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The clouds prepare for battle
In the dark and brooding silence
Bruised and sullen storm clouds
Have the light of day obscured
Looming low and ominous
In twilight premature
Thunderheads are rumbling
In a distant overture...
All at once the clouds are parted
Light streams down in bright unbroken beams...
Follow men's eyes as they look to the skies
The shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams...
In the dark and brooding silence
Bruised and sullen storm clouds
Have the light of day obscured
Looming low and ominous
In twilight premature
Thunderheads are rumbling
In a distant overture...
All at once the clouds are parted
Light streams down in bright unbroken beams...
Follow men's eyes as they look to the skies
The shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams...
Lyrics submitted by maxthedork, edited by chp2112
Track duration: 07:29
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For truth that empowers, bringing hope, enlightenment and a brighter future.....
And there are those who would keep this truth hidden
For reasons of power, greed or some other dark intention...
Science and discoveries, by accident or by design, has illuminated only a few of the
greatest mysteries of life.There are numerous mysteries still to be solved...
Getting at the real truth is a battle, whether it's understanding Nature, the Universe or understanding what is being purposely obscured by others for their own selfish reasons.
We all hope for that truth, that enlightenment, to set us free...
"...the shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams..."
I just am writing this 'cuz it brings back so many memories (Jacob's Ladder). As a musician in high school when this song came out, I remember every drummer, every bass player, every guitarist in my school could only aspire to play as flawlessly as Rush. But we tried! Many many hours we tried, hitting bad notes, missing cues, it was hilarious!
Absolutely this is one of my Rush favorites... both lyrics and arragement are perfects!...
As per meaning, I always thought it was related to Jacob's ladder described in the Book of Genesis. Please note that book of Genesis is not a songbook from the British band Genesis (Peter Gabriel, Phil Colins, ...) but the Book of Genesis from the Jewish-Christian Bible :).
Here it comes a better description of Jacob's Ladder if you are curious about it:
Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it [or "beside him"] and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." And he was afraid, and said, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
Cheers!
Marcelo
OK, I'm done softening you up for my interpretation.In the bible Jacob is a man who falls asleep on a rock and dreams of angel ascending and decending on sunlight beams shining through the clouds to the ocean below.I am not positive of the exact scripture but a quick search will locate it if you are so inclined.The event when the sun shines through the clouds just enough to create beams of light has been coined as a "Jacobs Ladder".
Just one guys opinion. I could be wrong but only the lyrisist knows for sure.
And, assuming that is the correct interpretation, what can we infer from it? Get right with God NOW, you miserable sinners, before it's too late?
Or perhaps, It's always darkest before the dawn?
I like mrbubble's closing comments about a personal war. I think that Peart's lyrics usually do have a personal meaning...regardless of how detached from the individual they appear on the surface.
Not sure if anyone missed the snare drums rolling a marching cadence at the beginning, kind of sets me to think of this as being about the military.
The dark sullen storm clouds could be nations at war, brooding because they have no easy way to win. Suddenly the clouds are parted and the war is won by a bright new technology that causes death to the enemy: atomic bombs split clouds with their light. The shining shaft of weave the death of their dreams.
I'm not saying anyone's interpretation is wrong.
The dark sullen storm clouds could be a more pesonal war in a person's head with drug abuse causing the conflict. The shining beams could be a revelation: finding God or something to get them out of the drug abuse.