Force ten
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart/Du Bois)
Tough times demand tough talk Demand tough hearts, demand tough songs Tough times demand tough talk Demand tough hearts, demand tough songs
Demand
We can rise and fall like empires Flow in and out like the tide Be vain and smart, humble and dumb We can hit and miss like pride
Just like pride
We can circle around like hurricanes Dance and dream like lovers Attack the day like birds of prey Or scavengers under cover
Look in to the eye of the storm Look out for the force without form Look around at the sight and the sound Look in, look out, look around
Tough times demand tough talk Demand tough hearts, demand tough songs Tough times demand tough talk Demand tough hearts, demand tough songs
Demand
We can move with savage grace To the rhythms of the night Cool and remote like dancing girls In the heat of the beat and the lights
We can wear the rose of romance An air of joie de vivre Too tender hearts upon our sleeves Or skin as thick as thieves
Thick as theives
Look in to the eye of the storm Look out for the force without form Look around at the sight and the sound Look in, look out, look around
Tough times demand tough talk Demand tough hearts, demand tough songs Tough times demand tough talk Demand tough hearts, demand tough songs
Demand
Time stand still
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
I turn my back to the wind to catch my breath Before I start off again Driven on without a moment to spend To pass an evening with a drink and a friend
I let my skin get too thin I'd like to pause no matter what I pretend Like some pilgrim who learns to transcend Learns to live as if each step was the end
Time stand still I'm not looking back but I want to look around me now Time stand still See more of the people and the places that surround me now
Freeze this moment a little bit longer Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Experience slips away Experience slips away
I turn my face to the sun Close my eyes, let my defences down All those wounds that I can't get unwound I let my past go too fast
No time to pause If I could slow it all down Like some captain, whose ship runs a ground I can wait until the tide comes around
Time stand still I'm not looking back but I want to look around me now Time stand still See more of the people and the places that surround me now
Freeze this moment a little bit longer Make each impression a little bit stronger Freeze this motion a little bit longer Make each sensation a little bit stronger
The innocence slips away The innocence slips away
Summer's going fast Nights growing colder Children growing up Old friends growing older
Freeze this moment a little bit longer Make each impression a little bit stronger Freeze this motion a little bit longer Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Experience slips away Experience slips away The innocence slips away
Open secrets
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
It went right by me At the time it went over my head I was looking out the window I should have looked at your face instead
It went right by me Just another wall There should have been a moment When we let our barriers fall
I never meant what you're thinking That's not what I meant at all
Well, I guess we all have these feelings We can't leave unreconciled Some of them burned on our ceilings Some of them learned as a child
The things that we're concealing Will never let us grow Time will do its healing You've got to let it go
Closed for my protection Open to your scorn Between these two directions My heart is sometimes torn
I lie awake with my secrets Spinning around my head Something that somehow escaped me Something you shouldn't have said
I was looking out the window I should have looked at your face instead
Well, I guess we all have these feelings We can't leave unreconciled Some of them burned on our ceilings Some of them learned as a child
The things that we're concealing Will never let us grow Time will do its healing You've got to let it go
I find no absolution In my rational point of view Maybe some things are instinctive But there's one thing you could do
You could try to understand me I could try to understand you You could try to understand me I could try to understand you
Well, I guess we all have these feelings We can't leave unreconciled Some of them burned on our ceilings Some of them learned as a child
The things that we're concealing Will never let us grow Time will do its healing You've got to let it go
Second nature
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
A memo to a higher office Open letter to the powers that be To a god, a king, a head of state A captain of industry
To the movers and the shakers Can't everybody see?
It ought to be second nature I mean, the places where we live Let's talk about this sensibly We're not insensitive
I know progress has no patience But something's got to give
I know you're different, you know I'm the same We're both too busy to be taking the blame I'd like some changes but you don't have the time We can't go on thinking, it's a victimless crime
No one is blameless But we're all without shame We fight the fire while we're feeding the flames
Folks have got to make choices And choices got to have voices Folks are basically decent Conventional wisdom would say
But we read about the exceptions In the papers every day
It ought to be second nature At least that's what I feel Now I lay me down in dreamland I know perfect's not for real
I thought we might get closer But I'm ready to make a deal
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
Prime mover
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
Basic elemental instinct to survive Stirs the higher passions, thrill to be alive Alternating currents in a tidewater surge Rational resistance to an unwise urge
Anything can happen
From the point of conception to the moment of truth At the point of surrender to the burden of proof From the point of ignition to the final drive The point of the journey is not to arrive
Anything can happen
Basic temperamental filters on our eyes Alter our perceptions, lenses polarize Alternating currents force a show of hands Rational responses force a change of plans
Anything can happen
From a point on the compass to magnetic north The point of the needle moving back and forth From the point of entry until the candle is burned The point of departure is not to return
Anything can happen
I set the wheels in motion Turn up all the machines Activate the programs And run behind the scene
I set the clouds in motion Turn up light and sound Activate the window And watch the world go 'round
From the point of conception to the moment of truth At the point of surrender to the burden of proof From the point of ignition to the final drive The point of a journey is not to arrive
Anything can happen
Lock and key
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
I don't want to face the killer instinct Face it in you or me
We carry a sensitive cargo Below the waterline Ticking like a timebomb With a primitive design
Behind the finer feelings This civilized veneer The heart of a lonely hunter Guards a dangerous frontier
The balance can sometimes fail Strong emotions can tip the scale
Don't want to silence a desperate voice For the sake of security No one wants to make a terrible choice On the price of being free
I don't want to face the killer instinct Face it in you or me So we keep it under lock and key Lock and key
It's not a matter of mercy It's not a matter of laws Plenty of people will kill you For some fanatical cause
It's not a matter of conscience A search for probable cause It's just a matter of instinct A matter of fatal flaws
No reward for resistance No assistance, no applause
Don't want to silence a desperate voice For the sake of security No one wants to make a terrible choice On the price of being free
I don't want to face the killer instinct Face it in you or me So we keep it under lock and key Lock and key
We don't want to be victims On that we all agree So we lock up the killer instinct And throw away the key
Mission
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
Hold your fire, keep it burning bright Hold the flame 'till the dream ignites A spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission
I hear their passionate music Read the words that touch my heart I gaze at their feverish pictures The secrets that set them apart
When I feel the powerful visions Their fire has made alive I wish I had that instinct I wish I had that drive
Spirits fly on dangerous missions Imaginations on fire Focused high on soaring ambitions Consumed in a single desire
In the grip of a nameless possession A slave to the drive of obsession A spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission
I watch their images flicker Bringing light to a lifeless screen I walk through their beautiful buildings And I wish I had their dreams
But dreams don't need to have motion To keep their spark alive Obsession has to have action Pride turns on the drive
Spirits fly on dangerous missions Imaginations on fire Focused high on soaring ambitions Consumed in a single desire
In the grip of a nameless possession A slave to the drive of obsession A spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission
It's cold comfort To the ones without it To know how they struggled How they suffered about it
If their lives were exotic and strange They would likely have gladly exchanged them For something a little more plain Maybe something a little more sane
We each pay a fabulous price For our visions of paradise But a spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission
Turn the page
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
Nothing can survive in a vacuum No one can exists all alone We pretend things only happen to strangers We've all got problems of our own
It's enough to learn to share our pleasures We can't soothe pain with sympathy All that we can do is be reminded We shake our heads at the tragedy
Every day we're standing in a time capsule Racing down a river from the past Every day we're standing in a wind tunnel Facing down the future coming fast
It's just the age It's just a stage We disengage We turn the page
Looking at the long range forecast Catching all the names in the news Checking out the state of the nation Learning the environmental blues
Truth is after all a moving target Hairs to split and pieces that don't fit How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit
Every day we're standing in a time capsule Racing down a river from the past Every day we're standing in a wind tunnel Facing down the future coming fast
It's just the age It's just a stage We disengage We turn the page
Every day we're standing in a time capsule Racing down a river from the past Every day we're standing in a wind tunnel Facing down the future coming fast
It's just the age It's just a stage We disengage We turn the page
Tai Shan
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
High on the sacred mountain Up the seven thousand stairs In the golden light of autumn There was magic in the air
The clouds surrounded the summit The wind blew strong and cold Among the silent temples And the writing carved in gold
Somewhere in my instincts The primitive took hold
I stood at the top of the mountain And China sang to me In the peaceful haze of harvest time A song of eternity
If you raise your hands to heaven You will live a hundred years I stood there like a mystic Lost in the atmosphere
The clouds were suddenly parted For a moment I could see The patterns of the landscape Reaching to the eastern sea
I looked upon a presence Spanning forty centuries
I stood at the top of the mountain And China sang to me In the peaceful haze of harvest time A song of eternity
I thought of time and distance The hardships of history I heard the hope and the hunger When China sang to me
When China sang to me
High water
(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)
When the waters rose in the darkness In the wake of the endless flood It flowed into our memory It flowed into our blood
When something broke the surface Just to see the starry dome We still feel that relation When the water takes us home
In the flying spray of the ocean The water takes you home The water takes you home
Springing from the weight of the mountains Like the heart of the earth would burst Flowing out from marble fountains In the dreams of a desert thirst
Something swam through the jungles Where the mighty rivers roam Something breaks the silence When the water takes you home
I hear the wordless voices When the water takes me home When the water takes me home
Waves that crash on the shoreline Torrents of tropical rain Streaming down beyond our memory Streaming down inside our veins
When something left the ocean To crawl high above the foam We still feel that elation When the water takes us home
In a driving rain of redemption The water takes me home The water takes me home
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