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RUSH LYRICS
"Hemispheres" (1978)
1. Prelude
2. Apollo
3. Dionysus
4. Armageddon
5. Cygnus
6. The Sphere
7. Circumstances
8. The Trees
9. Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!
10. To Sleep, Perchance To Dream ..
11. Strangiato Theme
12. A Lerxst in Wonderland
13. Monsters!
14. The Ghost of the Aragon
15. Danforth and Pape
16. The Waltz of the Shreves
17. Never Turn Your Back on a Monster!
18. Monsters! (Reprise)
19. Strangiato Theme (Reprise)
20. A Farewell to Things
1. Prelude
When our weary world was young
The struggle of the ancients first began.
The gods of Love and Reason
Sought alone to rule the fate of Man.
They battled through the ages,
But still neither force would yield.
The people were divided,
Every soul a battlefield.
2. Apollo
Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom
"I bring truth and understanding,
I bring wit and wisdom fair,
Precious gifts beyond compare.
We can build a world of wonder,
I can make you all aware.
I will find you food and shelter,
Show you fire to keep you warm
Through the endless winter storm.
You can live in grace and comfort
In the world that you transform."
The people were delighted
Coming forth to claim their prize
They ran to build their cities
And converse among the wise.
But one day the streets fell silent,
Yet they knew not what was wrong.
The urge to build these fine things
Seemed not to be so strong.
The wise men were consulted,
And the Bridge of Death was crossed
In quest of Dionysus
To find out what they had lost.
3. Dionysus
Dionysus: Bringer of Love
"I bring love to give you solace
In the darkness of the night,
In the Heart's eternal light.
You need only trust your feelings;
Only love can steer you right.
I bring laughter, I bring music,
I bring joy and I bring tears.
I will soothe your primal fears.
Throw off those chains of reason
And your prison disappears."
The cities were abandoned,
And the forests echoed song.
They danced and lived as brothers;
They knew love could not be wrong.
Food and wine they had aplenty
And they slept beneath the stars.
The people were contented
And the gods watched from afar.
But the winter fell upon them
And it caught them unprepared,
Bringing wolves and cold starvation,
And the hearts of men despaired.
4. Armageddon
The universe divided
As the Heart and Mind collided,
With the people left unguided
For so many troubled years.
In a cloud of doubts and fears,
Their world was torn asunder into hollow
Hemispheres.
Some fought themselves, some fought each other,
Most just followed one another
Lost and aimless like their brothers
For their hearts were so unclear
And the truth could not appear
Their spirits were divided into blinded
Hemispheres.
Some who did not fight
Brought tales of old to light.
"My Rocinante sailed by night
On her final flight."
To the heart of Cygnus' fearsome force
We set our course
Spiralled through that timeless space
To this immortal place.
5. Cygnus
I have memory and awareness,
But I have no shape or form.
As a disembodied spirit,
I am dead and yet unborn.
I have passed into Olympus
As was told in tales of old,
To the city of Immortals,
Marble white and purest gold...
I see the gods in battle rage on high...
Thunderbolts across the sky...
I cannot move, I cannot hide...
I feel a silent scream begin inside...
Then all at once the chaos ceased
A stillness fell, a sudden peace
The warriors felt my silent cry
And stayed their struggle, mystified.
Apollo was atonished;
Dionysus thought me mad.
But they heard my story further
And they wondered, and were sad.
Looking down from Olympus
On a world of doubt and fear,
Its surface splintered
Into sorry Hemispheres.
They sat a while in silence,
Then they turned at last to me:
"We will call you Cygnus,
The god of Balance you shall be."
6. The Sphere
We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same.
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim.
Let the Truth of Love be lighted,
Let the Love of Truth shine clear. Sensibility,
Armed with sense and liberty,
With the Heart and Mind united in a single
Perfect
Sphere.
7. Circumstances
A boy alone, so far from home,
Endless rooftops from my window.
I felt the gloom of empty rooms
On rainy afternoons.
Sometimes in confusion,
I felt so lost and disillusioned,
Innocence gave me confidence
To go up against reality.
Chorus
All the same we take our chances,
Laughed at by time,
Tricked by circumstances.
Plus ça change,
Plus c'est la meme chose
The more that things change,
The more they stay the same.
Now I've gained some understanding
Of the only world that we see.
Things that I once dreamed of
Have become reality.
These walls that still surround me
Still contain the same old me,
Just one more who's searching for
A world that ought to be.
Chorus
8. The Trees
There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.
The trouble with the maples,
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade.
There is trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream "Oppression!"
And the oaks just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light."
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.
9. Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!
10. To Sleep, Perchance To Dream ..
11. Strangiato Theme
12. A Lerxst in Wonderland
13. Monsters!
14. The Ghost of the Aragon
15. Danforth and Pape
16. The Waltz of the Shreves
17. Never Turn Your Back on a Monster!
18. Monsters! (Reprise)
19. Strangiato Theme (Reprise)
20. A Farewell to Things
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