Brian, you pick the strangest hills to fight on.

(March 22, 2017 at 9:07 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(March 22, 2017 at 8:56 am)Brian37 Wrote: Tom Sawyer t"he gets by on you", and "mean mean pride" kinda negates the other line "don't put him down as arrogant".

Red Barchetta 

"My Uncle Has a country place
No one knows about" implying his family or at least his extended family is well off.

lol, you realize that the latter is set a few hundred years in the future, and is not autobiographical?

(March 22, 2017 at 8:56 am)Brian37 Wrote: Barchehettas are two seater sports cars. Teen boys certainly can have an affinity to those things, I did at one time, but I also came from the suburbs and my family was middle class. Those lines in that song do not strike me as a poor family or even middle class family in desperation.

None of them came from wealth; they were all three born into middle-class families. And their lyrics, written by Neil Peart, do often espouse libertarian views, but that hardly means that 1) their oeuvre has an agenda pushing upper-class concerns, or 2) your interpretation of a couple of isolated lines is apt.

You might want to learn a little bit before opining. You're not doing yourself any favors.

I am aware it was not autobiographical.

"He said it use to be a farm
Before the motor law" 

You keep a large parcel of land in the family over long periods you can make money off of it or sell it at a huge profit. I looked at the tiny town house I grew up in, even that. My parents bought it for a mere 30k back in the 60s. My mom sold it for 90k in the 90s. Looked it up on google a few months ago and it sold in 2015 for over 350,000. 

The song is about a middle class teen finding escape through a hobby. Really no different than how ABBA songs appeal to teens wanting to escape by dancing or dreaming of dating.

(March 22, 2017 at 9:47 am)Brian37 Wrote:

(March 22, 2017 at 9:07 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: lol, you realize that the latter is set a few hundred years in the future, and is not autobiographical?


None of them came from wealth; they were all three born into middle-class families. And their lyrics, written by Neil Peart, do often espouse libertarian views, but that hardly means that 1) their oeuvre has an agenda pushing upper-class concerns, or 2) your interpretation of a couple of isolated lines is apt.

You might want to learn a little bit before opining. You're not doing yourself any favors.

I am aware it was not autobiographical.

"He said it use to be a farm
Before the motor law" 

You keep a large parcel of land in the family over long periods you can make money off of it or sell it at a huge profit. I looked at the tiny town house I grew up in, even that. My parents bought it for a mere 30k back in the 60s. My mom sold it for 90k in the 90s. Looked it up on google a few months ago and it sold in 2015 for over 350,000. 

The song is about a middle class teen finding escape through a hobby. Really no different than how ABBA songs appeal to teens wanting to escape by dancing or dreaming of dating.

. . . if their dancing and dreams of dating take place in a repressive police state set in the future. But yeah, otherwise really no different.

-- What on earth are you doing, Kristina?!?

-- I'm sticking it to the man!

-- Really? Can I stick it to the man, too?

-- You bet! All you have to do is sway to the music. Yeah, that's it! You can dance; you can jive!

(March 22, 2017 at 9:47 am)Brian37 Wrote: I am aware it was not autobiographical.

Then you should probably not cite it when you try to support a claim that they're "trust-fund" rockers.

(March 22, 2017 at 9:57 am)Crossless1 Wrote:

(March 22, 2017 at 9:47 am)Brian37 Wrote: I am aware it was not autobiographical.

"He said it use to be a farm
Before the motor law" 

You keep a large parcel of land in the family over long periods you can make money off of it or sell it at a huge profit. I looked at the tiny town house I grew up in, even that. My parents bought it for a mere 30k back in the 60s. My mom sold it for 90k in the 90s. Looked it up on google a few months ago and it sold in 2015 for over 350,000. 

The song is about a middle class teen finding escape through a hobby. Really no different than how ABBA songs appeal to teens wanting to escape by dancing or dreaming of dating.

. . . if their dancing and dreams of dating take place in a repressive police state set in the future. But yeah, otherwise really no different.

-- What on earth are you doing, Kristina?!?

-- I'm sticking it to the man!

-- Really? Can I stick it to the man, too?

-- You bet! All you have to do is sway to the music. Yeah, that's it! You can dance; you can jive!

UGGGG, both are about escapism. You are getting stuck on the lyrics. Red Barchetta is about a teen who wants to get away from the world by breaking the law by speeding. I was a teen once, I did stupid shit myself. Dancing queen appeals to a teen who wants to get away from it all by dancing. 

I also like Metallica's "seek and destroy" song. I think between all the stupid shit I did as a teen that almost got me arrested, or dancing, dancing was the least likely thing to get me in trouble. BUT both are about appealing to how teens release stress. Neither Red Barchetta or Dancing Queen address anything deep, like poverty or war or oppression. 

RUSH's Red Barchetta isn't the same as say writing a song about fighting social injustice. It is just about a teen who likes driving fast. Having gotten speeding tickets as a teen, I learned real quick that shit is not worth it. I still like the song, but no, that song is not deep one bit.

(March 22, 2017 at 10:13 am)Brian37 Wrote: Neither Red Barchetta or Dancing Queen address anything deep, like poverty or war or oppression. 

RUSH's Red Barchetta isn't the same as say writing a song about fighting social injustice. It is just about a teen who likes driving fast. Having gotten speeding tickets as a teen, I learned real quick that shit is not worth it. I still like the song, but no, that song is not deep one bit.

See, this really shows how little you understand what's going on. I did an explication of this particular song for an English comp class back in college. It is a story about the dangers of overweening state power beating down individuals, and an exaltation of the bucolic and traditional over the urban and modern. It uses a joyride as the metaphor to carry the message. At one point in the song, the bridge, the lyrics drop from narrative to sensory ("sunlight on chrome / the blur of the landscape / every nerve aware") -- but when you look at the imagery and sequence of events in the lyrics, it is a clear warning to not permit too much power to fall into the hands of the state.

Start with the idea that his uncle lives "far outside the wire". Which wire is this? Is it technological? Imprisoning? It's clearly a boundary of sorts. His uncle's place used to be a farm, before the "Motor Law". On Sundays, the protagonist would "elude 'The Eyes'" (capitalized in the original). Clearly, the point is that the government is regulating something as innocuous as a joyride.

Once he uncovers the car again, he "commits his weekly crime". A Sunday drive being against the law? Do you see the point unfolding? And not for nothing is the "gleaming alloy air-car" "two lanes wide" -- it takes up all the room, forcing retreat. Is it government forcing the retreat of rights? Or is it technology forcing the retreat of individualism?

Quote:My uncle has a country place, that no-one knows about
He says it used to be a farm, before the Motor Law
Sundays I elude the ‘Eyes’, and hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine –
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris, that hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta, from a better, vanished time
Fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar!
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime…

Wind in my hair –
Shifting and drifting –
Mechanical music
Adrenalin surge –

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Suddenly ahead of me, across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires, to run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley as another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I’ve got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside…

Neil Peart, all rights reserved

In the nineties I went to see Rushthe hold your fire tour.

Neil Peart did a fifteen minute drum solo then held his drum sticks high, "Good its over I thought" then the drum kit rotated to reveal another, slightly different drum kit and he did another fifteen minutes of hitting things in a way that I assume was clever.

I wonder if it was to give the other two a fag break.

(March 22, 2017 at 10:52 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: In the nineties I went to see Rushthe hold your fire tour.

Neil Peart did a fifteen minute drum solo then held his drum sticks high, "Good its over I thought" then the drum kit rotated to reveal another, slightly different drum kit and he did another fifteen minutes of hitting things in a way that I assume was clever.

I wonder if it was to give the other two a fag break.

lol, his drum solos were fucking annoying (I saw them three times, and he did seemingly the same goddamned solo each time).

And Hold Your Fire was '87-'88, Gramps. Losing a little of the ole memory banks, eh?

(March 22, 2017 at 10:41 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(March 22, 2017 at 10:13 am)Brian37 Wrote: Neither Red Barchetta or Dancing Queen address anything deep, like poverty or war or oppression. 

RUSH's Red Barchetta isn't the same as say writing a song about fighting social injustice. It is just about a teen who likes driving fast. Having gotten speeding tickets as a teen, I learned real quick that shit is not worth it. I still like the song, but no, that song is not deep one bit.

See, this really shows how little you understand what's going on. I did an explication of this particular song for an English comp class back in college. It is a story about the dangers of overweening state power beating down individuals, and an exaltation of the bucolic and traditional over the urban and modern. It uses a joyride as the metaphor to carry the message. At one point in the song, the bridge, the lyrics drop from narrative to sensory ("sunlight on chrome / the blur of the landscape / every nerve aware") -- but when you look at the imagery and sequence of events in the lyrics, it is a clear warning to not permit too much power to fall into the hands of the state.

Start with the idea that his uncle lives "far outside the wire". Which wire is this? Is it technological? Imprisoning? It's clearly a boundary of sorts. His uncle's place used to be a farm, before the "Motor Law". On Sundays, the protagonist would "elude 'The Eyes'" (capitalized in the original). Clearly, the point is that the government is regulating something as innocuous as a joyride.

Once he uncovers the car again, he "commits his weekly crime". A Sunday drive being against the law? Do you see the point unfolding? And not for nothing is the "gleaming alloy air-car" "two lanes wide" -- it takes up all the room, forcing retreat. Is it government forcing the retreat of rights? Or is it technology forcing the retreat of individualism?

Quote:My uncle has a country place, that no-one knows about
He says it used to be a farm, before the Motor Law
Sundays I elude the ‘Eyes’, and hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine –
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris, that hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta, from a better, vanished time
Fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar!
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime…

Wind in my hair –
Shifting and drifting –
Mechanical music
Adrenalin surge –

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Suddenly ahead of me, across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires, to run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley as another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I’ve got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside…

Neil Peart, all rights reserved

NO, IT uses teen angst to sell libertarian views. It tries to sell a Jeffersonian attitude of freedom, but it fails miserably. The lyrics are metaphor. It is the same bullshit "get government out of my life". Nope sorry, if you are going to turn a sports car and the act of dangerous driving for a thrill, especially on public roads,  as being the same as fighting oppression, it is still bullshit. But even on private property, the song is depicting him merely driving a car for fun. 

It is not big government or oppression to give someone a ticket for speeding. Don't like the law, you work to change it, you don't break it because you don't like it. That is far different than say, blacks refusing to leave a white lunch counter. Wanting to speed because you want to have fun is selfish and narcissistic. Refusing to leave a white lunch counter is a real risk and one that is selfless that ends up creating social progress.

There is nothing deep about that song. It is not justifying freedom, it is justifying selfishness.

---

(March 22, 2017 at 10:58 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(March 22, 2017 at 10:52 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: In the nineties I went to see Rushthe hold your fire tour.

Neil Peart did a fifteen minute drum solo then held his drum sticks high, "Good its over I thought" then the drum kit rotated to reveal another, slightly different drum kit and he did another fifteen minutes of hitting things in a way that I assume was clever.

I wonder if it was to give the other two a fag break.

lol, his drum solos were fucking annoying (I saw them three times, and he did seemingly the same goddamned solo each time).

And Hold Your Fire was '87-'88, Gramps. Losing a little of the ole memory banks, eh?  

Neil Pert can be argued to be one of the best drummers in rock history. I would say more from a technical aspect and agility and speed. But over long periods of their albums I did find his solos blend to the point of almost sounding the same every time.

---

My two favorite drum beats in any songs are Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls", and "One".

(March 22, 2017 at 10:58 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(March 22, 2017 at 10:52 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: In the nineties I went to see Rushthe hold your fire tour.

Neil Peart did a fifteen minute drum solo then held his drum sticks high, "Good its over I thought" then the drum kit rotated to reveal another, slightly different drum kit and he did another fifteen minutes of hitting things in a way that I assume was clever.

I wonder if it was to give the other two a fag break.

lol, his drum solos were fucking annoying (I saw them three times, and he did seemingly the same goddamned solo each time).

And Hold Your Fire was '87-'88, Gramps. Losing a little of the ole memory banks, eh?  

Hmm I went with my now wife and I met her 5th October 1990.

Maybe they took a looonnng tour.

She gave birth to my eldest son wearing the hold your fire t-shirt, ruined it she did.