Presto

• Released November 18, 1989 by Atlantic Records
• Went Gold (500,000 copies) on January 11, 1990
• Purchase This Album

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1. Show Don't Tell (5:01)
2. Chain Lightning (4:33)
3. The Pass (4:50)
4. War Paint (5:24)
5. Scars (4:07)
6. Presto (5:46)
7. Superconductor (4:47)
8. Anagram (for Mongo) (3:59)
9. Red Tide (4:30)
10. Hand Over Fist (4:10)
11. Available Light (5:04)

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Lyrics

• Show Don't Tell (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  How many times do you hear it?
  It goes on all day long
  Everyone knows everything
  And no one's ever wrong
  Until later
  
  Who can you believe?
  It's hard to play it safe
  But apart from a few good friends
  We don't take anything on faith
  Until later
  Show Don't Tell
  
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  You've figured out the score
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  I've heard it all before
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  I don't care what you say
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  
  You can twist perceptions
  Reality won't budge
  You can raise objections
  I will be the judge
  And the jury
  
  I'll give it due reflection
  Watching from the fence
  Give the jury direction
  Based on the evidence
  I, the jury
  
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  Hey - order in the court
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  Let's try to keep it short
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  Enough of your demands
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  Witness take the stand
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  Hey - order in the court
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  Let's try to keep it short
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  I don't care what you say
  SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
  Let's see exhibit A
  
  (fades)
  
  
• Chain Lightning (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  Energy is contagious
  Enthusiasm spreads
  Tides respond to lunar gravitation
  Everything turns in synchronous relation
  
  Laughter is infectious
  Excitement goes to my head
  Winds are stirred by planets in rotation
  Sparks ignite and spread new information
  
  Respond, vibrate, feed back, resonate
  
  Sun dogs fire on the horizon
  Meteor rain stars across the night
  This moment may be brief
  But it can be so bright
  
  Hope is epidemic
  Optimism spreads
  Bitterness breeds irritation
  Ignorance breeds imitation
  
  Sun dogs fire on the horizon
  Meteor rain stars across the night
  This moment may be brief
  But it can be so bright
  Reflected in another source of light
  When the moment dies
  The spark still flies
  Reflected in another pair of eyes
  
  Dreams are sometimes catching
  Desire goes to my head
  Love responds to your invitation
  Love responds to imagination
  
  Respond, vibrate, feed back, resonate
  
  
• The Pass (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  Proud swagger out of the schoolyard
  Waiting for the world's applause
  Rebel without a conscience
  Martyr without a cause
  
  Static on your frequency
  Electrical storm in your veins
  Raging at unreachable glory
  Straining at invisible chains
  
  And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
  Staring down into a heartless sea
  Can't face life on a razor's edge
  Nothing's what you thought it would be
  
  All of us get lost in the darkness
  Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
  All of us do time in the gutter
  Dreamers turn to look at the cars
  turn around and turn around and turn around
  Turn around and walk the razor's edge
  Don't turn your back
  And slam the door on me
  
  It's not as if this barricade
  Blocks the only road
  It's not as if you're all alone
  In wanting to explode
  
  Someone set a bad example
  Made surrender seem all right
  The act of a noble warrior
  Who lost the will to fight
  
  And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
  Staring down into a heartless sea
  Done with life on a razor's edge
  Nothing's what you thought it would be
  
  No hero in your tragedy
  No daring in your escape
  No salutes for your surrender
  Nothing noble in your fate
  Christ, what have you done?
  
  
• War Paint (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  Girl before the mirror
  Appraises her disguise
  Child become a mother
  Tries to fix her eyes
  No more of his excuses
  It has to be today
  She can keep her fantasy
  If she can get away
  
  Paint her name on a one-way street
  Painted cheeks with angry heat
  Wounded pride on painted eyes
  Paint the night with battlecries
  
  All puffed up with vanity
  We see what we want to see
  To the beautiful and the wise
  The mirror always lies
  
  Boy before the mirror
  Checks his camoflauge
  Polishes his armor
  And the charger in the garage
  No more lame excuses
  It has to be tonight
  He can take the princess
  If he can take the fight
  
  Pound the drums with martial beat
  Pound the streets with marching feet
  Wounded pride, distorted eyes
  Paint the night with battlecries
  
  All puffed up with vanity
  We see what we want to see
  To the powerful and the wise
  The mirror always lies
  
  Boys and girls together
  Mistake conceit for pride
  - ambition for illusion
  - dreams for self-delusion
  Girls and boys together
  See what it is we lack
  Boys and girls together
  Let's paint the mirror black
  Paint it black
  
  
• Scars (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  I've stood upon my mountaintop
  And shouted at the sky
  Walked above the pavement
  With my sense amplified
  - I get this feeling
  
  All my nerves are naked wires
  Tender to the touch
  Sometimes super-sensitive
  But who can care too much?
  - I get this feeling
  
  Scars of pleasure
  Scars of pain
  Atmospheric changes
  Make them sensitive again
  
  Each emotional injury
  Leaves behind its mark
  Sometimes they come tumbling out
  Like shadows in the dark
  - I get this feeling
  
  When I think about all I have seen
  And all I'll never see
  When I think about the people
  Who have opened up to me
  - I get this feeling
  
  Snow falls deep around my house
  And holds the winter light
  I've heard the lions hunting
  In the Serengeti night
  - I get this feeling
  
  Forests turned to factories
  And river, sea, and sky
  Hungry child in the desert
  And the flies that cloud her eyes
  - I get this feeling
  
  Pleasure leaves a fingerprint
  As surely as mortal pain
  In memories they resonate
  And echo back again
  
  
• Presto (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  If I could wave my magic wand...
  
  I am made from the dust of the stars
  And the oceans flow in my veins
  Here I hide in the heart of the city
  Like a stranger coming out of the rain
  
  The evening plane rises up from the runway
  Over constellations of light
  I look down into a million houses
  And wonder what you're doing tonight
  
  If I could wave my magic wand
  I'd make everything all right
  
  I'm not one to believe in magic
  But I sometimes have a second-sight
  I'm not one with a sense of proportion
  When my heart still changes overnight
  
  I had a dream of a winter garden
  A midnight rendezvous
  Silver, blue, and frozen silence
  What a fool I was for you
  
  I had a dream of the open water
  I was swimming away out to sea
  So deep I could never touch bottom
  What a fool I used to be
  
  If I could wave my magic wand
  I'd set everybody free
  
  I'm not one to believe in magic
  Though my memory has a second-sight
  I'm not one to go pointing my finger
  When I radiate more heat than light
  
  Don't ask me
  I'm just improvising
  My illusion of careless flight
  Can't you see
  My temperature's rising
  I radiate more heat than light
  
  Don't ask me
  I'm just sympathizing
  My illusions a harmless flight
  Can't you see
  My temperature's rising
  I radiate more heat than light
  
  
• Superconductor (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  Packaged like a rebel or a hero
  Target mass appeal
  To make an audience feel
  He really means it
  
  Package the illusion of persona
  Careful to conceal
  The fact that she's only too real
  She's got to screen it
  
  Hit you in a soft place
  A melody so sweet
  A strong and simple beat
  That you can dance to
  
  Watch his every move
  SUPERCONDUCTOR
  Orchestrate illusions
  SUPERCONDUCTOR
  Watch his every move
  SUPERCONDUCTOR
  Hoping you'll believe
  Designing to deceive
  That's entertainment
  
  He can put a target on the market
  Bask in your applause
  Reality withdraws
  Now he believes it
  
  The role becomes the actor
  She's addicted to applause
  The stage a world because
  She never leaves it
  
  Hit you in a soft place
  With sentimental ease
  They know the fantasies
  That you romance to
  
  Watch her every move
  SUPERCONDUCTOR
  She can manipulate reactions
  SUPERCONDUCTOR
  Watch her every move
  SUPERCONDUCTOR
  Pin the donkeys on her tail
  Fantasy for sale
  That's entertainment...
  
  
• Anagram (For Mongo) (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  There's a snake coming out of the darkness
  Parade from paradise
  End the need for eden
  Chase the dreams of merchandise
  
  There is tic and toc in atomic
  Leaders make a deal
  The cosmic is largely comic
  A con they couldn't conceal
  
  There is no safe seat at the feast
  Take your best stab at the beast
  The night is turning thin
  The saint is turning to sin
  
  Raise the art to resistance
  Danger dare to be grand
  Pride reduced to humble pie
  Diamonds down to sand
  
  Take heart from earth and weather
  The brightness of new birth
  Take heart from the harvest
  Shave the harvest from the earth
  
  Reasoning is partly insane
  Image just an eyeless game
  The night is turning thin
  The saint is turning to sin
  
  Miracles will have their claimers
  More will bow to Rome
  He and she are in the house
  But there's only me at home
  
  Rose is a rose of splendor
  posed to respond in the end
  lonely things like nights,
  I find, end finer with a friend
  
  I hear in the rate of her heart
  A tear in the heat of the art
  
  The night turns thin
  The saint turns to sin
  
  
• Red Tide (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  Nature has some new plague
  To run in our streets
  History some new wrinkle
  We are doomed to repeat
  Fugitives at the bedroom door
  Lovers pause to find an open store
  Rain is burning on the forest floor
  And the red tide kisses the shore
  
  THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM
  THIS IS NOT A TEST
  
  Stay out of the sun
  It only burns my skin
  Sky full of poison
  And the atmosphere's too thin
  Bless the sun, the rain no more
  River running like an open sore
  Black wind falling to the ocean floor
  and the red tide washes ashore
  
  THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM
  THIS IS NOT A TEST
  Nowhere we can fly away
  Nowhere we can rest
  The party is disrupted by
  An uninvited guest
  
  Deadline approaches
  For the weary land
  It used to be something
  But we let it run down in our hands
  Too late for debate, too bad to ignore
  Quiet rebellion leads to open war
  Bring a sea-change to the factory floor
  As the red tide covers the shore
  
  Now's the time to turn the tide
  Now's the time to fight
  Let us not go gently
  To the endless winter night
  Now's the time to make the time
  While hope is still in sight
  Let us not go gently
  To the endless winter night
  
  
• Hand Over Fist (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  Hand over fist
  Paper around the stone
  Scissors cut the paper
  Cut the paper to the bone
  Hand over fist
  Paper around the stone
  Scissors cut the paper
  And the rock must stand alone
  
  I could disappear into the crowd
  But not if I keep my head in the clouds
  I could walk away so proud
  It's easy enough if you don't laugh too loud
  
  I thought I was okay alone
  Wait for the postman and the telephone
  Lost in a world of my own
  I thought I could run alone
  Thought I could run through the night alone
  
  Hand over hand
  Doesn't seem so much
  Hand over hand
  Is the strength of the common touch
  
  You talk as we walk along
  You never imagined I could be so wrong
  Humming your favorite song
  You know I've hated that song for so long
  
  How can we ever agree?
  Like the rest of the world
  We grow farther apart
  I swear you don't listen to me
  Holding my hand to my heart
  Holding my fist to my racing heart
  
  Take a walk outside myself
  In some exotic land
  Greet a passing stranger
  Feel the strength in his hand
  Feel the world expand
  
  I feel my spirit resist
  But I open up my fist
  Lay hand over hand over
  Hand over fist
  
  
• Available Light (Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  
  The restless wind
  Has seen all things
  In every kind of light
  Rising with the full moon
  To go howling through the night
  
  The sleepless wind
  Has heard all things
  Between the sea and sky
  In the canyons of the city
  You can hear the buildings cry
  
  Oh the wind can carry
  All the voices of the sea
  Oh the wind can carry
  All the echoes home to me
  
  Run with wind and weather
  To the music of the sea
  All four winds together
  Can't bring the world to me
  Chase the wind around the world
  I want to look at life -
  In the available light
  
  Play of light
  A photograph
  The way I used to be
  Some half-forgotten stranger
  Doesn't mean that much to me
  
  Trick of light
  Moving picture
  Moments caught in flight
  Make the shadows darker
  Or the colors shine too bright
  
  Oh the light can carry
  All the visions of the sea
  Oh the light can carry
  All the images to me
  
  Run to light from shadow
  Sun gives me no rest
  Promise offered in the east
  Broken in the west
  Chase the sun around the world
  I want to look at life -
  In the available light
  
  All four winds together
  Can't bring the world to me
  Shadows hide the play of light
  So much I want to see
  Chase the light around the world
  I want to look at life -
  In the available light
  
  I'll go with the wind
  I'll stand in the light