This One is Personal

The arrow flies when you dream, the hours tick away – the cells tick away

-          The Garden

Friday, January 10th, 2020: It is with broken hearts and the deepest sadness that we must share the terrible news that on Tuesday our friend, soul brother and band mate of over 45 years, Neil, has lost his incredibly brave three-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer.

Neil Peart died this week. 

Neil Peart, the virtuoso drummer and lyricist for Rush, died Tuesday, January 7th, in Santa Monica, California, at age 67….

Peart was one of rock’s greatest drummers, with a flamboyant yet precise style that paid homage to his hero, the Who’s Keith Moon, while expanding the technical and imaginative possibilities of his instrument.

The news came out three days after his death.  I was driving in my car listening to sports talk radio.  Coming back from commercial, they played Tom Sawyer, from Rush’s Moving Pictures album.  While rare, occasionally a Rush song gets used in such a manner.

But this time it wasn’t just for fun.  They said Peart had died.  On sports talk radio.

We turned our gaze

From the castles in the distance

Eyes cast down

On the path of least resistance

-          Farewell to Kings

Being in my car, I couldn’t fact-check the news.  I called my brother.  Many years ago, we wore out three copies of the Rush album 2112.  For you young whipper-snappers, this was in the time of vinyl, when a physical needle would touch a physical disc.  Play an album enough times, and it would sound like mush.

Sundays I elude the ‘Eyes’, and hop the Turbine Freight

To far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits

-          Red Barchetta

It was 2112 that introduced me to Ayn Rand – which then led, eventually to all of this blogging.  2112 is based on her novel, Anthem, although – for some reason, many link it to Fountainhead.  It is Anthem, with a guitar in place of a lightbulb.  Come on, people; it isn’t that complicated.

Anyway, it was true.  He had died three days earlier.

Now there’s no more Oak oppression

For they passed a noble law

And the trees are all kept equal

By hatchet,

Axe,

And saw…

-          The Trees

I texted my cousin – he has been to many more Rush concerts than I have.  He hadn’t heard yet.  He reminded me that the first time he had ever heard Rush was at our house – thatched roof and all.  My brother-in-law and I talked.  He knew of Rush before I did – and before we became brothers-in-law.

Too many hands on my time

Too many feelings —

Too many things on my mind

-          The Analog Kid

Rush was an interesting band.  Only three members, yet their sound would fill the stage.  A big reason for this was Peart’s drumming.  He wasn’t playing drums; he was playing an orchestra – every bit as involved in the sound and the music as the other two members.

You know how that rabbit feels

Going under your speeding wheels

-          Between the Wheels

The best drummers in rock and progressive rock will point to Neil Peart as not only an inspiration, but an unrealizable objective.  He was that good, and that good for over forty years.

From first to last

The peak is never passed

Something always fires the light

That gets in your eyes

-          Marathon

Of course, his two bandmates were no slouches – both recognized as among the top musicians in their fields.  And the band got better with age – the musicianship only got better.

We each pay a fabulous price

For our visions of paradise

But a spirit with a vision

Is a dream with a mission…

-          Mission

Peart suffered tragedy in the late 1990s.  Within a few months, first his teenage daughter, then his wife, passed away.  Peart is convinced that his wife (not officially his wife, but whatever) died from a broken heart.  He told his bandmates he was done.  Fortunately for the rest of us, he came back five years later.

Celebrate the moment

As it turns into one more

Another chance at victory

Another chance to score

-          One Little Victory

They did some of their best work after Peart’s return.  Who knows why – maybe a realization of how quickly one’s love can be lost.

One day I feel I’m on top of the world

And the next it’s falling in on me

-          Far Cry

Their last studio album was Clockwork Angels.  It might have been their best.  I assure you: no one will accuse the Rolling Stones of doing their best work after forty years.

All is for the best

Believe in what we’re told

Blind men in the market

Buying what we’re sold

-          BU2B

Their last tour was in 2015.  They called it the R40 Tour: forty years of playing together (actually, forty-one, but grant artists some license, please).  It was creative: they played the songs in reverse sequence, from newest to oldest – all-the-while devolving the stage until, by the time they got to the end, it was set up like a high-school gym.

Peart was ready to call it quits after this tour.  His body was hurting – drumming wears out ligaments.  He also was remarried and had a young daughter – he enjoyed taking her to school.

Sadly, this part of his life didn’t last long enough.

Conclusion

When we are young

Wandering the face of the earth

Wondering what our dreams might be worth

Learning that we’re only immortal –

For a limited time

-          Dreamline

All Lyrics: Neil Peart, Rush