[James Brancheau]

For any other 80s nerds who liked Rush. Pretty tight for a bunch of old guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFpZFnJ6ZT8

[James Brancheau]

I see I somehow double posted. Would appreciate it if someone could delete one of these. (Sorry, and thanks!) I'd hate to kill him twice.

That was fast. Thank you!

[Jayne Osborn]

Hi James,
I happened to see the double post and deleted the extraneous one - not bad, considering I'd only just woken up and did it on my phone in bed!

I enjoyed the link ...and have subsequently 'got' the piss-take of the washing machines on stage! Thanks for posting.

Jayne

[E. Shaun Russell]

Thanks for posting, James. In addition to being perhaps the best rock drummer, he was also an exceptional lyricist...and a legitimate inspiration to me when I first started writing poetry a quarter century or so ago.

One of my favorite lyrics of his:


"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

[Aaron Novick]

The best rock drummer was, of course, Jaki Liebezeit, there's really no other reasonable answer to *that* question.

But that doesn't diminish Peart's considerable talent. RIP.

[Susan McLean]

I think Peart was a terrific lyricist. I will miss his poetic voice.

Susan

[Jayne Osborn]

Hi Shaun,

Thank you so much for posting "The Trees" (#4). I hadn't come across it before, but I absolutely love it! (I have to say, though, that I think it works better as a poem than as a rock song... !)
The instrumental bit is great; the words just don't fit the music, for me.

Jayne

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Look, Mom! Libertarian tracts starring elves sung by a chipmunk. And all the world's tom toms in the one kit to rule them all and in the darkness bind them.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Sorry. Carry on with your fond memories.

[Quincy Lehr]

Per Andrew, I found the lyrics frequently mind-bendingly awful (“The Trees” being a key example), though the libertarian sci-ci elements (the words to “Red Barchetta” do not age well in the midst of a global warming crisis) became less prominent (and Geddy Lee discovered his lower range), all of which is to say that I kind of like the New Wave-y 1980s stuff that most Rush fans don’t.