Энциклопедия

The spirit of radio

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Begin the day with a friendly voice
A companion unobtrusive
Plays the song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood

Off on your way, hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude

Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antenna bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question of your honesty, your honesty

One likes to believe in the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity

Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antenna bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

For the words of the profits
Were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with the sounds of salesmen



Freewill

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

There are those who think
That life has nothing left to chance
A host of holy horrors
To direct our aimless dance

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

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 freewill

There are those who think
That they were dealt a losing hand
The cards were stacked against them
They weren't born in Lotusland

All preordained, a prisoner in chains
A victim of venomous fate
Kicked in the face, you can't pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate

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 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

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 freewill



Jacob's ladder

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

The clouds prepare for battle
In the dark and brooding silence
Bruised and sullen stormclouds
Have the light of day obscured

Looming low and ominous
In twilight premature
Thunderheads are rumbling
In a distant overture

All at once the clouds are parted
Light streams down in bright unbroken beams
Follow men's eyes as they look to the skies
The shifting shafts of shining weave, the fabric of their dreams



Entre nous

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

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

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

Just between us
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences
We sometimes fear to show

Just between us
I think it's time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow

We are strangers to each other
Full of sliding panels, an illusion show
Acting well rehearsed routines
Or playing from the heart? It's hard for one to know

Just between us
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences
We sometimes fear to show

Just between us
I think it's time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow

We are islands to each other
Building hopeful bridges on a troubled sea
Some are burned or swept away
Some we would not choose but we're not always free

Just between us
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences
We sometimes fear to show

Just between us
I think it's time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow



Different strings

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Who's come to slay the dragon?
Come to watch him fall
Making arrows out of pointed words
Giant killers at the call

Too much fuss and bother
Too much contradiction and confusion
Peel away the mystery
Here's a clue to some real motivation

All there really is - the two of us
And we both know why we've come along
Nothing to explain, it's a part of us
To be found within a song

What happened to our innocence?
Did it go out of style?
Along with our naivety
No longer a child

Different eyes see different things
Different hearts beat on different strings
But there are times for you and me
When all such things agree

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



Natural science

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

1) Tide pools

When the ebbing tide retreats
Along the rocky shoreline
It leaves a trail of tidal pools
In a short lived galaxy

Each microcosmic planet
A complete society
A simple kind mirror
To reflect upon our own

All the busy little creatures
Chasing out their destinies
Living in their pools
They soon forget about the sea

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

2) Hyperspace

A quantum leap forward in time and in space
The universe learned to expand
The mess and the magic, triumphant and tragic
A mechanized world out of hand

Computerized clinic for superior cynics
Who dance to a synthetic band
In their own image their world is fashioned
No wonder they don't understand

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

3) Permanent waves

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

Art as expression, not as market campaigns
Will still capture our imaginations
Given the same state of integrity
It will surely help us along

The most endangered species, the honest man
Will still survive annihilation
Forming a world, state of integrity
Sensitive, open and strong

Wave after wave will flow with the tide
And bury the world as it does
Tide after tide will flow and recede
Leaving life to go on as it was