontaneous love still certainly
does occur, but here are two lovers who have just met
in the middle of the night, and they have to go find a store
before they can consummate their new relationship, you know,
and to me, when I put those things down, I have a smile, but
I know that it's one that will never be shared."
- Neil Peart, on the _Rush-Profiled!_ CD
= Questions about _Roll The Bones_
Who does the RTB spoken "rap" section?
Geddy Lee, according to Neil on the 12/2/1991 "Rockline".
Who is the boy in the RTB video and on the RTB cover?
According to "The New Music Magazine" 11/11/91, his name is
Michael Vander Veldt.
Is there a "Gangster of Boats" trilogy?
No songs other than "Where's My Thing?" are labeled as being part of
this trilogy.
But why is "Where's My Thing" labeled as Part IV of the trilogy?
"Strictly an inside joke, in the sense that the other two guys
keep threatening that if I don't come up with an album title in
time, they're gonna call it 'Gangster of Boats,' for reasons best
known to them. And then the joke in that, of course, is it's
'Part IV of a trilogy', so we thought that was apropos." - Neil
Peart, "Rockline," 12/2/91
"The Gangster of Boats thing is just.. it's a joke. We've decided
tonight that it's not a very funny joke because because people keep
asking serious questions about it." -- Geddy Lee, in the
January 24, 1994 "Rockline" interview
Is there a reason for the arrangement of the numbers on the dice on the RTB
cover?
"No order-just descending into chaos." -- from the
Counterparts release January 1994 Backstage Newsletter
Has anybody noticed that the "Gangster of Boats" is mentioned in the HYF
liner notes?
Yes.
What does the pattern of skulls and bones at the bottom of the inside
front cover of the RTB tourbook mean? Is there a pattern to it?
It's Morse code for "Remember Death."
= Questions about _Counterparts_
Is there any connection between "Where's My Thing" and "Leave That Thing
Alone?"
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson discussed this during the "Counterparts"
world premiere:
GL: Only that the fact that they both have "things" in the title.
AL: Yeah, and they're on our records.
GL: The "things" are different are different things.
AL: It's not the same thing.
GL: It's not the same thing. Really, you have to say, "It's just not the
same thing."
AL: No, no... it's just a... thing.
GL: It's a different thing.
AL: A totally different thing
GL: Yeah.
What do the strings of ones and zeroes in the _Counterparts_ liner notes
mean?
No official explanation has been released. If you can find an
interview with somebody connected to the band explaining it, let me
know and I'll update the FAQ, but DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, send me
your pet theories without an "official" source to back you up.
What is "Animate" about?
"I hope that it's going to be clear that it's about one person. It's set
up on purpose a little bit vague to sound like it might be about a
relationship between two people, and almost a love song in a sense.
But, that became such a cliche certainly through the '80s, of the
modern sensitive man, and it was wrong in many ways. I draw upon my
research, if you like, on this, everywhere from Carl Jung to Camille
Paglia, about what the modern man was supposed to be. And to many people
in the '80s, the modern man was supposed to be a woman, and you know,
to be sensitive and nurturing, and all, and to completely lose the
masculine side of the character, the "animus". So, just in the reading
about that and the thinking about that, and observing certainly people
around me, and how they behave and how the pretended to be ... how they
pretended they really were, and so on. It became a bit of an act of men
pretending to be more sensitive than they actually were, and sometimes
women pretending to be more aggressive than they actually were.
So, it was basically pleading for a balance of that; I feel that, yes,
men do have a large female component to their characters, as it can
only be. It's natural, again as counterparts we are both duplicates and
opposites. The Oxford dictionary definition of the word includes both of
those things. So, that's definitely true of genders as well, and in
the song I was trying to get at the idea of that you can be both strong
and sensitive; you can be both ambitious and soft, really, but not to
deny either and to keep them in balance. So the dominance and submission
metaphor had to come into play, but I used it again of a person dominating
himself, in this case, because it's a man. He's dominating his softer
side, but at the same time he also has to dominate his "a" words -- the
aggression, and the ambition, and the traditional biological male things,
which in spite of all modern sociological changes, we are in the last
20 or 30 years of sexual revolution, trying to change tens of thousands
of years of human evolution: really, men as the hunter and woman as a
nurturer.
So, those things have to be recognized, and yes we can change them, we've
changed a lot of things. You know, we used to be comfortable with slavery
and call ourselves Christians; that's changed now. There are definitely
changes we can make in acting more civilized, but at the same time it's
foolish to deny that which courses through our veins. So the song really
tries to reconcile that very complicated and also very topical thing."
-- Neil Peart, From world premiere of _Counterparts_, aired 10/14/93,
sent to me by jfu...@newbridge.com (Jeffrey Furry)
What is "Stick it Out" about?
"It's just a play on the words, really. "Stick It Out" meaning both a kind
of arrogant display, "stick it out", but also the endurance thing; if you
have a difficult thing to endure, stick it out and you get to the end. It
was the pun on both of those, really, so again the duality in the song is
a bit leaning both ways. The sense of forbearance, of holding back, and
also the idea of fortitude: stick it out, you know, survive. But that was
more of a piece of fun, that song I would say, both lyrically and musically
it verges on parody, and that was one I think we just had fun with, and
lyrically I certainly did, too. "Stick it out" and "spit it out" and all
that was just a bit of word play."
-- Neil Peart, From world premiere of _Counterparts_, aired 10/14/93,
sent to me by jfu...@newbridge.com (Jeffrey Furry)
What is being said at the beginning of "Alien Shore"?
Nobody has said anything official on the subject. Please don't send me
your pet theories without sending me a reference to a band member
interview to back you up.
TRussoND
I always thought that La Villa Strangiato meant something like the weird
view/vision/sight/dream/etc...my Spanish might be way off, but doesn't
villa also mean view?
Plus, seeing that the song is about lerxts' dreams, doesn't that make
sense?
Thom Hickey
>
> IT means "The Strange House." Villa is Spanish for house, and I
> believe Strangiato is Italian. They mix languages like that in the
> song's first part, "Buenos noches, mien fruends."
Wow, and I thought I spoke Spanish. Villa means way or road, dude, not
house. That would be casa or one of many other possible words.
I once asked an Italian what Strangiato meant and there is no translation,
it's slang.
Hasn't anybody thought that what they meant is what is parenthesized
just after the title - An exercize in self indulgence. The actual title
is just for fun, folks.
Ciao,
Thom
John Morris
: In th FAQ it says that this loosely translated means the weird city.
I always took villa to mean house and strangiato to mean strange or
weird. So I took these and put them together to mean nut house.
--
==================================
= jay...@tribeca.ios.com =
==================================
Keith Higginson
: On 5 Mar 1996, zach gemmill wrote:
: > "Strangiato" is found in _The Necronomicon_. It is one of the
: > names of "Yoggsagaroth" (one of the dark, elder gods). This
: > proves that, if not Satanists, Rush certainly were into the
: > occult. Actually, the first working title of LVS was "La Villa
: > de Strangiato" ("The Town of Yoggsagaroth," or "Yoggsagaroth's
: > Village,") but Pratt (yes, his baptized, occultic nickname---
: > given to him by the evil "B-man" (beast-man, get it?)) thought
: > that would be a little too obvious.
Interestingly enough, I heard a song while in a coffee shop with the
same Looney-tunes/strangiato theme with a more hip-hop feel. The
voice sounded like that "Beck" guy, but I had heard the mellow gold
album and it definitely wasn't there. It went something like "Get
on the bus that takes you back to Be'elzebub". The lyrics were
evil and disturbing. The music had a cool sound though, but it was
dark. I had to leave.
: >
: > Happily, like Objectivism and the "B-man", they have left that
: > part of their past behind. (Shouldn't this be in the FAQ?)
: >
I agree.
Keith (kei...@eng2.uconn.edu)
"I knew Evil was bad, but that's just *wrong*"
TOMKNAP
version Exit Stage Left)? My band's been doing this song for a long time,
and I never figured it out. I always just shout something stupid like I'M
SO HAPPY EVERY DAY GROW SOME WINGS AND FLY AWAY!!
Travis Eli Nelson
: Okay, but what's Geddy screaming in the break before the solo (live
: version Exit Stage Left)? My band's been doing this song for a long time,
: and I never figured it out. I always just shout something stupid like I'M
: SO HAPPY EVERY DAY GROW SOME WINGS AND FLY AWAY!!
It's "HEY MICKEY YOU'RE SO FINE...."
Kevman
>
>Okay, but what's Geddy screaming in the break before the solo (live
>version Exit Stage Left)?
I think the "loose translation" (as they call it) is printed in the
liner notes of the album (which i don't own anymore).
--Kev
kar...@gmail.com
> TOMKNAP (tom...@aol.com) wrote:
> : Okay, but what's Geddy screaming in the break before the solo (live
> : and I never figured it out. I always just shout something stupid like I'M
> : SO HAPPY EVERY DAY GROW SOME WINGS AND FLY AWAY!!
>
> It's "HEY MICKEY YOU'RE SO FINE...."