This song is about the sudden loss of Robbie Whalen. He was an engineer on the Rush albums Permanent Waves, Exit Stage Left, Moving Pictures, and Signals. He was killed in a car accident outside the Rush studios in northern Ontraio in a snowstorm when leaving the studio one night.
Neil Peart wrote this song in tribute to him. Ironically the lyrics "Suddenly you were gone from all the lives you left your mark upon" were later used in art form on the 3 cd live disc Different Stages in tribute to the sudden loss of Peart's daughter Selena in a car accident 40 miles away from Whalen's accident.As well as for his wife who died 10 months later of cancer that suddenly appeared.
This song is about the sudden loss of Robbie Whalen. He was an engineer on the Rush albums Permanent Waves, Exit Stage Left, Moving Pictures, and Signals. He was killed in a car accident outside the Rush studios in northern Ontraio in a snowstorm when leaving the studio one night.
Neil Peart wrote this song in tribute to him. Ironically the lyrics "Suddenly you were gone from all the lives you left your mark upon" were later used in art form on the 3 cd live disc Different Stages in tribute to the sudden loss of Peart's daughter Selena in a car accident 40 miles away from Whalen's accident.As well as for his wife who died 10 months later of cancer that suddenly appeared.