This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
I turn my back to the wind
To catch my breath
Before I start off again
Driven on
Without a moment to spend
To pass an evening
With a drink and a friend
I let my skin get too thin
I'd like to pause,
No matter what I pretend
Like some pilgrim
Who learns to transcend
Learns to live
As if each step was the end
Time stand still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
Time stands still
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now
Time stands still
Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away
Time stands still
I turn my face to the sun
Close my eyes
Let my defenses down
All those wounds
That I can't get unwound
I let my past go too fast
No time to pause
If I could slow it all down
Like some captain
Whose ship runs aground
I can wait until the tide comes around
Time stand still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
Time stands still
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now
Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Make each impression
A little bit stronger
Freeze this motion
A little bit longer
The innocence slips away
The innocence slips away
Time stands still
Time stands still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now
Time stands still
Summer's going fast
Nights growing colder
Children growing up
Old friends growing older
Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away
The innocence slips away
To catch my breath
Before I start off again
Driven on
Without a moment to spend
To pass an evening
With a drink and a friend
I let my skin get too thin
I'd like to pause,
No matter what I pretend
Like some pilgrim
Who learns to transcend
Learns to live
As if each step was the end
Time stand still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
Time stands still
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now
Time stands still
Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away
Time stands still
I turn my face to the sun
Close my eyes
Let my defenses down
All those wounds
That I can't get unwound
I let my past go too fast
No time to pause
If I could slow it all down
Like some captain
Whose ship runs aground
I can wait until the tide comes around
Time stand still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
Time stands still
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now
Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Make each impression
A little bit stronger
Freeze this motion
A little bit longer
The innocence slips away
The innocence slips away
Time stands still
Time stands still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
See more of the people
And the places that surround me now
Time stands still
Summer's going fast
Nights growing colder
Children growing up
Old friends growing older
Freeze this moment
A little bit longer
Make each sensation
A little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away
The innocence slips away
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Hayalperest
Hayalperest
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
I'm in my early forties now, and "children growing up, old friends growing older" means even more to me than it did when the Hold Your Fire LP came out in '87, when I was 21.
Neil Peart wrote this song about his desire to start living his life in the MOMENT, thru his transformation into a Conscious being...someone who knew and embraced ultimate Truth...that we are all INFINITE beings of Consciousness merely experiencing ourselves, temporarily, in a 3-D, Holographic illusive reality, thru our senses, controlled by our thoughts.
Linear Time is merely an ILLUSION that cannot possibly exist as all Matter "pops" in and out of existence based solely upon whether we are observing it or not. If you understand the Double Slit Experiment (which Peart does), then you understand the truth of our reality within the Maya. ALL Matter is merely EMPTY SPACE that appears to be solid ONLY when we focus our thoughts upon it. What matter truly is, within the true fabric of the Unified Field, is infinite waves of possibilities simply eternally waiting for us to collapse the wave function and turn it into our reality in the moment.
As human beings we CONCEIVE of nothing...our brains merely RECEIVE these electrical signals of zeros and ones and decodes them into "language"/images that we can understand. The ONLY job that we humans have is to PERCEIVE these "downloaded and decoded" signals into our reality based upon our core beliefs. Thus, what any of us truly is...is merely what we BELIEVE to be true. And where do 99.9% of our Beliefs come from??? Parents, Schools, Governments, Religion, Books, TV, Movies, and worst of all, ADVERTISING (propaganda).
Thus, we believe what we are told to believe by people who are LYING to us...either purposefully or through ignorance...either way it doesn't matter. Thus, when we AWAKEN to a higher Consciousness, we are learning to abandon the lies we grew up with, as we embrace the truths that we discover...the rock band Rush is part of our fabric of truth...just as reading Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe or JRR Tolkien is. Within these songs, within those books, we come to realize that what we have been raised with was merely designed to CONTROL US, even most Parents operate this way.
Peart was describing his surrender to the moment, to the NOW. He symbolically turned to the sun (Light) and let down all his defences so that he could let go of all his darkness. And where does darkness reside for most of us? Within our memories, or the Illusion of the past.
Understand, that if Linear time is a myth, then the past or the future cannot possibly exist, only the now. Only the sensation of the past is real...and this is what society has focused their powers upon...constantly presenting us with systems of LIMITATION, designed to promote FEAR. Because when we believe that "bad" things are real and can hurt us, then the PAST and the FUTURE become much, much more prevalent in our reality than the now. This is when "they" own us...when they control us, as we begin to act liked trapped animals, instead of eternal beings of light capable of anything.
Neil Peart knew that the NOW is all that can possibly exist; thus, by living in it, our vision clears, and we begin to notice all the wonderful things that surround our true reality...Fear falls away b/c it's NOT REAL, only a perception that can't exist when we are focused within the now. Thus, he no longer cares what others think, he is simply focused upon HIS world, HIS experiences. And since "time stands still" while living in the moment, there's no need to "hurry along" or worry about missed opportunities. He can now patiently wait upon his grounded vessel, awaiting the tide to change. This is the beginning of patience and wisdom...when we block out all the "white noise" bullshit of society from our minds by going within, we are gifted with the Peace, calm, wisdom and harmony that flows through the vibration of Love!
@CharlieFreak Beautiful, no disrespect to the other interpretations here but this here is to me the most accurate interpretation when I listen to the song and certain lyrics pierce through veil of consciousness enough to shake you momentarily like you're hearing a message that somehow you remember but can't quite recall or even comprehend then you know a higher power is speaking trying to get through to remind us that we're infinitely free. God bless.
@CharlieFreak yeah, <br /> <br /> It’s just the anthem of most middle aged people. They realize they have gotten older, missed out on much and would like to enjoy life <br /> <br /> You know, what you said, just in a lot less words.
This song. Is my absolute favourite song. Rush or any other band. Aside from being a BASS! song, the vocals and all instruments seem to blend perfectly for a sound that just takes me to another place. I fell in love with it about 11 years ago, an older friend played part of the bass for me, and it's been my favourite ever since. I believe, as others have said, that it's about holding on to what you have, and how you can't stop the passing of time. How sometimes, you just wish that things would slow the hell down and you could look a little deeper at it.
I also see it, as something very deep to me, as being about realizing you're falling in love with someone. How you never want that moment to end, and how time really seems to stand still, or how you wish it was. How you wish so desperately that you could escape to somewhere where the craziness and change of everyday life doesn't exist, where you can concentrate on pure sensation and nothing else exists. Of course, that's a personal spin and I know it wasn't the intended meaning. Just my two cents.
"I also see it, as something very deep to me, as being about realizing you're falling in love with someone. How you never want that moment to end, and how time really seems to stand still, or how you wish it was. How you wish so desperately that you could escape to somewhere where the craziness and change of everyday life doesn't exist, where you can concentrate on pure sensation and nothing else exists. Of course, that's a personal spin and I know it wasn't the intended meaning."<br /> <br /> I don't think you're completely off. I think the general idea of what your saying is actually the meaning of the song. The song talks about how things just pass on too fast and how the narrator wants to "make each sensation a little bit stronger." The narrator just wants to hold the sensation, as you said. The meaning could be easily be applied to love, and you can get the strongest example of the meaning through a love experience. So to be honest, I think your "personal spin" was actually the intended meaning.
I just recently got into rush, got their Chronicles album and this song is one of my favorite. Amazing, amazing song.
"I turn my back to the wind" makes you think of your best friend? Wow... how deep.
@socket462 I don't think of it that way. I think of it as changing phases in life. (More on that later). The "wind" or life is pushing you along. And you stop, before you change phases. When it is written, "I turn my face to the sun...." you are staring a new phase (the sun a metaphor for a new day).
I accidentally discovered this song last year, and I am sooo glad I did. It is a beautiful song, Definitely about having life rush by you and wanting to slow it down, to enjoy it more fully. Love it so much!
It's all about relishing the time you have...
Wow. There is a big difference listening to this when you were in your early twenties to when you are in your mid 50's. I now have two young sons, and it is true how they say they grow up fast. It really almost brings me to tears- when you are a father just thinking of the time your kids will be grown and away from you- or if something tragic could happen - you can't think of ANYTHING worse.
If Peart wasn't one of the greatest contemporary drummers, he'd be one of the greast contemporary poets.
I just made myself 10 years older - that should read "mid 40's"
In my view, these are the best lyrics Neil Peart ever wrote. For a while, I thought that Rush's lyrics were a bit to clever for their own good. I couldn't relate to the literature and mythology they often referenced. But I can easily relate to these lyrics.
It's about wanting to make the most of what you've got, in the present. "I'm not looking back / But I want to look around me now". It's a bit of a lament about how time can pass so quickly. "Children growing up - old friends growing older" - that's happening to me, right now.
Deals with the nature of our society - Things move to quickly, kids want to grow up too fast, and people are too busy to pause and enjoy the present.