Rush -
Hold Your Fire (1987)
Time/Songs:
On the Cover of Hold Your Fire
Rush -
Hold Your Fire (1987)
"We wrote 'Force Ten' one afternoon in three hours," says Lee. "Those songs to me are always my favorite because they are spontaneous and fresh. It gives the album more variety and balance."
Force Ten ----- --- 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 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 -- 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' rising falling at force ten we twist the world and ride the wind Look in -- look the storm in the eye Look out -- to the sea and the sky Look around -- at the sight and the sound Look in look out look around --
Time Stand Still ---- ----- ----- 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 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... 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 aground -- I can wait until the tide comes around Make each impression a little bit stronger Freeze this motion a little bit longer The innocence slips away... Summer's going fast, nights growing colder Children growing up -- old friends growing colder Experience slips away...
"It's more the musicality of the song than the lyrical content. For the solo I think it's the mood that's created by the music. I suppose in a way that makes it attached to the lyrics. But it's more the music that provides the trigger for what the solo does. If it's a dark, melancholy sound to that particular song, then the solo will reflect that. An example is "Open Secrets." It has that lonely mood to it from a musical point of view. I thinkthe solo in that song reflects that wailing loneliness. Something like "Turn the Page" is much more manic and crazy.
Do you have a favorite track on the record for vision versus execution?
"Probably "Mission" and "Open Secrets." "Mission" came out a lot better than I thought it would. It had gone through quite a few changes since its inception and it ended up being a much better song than it started out."
Open Secrets ---- ------- 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 is 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 ou'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... I find no absolution In my rational point of view Maybe some things are instinctive But there's one thing you could do ou could try to understand me -- I could try to understand you...
"We obviously have a chordal structure, and a melodic fix or picture of what the part's going to be. Usually I put it down, and between Neil and myself, we get little rhythm patterns going. I play around with the melody, and depending on what the tone center is and what the chord structures are in that area, I just write my part. Then Alex plays different solos around what Neil and I have already put down. He's quite content to work with what we've put down, and in most parts he's around through every stage anyway, so he's quite aware of the direction it's going in. He'll go down and wail, and a lot of times he will surprise us. It's a totally different direction than we had expected it, but it's always within the melodic structure that exists."
Prime Mover ----- ----- 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 -- (anything can happen)
Second Nature ------ ------ 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 -- ou 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 Well, 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
"You can get that sound out of most basses I think, but a Rickenbacker has a particular kind of top end, and bottom end as well. It has a particular kind of classic twang to it. I found that I wanted to get a little more subtlety in the sound, and I couldn't quite get it out of the Rick. I wanted to change the top end a little bit, get a little different shaped bottom end. Then I moved to a Steinberger, which really gave me a totally different sound. The top end didn't range as high and twangy, and the bottom end was quite a different shade. I liked it a lot, and used it onstage, and on the Grace Under Pressure album. But on Power Windows I got introduced to the Wal bass, made by a small company in England. Our producer, Peter Collins, had one and suggested I try it out. I used that bass on Hold Your Fire, and I'm very pleased with the results and its flexibility. I use a 4-string most of the time, but on "Lock And Key" it was a 5-string they made with an extra low "B". I find that low string really means more today, because we're living in the world of synthesizers that go lower than basses ever went before."
Lock and Key ---- --- --- I don't want to face the killer instinct -- Face it in your or me We carry a sensitive cargo Below the waterline -- Ticking like a time bomb 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... 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... 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 ------- Hold your fire -- Keep it burning bright Hold the flame 'til 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 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...
"Oh sure. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do. You have to put a lot of hours into practice. As a matter of fact, on this tour I had a major problem with "Turn The Page". It's a very busy bass part, and the vocal part doesn't really relate to it very much. Eventually I got it, but it took a lot of practice. You can do those things, but you have to practice them a lot. You have to split yourself, as they say. Split your hands. Split yourself in two really, and let your hands do something, and let your voice do the other."
"It's more the musicality of the song than the lyrical content. For the solo I think it's the mood that's created by the music. I suppose in a way that makes it attached to the lyrics. But it's more the music that provides the trigger for what the solo does. If it's a dark, melancholy sound to that particular song, then the solo will reflect that. An example is "Open Secrets." It has that lonely mood to it from a musical point of view. I thinkthe solo in that song reflects that wailing loneliness. Something like "Turn the Page" is much more manic and crazy."
So the solos are actually compositions?
"Yeah, except for "Turn the Page." I had a rough idea for that, the direction and the eccentricity of the sound of the solo. It wasn't until I gotin the studio that it came together."
Turn the Page ---- --- ---- 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 sooth 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
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.
Tai Shan --- ---- High on the sacred mountain Up the seven thousand stairs In the golden light of autumn There was magic in the air 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 ou 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 thought of time and distance The hardships of history I heard the hope and the hunger When China sang to me...
"I always feel comfortable when I'm near water, be it the sound of the ocean or even the refreshing feeling od a dip in the swimming pool. I remember being in the center of one of Japan's biggest cities and the noise pollution was incredible. But right in the middle was this garden with a small waterfall that ran over a bunch of stones. It was designed in such a way that if you sat by the waterfall, the sound of water would drown out all the surrounding noises. I think the Japanese understand the therapeutic nature of water better than most."
High Water ---- ----- 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 -- 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 -- 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...