Rush Top Twenty Songs (20-16)

I am starting a new post on a top-twenty of my favorite Rush songs. Today, I will give you numbers 20-16. I will list the song and the album it is from in parenthesis and then make comments as I see fit.

#20 - In the Mood (Rush) - This is the first Rush song that I heard so it has a special place in my heart.

#19 - Anthem (Fly by Night) - This song is recognizable even without the lyrics however, Neil has written a great rock "anthem."

Know your place in life is where you want to be Don't let them tell you that you owe it all to me Keep on looking forward; no use in looking 'round Hold your head above the ground and they won't bring you down

Anthem of the heart and anthem of the mind A funeral dirge for eyes gone blind We marvel after those who sought New wonders in the world, wonders in the world, Wonders in the world they
wrought.

Live for yourself -- there's no one else More worth living for Begging hands and bleeding hearts will Only cry out for more

Well, I know they've always told you Selfishness was wrong Yet it was for me, not you, I Came to write this song

Do I agree with the message of the Lyrics? No, but it certainly expresses the philosophy of Rock and Roll!

#18 - Bastille Day (Caress of Steel) - There are not very many rock songs written about aspects of the French Revolution.

Bastille Day is the French national holiday, celebrated on 14 July each year. It is called Fête Nationale (National Holiday) in France. It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the Fête de la Fédération was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French "nation", and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution. (From wikipedia)

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

But they're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Free the dungeons of the innocent
The king will kneel, and let his kingdom rise

Bloodstained velvet, dirty lace
Naked fear on every face
See them bow their heads to die
As we would bow as they rode by

And we're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Sing, o choirs of cacophony
The king has kneeled, to let his kingdom rise.

Lessons taught but never learned
All around us anger burns
Guide the future by the past
Long ago the mould was cast

For they marched up to Bastille Day
La guillotine -- claimed her bloody prize
Hear the echoes of the centuries
Power isn't all that money buys

Neil Peart reveals just how well read he really is.

#17 - Alien Shore (Counterparts) - This is one of Geddy's best vocal performances. In Neil's lyrics he explores those things that make men and women alien to one another and the differences in our cultures.

You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome
Slave to the hormone, body and soul
In a struggle to be happy and free
Swimming in a primitive sea

You and I, we must dive below the surface
A world of red neon, and ultramarine
Shining bridges on the ocean floor
Reaching to the alien shore

For you and me -- Sex is not a competition
For you and me -- Sex is not a job description
For you and me -- We agree

You and I, we are pressed into these solitudes
Color and culture, language and race
Just variations on a theme
Islands in a much larger stream

For you and me -- Race is not a competition
For you and me -- Race is not a definition
For you and me -- We agree

Reaching for the alien shore
You and I, we reject these narrow attitudes
We add to each other, like a coral reef
Building bridges on the ocean floor
Reaching for the alien shore

For you and me -- We hold these truths to be self-evident
For you and me -- We'd elect each other president
For you and me -- We might agree
But that's just us Reaching for the alien shore

#16 - The Speed of Love (Counterparts) - A love song of sorts, which is a rarity for Rush.

Love is born with lightning bolts
Electro-magnetic force
Burning skin and fireworks
A storm on a raging course

Like a force of nature,
Love can fade with the stars at dawn
Sometimes it takes all your strength
Just to keep holding on
At the speed of love
A radiance that travels
At the speed of love
My heart goes out to you.

For an instrumental medley of songs from the first six albums listen to this from R30.