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Lyrics to Chronicals by Rush

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyrics to Chronicles
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finding My Way (Rush)
------- -- ---

Yeah, oh yeah!
Ooh, said I,
I'm comin' out to get you.
Ooh, sit down.
I'm comin' out to find you.
Ooh, yeah. Ooh yeah.
Findin' my way!

I've been gone so long
I've lost count of the years.
Well, I sang some sad songs,
oh yes, and cried some bad tears.

Look out! I'm comin'.
Whoa, whoa.
Look out! I'm comin'.
Whoa, yeah.

I'm runnin',
finding my way back home.
Oh yeah!

Yeah, oh yeah!
Ooh, said I,
I'm comin' back to look for you.
Ooh, sit down.
I'm goin' by the back door.
Ooh, yeah. Ooh yeah.
Findin' my way!

You've done me no right,
but you've done me some wrong.
Left me lonely each night
while I sing my sad song.

Look out! I'm comin'.
Whoa, whoa.
Look out! I'm comin'.
Whoa, yeah.

I'm runnin',
findin' my way back home.
I'm comin'.
Ooh, babe, I said I'm runnin'.
Whoa, babe, I said I'm comin'
to get you, mama.
Said I'm runnin'.

Ooh, babe, I said I'm comin'
for you, babe.
I said I'm runnin'.
Ooh yes, babe, I said I'm comin'
to get you, babe. I said I'm comin'.
Ooh, yeah.

I'm findin',
I'm findin' my way back home.
Well, I've had it for now,
livin' on the road.
Ooh, yeah.
Ooh, yeah.

Findin' my way!

Working Man (Rush)
------- ---

I get up at seven, yeah,
and I go to work at nine.
I got no time for livin'.
Yes, I'm workin' all the time.

It seems to me
I could live my life
a lot better than I think I am.
I guess that's why they call me,
they call me the workin' man.

They call me the workin' man.
I guess that's what I am.

I get home at five o'clock,
and I take myself out a nice, cold beer.
Always seem to be wond'rin'
why there's nothin' goin' down here.

It seems to me
I could live my life
a lot better than I think I am.
I guess that's why they call me,
they call me the workin' man.

They call me the workin' man.
I guess that's what I am.

Well they call me the workin' man.
I guess that's what I am.

Fly By Night (Fly By Night)
--- -- -----

Why try? I know why
This feeling inside me says it's time I was gone
Clear head, new life ahead
I want to be king now, not just one more pawn

Fly by night away from here
Change my life again
Fly by night, goodbye my dear
My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend

Moonrise, thoughtful eyes
Staring back at me from the window beside
No fright or hindsight
Leaving behind that empty feeling inside

Start a new chapter, I find what I'm after
Is changing every day.
The change of a season's enough of a reason
To want to get away
Quiet and pensive, my thoughts apprehensive
The hours drift away
Leaving my homeland, playing a lone hand
My life begins today

Anthem (Fly By Night)
------

Know your place in life is where you want to be
Don't let them tell you that you owe it all to me
Keep on looking forward; no use in looking 'round
Hold your head above the ground and they won't bring you down

Anthem of the heart and anthem of the mind
A funeral dirge for eyes gone blind
We marvel after those who sought
New wonders in the world, wonders in the world,
Wonders in the world they wrought.

Live for yourself -- there's no one else
More worth living for
Begging hands and bleeding hearts will
Only cry out for more

Well, I know they've always told you
Selfishness was wrong
Yet it was for me, not you, I
Came to write this song

Bastille Day (Caress Of Steel)
-------- ---

Ooh, there's no bread, let 'em eat cake
There's no end to what they'll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth

But they're marching to Bastille Day.
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize.
Free the dungeons of the innocent
The king will kneel
And let his kingdom rise.

Ooh, blood stained velvet, dirty lace,
naked fear on every face
See them bow their heads to die
As we would bow as they rode by
And we're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Sing, oh choirs of cacophony
The king has kneeled
To let his kingdom rise.

Lessons taught but never learned
All around us anger burns
Guide the future by the past
Long ago the mould was cast
For they marched up to Bastille Day
La guillotine claimed her bloody prize
Hear the echoes of the centuries
power isn't all that money buys.

Lakeside Park (Caress Of Steel)
-------- ----

Midway hawkers calling "Try your luck with me."
Merry-go-round wheezing same old melody.
A thousand ten-cent wonders, who could ask for more.
A pocketful of silver, the key to heaven's door.

Lakeside Park, willows in the breeze.
Lakeside Park, so many memories.
Laughing rides, midway lights,
Shining stars on summer nights.

Days of barefoot freedom, racing with the waves,
Nights of starlit secrets, crackling driftwood flames,
Drinking by the lighthouse, smoking on the pier,
Still, we saw the magic was fading every year.

Everyone would gather on the twenty fourth of May,
Sitting in the sand to watch the fireworks display.
Dancing fires on the beach, singing songs together,
Though it's just a memory, some memories last forever.

Overture (Instrumental) (2112)
------------------------

The Temples Of Syrinx (2112)
---------------------

We've taken care of everything
The words you hear the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes.

It's one for all and all for one
We work together common sons
Never need to wonder how or why.

We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls.
We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life are held within our walls.

Look around this world we made
Equality our stock in trade
Come and join the Brotherhood of Man
Oh what a nice contented world
Let the banners be unfurled
Hold the Red Star proudly high in hand.

We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls.
We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life are held within our walls.

What You're Doing (Rush/All The World's A Stage)
---- ------ -----

Well, I see you standin' there
with your finger in the air.
Ev'rything we do,
you wanna leave it up to you.

Who do you think you are?
You think you are a star,
try'n' to run the town,
always try'n' to put us down.

Well, you think that you're right.
You think you're out of sight.
Tell me something, mister;
why'd you have to make us so uptight?

Well, you say you've been try'n'.
You know that you're ly'n'.
I think you need some groovin'.
Who do you think you're foolin' now?

Well, you better start changin'.
You life needs rearrangin'.
You better do some talkin'
or you better do some walkin' now.

Yeah, you think that you're right.
You think you're out of sight.
Tell me something, mister;
why'd you have to make us so uptight?

I know what you're doing,
all that you been doin' wrong.
I don't know what you're feelin',
oh, but you been feelin' long.

Well, you think that you're right.
Tell me something, mister;
why'd you have to make us so uptight?

A Farewell to Kings (A Farewell To Kings)
- -------- -- -----

When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance

Cities full of hatred
Fear and lies
Withered hearts
And cruel tormented eyes
Scheming demons
Dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude
And scoffing at the wise

The hypocrites are slandering
The sacred halls of Truth
Ancient nobles showering
Their bitterness on youth
Can't we find
The minds that made us stong
Can't we learn
To feel what's right and wrong

Cities full of hatred
Fear and lies
Withered hearts
And cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons
Dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude
And scoffing at the wise
Can't we raise our eyes
And make a start
Can't we find the minds
To lead us closer to the Heart

Closer To The Heart (A Farewell To Kings)
------ -- --- -----

And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the Heart

The Blacksmith and the Artist
Reflect it in their art
Forge their creativity
Closer to the Heart

Philosophers and Ploughmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the Heart

You can be the Captain
I will draw the Chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the Heart

The Trees (Hemispheres)
--- -----

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 the'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.

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"These 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.

La Villa Strangiato (Instrumental) (Hemispheres)
-- ----- ----------
(An Exercise in Self-Indulgence)

Includes:
1. Buenas Noches, Mein Froinds!
2. To sleep, perchance to dream...
3. Strangiato Theme
4. A Lerxst in Wonderland
5. Monsters!
6. Danforth and Pape
7. The Waltz of the Shreves
8. Never turn your back on a Monster!
9. Monsters! (Reprise)
10. Strangiato Theme (Reprise)
11. A Farewell to Things

Freewill (Permanent Waves)
--------

There are those who think that life is nothing left to chance,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.

A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
"The stars aren't aligned
Or the gods are malign"-
Blame is better to give than receive.

ou can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still haven't made a choice.
ou can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear-
I will choose Free Will.

There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them- they weren't born in lotus-land.

All preordained-
A prisoner in chains-
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
ou can't pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate.

Each of us-
A cell of awareness-
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.

The Spirit of Radio (Permanent Waves)
--- ------ -- -----

Begin the day with a friendly voice,
A companion unobtrusive
Plays the song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood.

Off on your way, hit the open road,
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers,
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude.

Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted.
Not so coldly charted, it's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah, your honesty.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music,
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity.

For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall,
Concert hall
And echoes with the sounds of salesmen.

Tom Sawyer (Moving Pictures)
--- ------

A modern-day warrior
Mean mean stride,
Today's Tom Sawyer
Mean mean pride.

Though his mind is not for rent,
Don't put him down as arrogant.
His reserve, a quiet defense,
Riding out the day's events.
The river

And what you say about his company
Is what you say about society.
Catch the mist, catch the myth
Catch the mystery, catch the drift.

The world is, the world is,
Love and life are deep,
Maybe as his eyes are wide.

Today's Tom Sawyer,
He gets high on you,
And the space he invades
He gets by on you.

No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government.
Always hopeful, yet discontent,
He knows changes aren't permanent,
But change is.

And what you say about his company
Is what you say about society.
Catch the witness, catch the wit,
Catch the spirit, catch the spit.

The world is, the world is,
Love and life are deep,
Maybe as his skies are wide.

Exit the warrior,
Today's Tom Sawyer,
He gets high on you,
And the energy you trade,
He gets right on to the friction of the day.

Red Barchetta (Moving Pictures)
--- ---------

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about.
He says it used to be a farm,
Before the Motor Law.
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes,
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire,
Where my white-haired uncle waits.

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the Borderline.
Run like the wind,
As excitement shivers up and down my spine.
Down in his barn,
My uncle preserved for me an old machine,
For fifty-odd years.
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream.

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car.
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better, vanished time.
I fire up the willing engine,
Responding with a roar.
Tires spitting gravel,
I commit my weekly crime...

Wind-
In my hair-
Shifting and drifting-
Mechanical music-
Adrenalin surge...

Well-weathered leather,
Hot metal and oil,
The scented country air.
Sunlight on chrome,
The blur of the landscape,
Every nerve aware.

Suddenly ahead of me,
Across the mountainside,
A gleaming alloy air-car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide.
I spin around with shrieking tires,
To run the deadly race,
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase.

Drive like the wind,
Straining the limits of machine and man.
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I've got a desperate plan.
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside.
Race back to the farm, to dream with my uncle at the fireside.

Limelight (Moving Pictures)
---------

Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage.

Cast in this unlikely role,
Ill-equipped to act,
With insufficient tact,
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact.

Living in the Limelight,
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem.
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation,
Get on with the fascination,
The real relation,
The underlying theme.

Living in a fisheye lens,
Caught in the camera eye.
I have no heart to lie,
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend.

All the world's indeed a stage,
And we are merely players,
Performers and portrayers,
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage.

A Passage To Bangkok (2112/Exit...Stage Left)
- ------- -- -------

Our first stop is in Bogota
To check Columbian fields
The natives smile and pass along
A sample of their yield
Sweet Jamaican pipe dreams
Golden Acapulco nights
Then Morocco, and the East,
Fly by morning light

We're on the train to Bangkok
Aboard the Thailand Express
We'll hit the stops along the way
We only stop for the best

Wreathed in smoke in Lebanon
We burn the midnight oil
The fragrance of Afghanistan
Rewards a long day's toil
Pulling into Katmandu
Smoke rings fill the air
Perfumed by a Nepal night
The Express gets you there

Subdivisions (Signals)
------------

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown

Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone

Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone

Subdivisions --
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions --
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight

Somewhere out of a memory of lighted streets on quiet nights...

New World Man (Signals)
--- ----- ---

He's a rebel and a runner
He's a signal turning green
He's a restless young romantic
Wants to run the big machine

He's got a problem with his poisons
But you know he'll find a cure
He's cleaning up his systems
To keep his nature pure

Learning to match the beat of the Old World man
Learning to catch the heat of the Third World man

He's got to make his own mistakes
And learn to mend the mess he makes
He's old enough to know what's right
But young enough not to choose it
He's noble enough to win the world
But weak enough to lose it --
He's a New World man...

He's a radio receiver
Turned to factories and farms
He's a writer and arranger
And a young boy bearing arms

He's got a problem with his power
With weapons on patrol
He's got to walk a fine line
And keep his self-control

Trying to save the day for the Old World man
Trying to pave the way for the Third World man

He's not concerned with yesterday
He knows constant change is here today
He's noble enough to know what's right
But weak enough not to choose it
He's wise enough to win the world
But fool enough to lose it --
He's a New World man...

Distant Early Warning (Grace Under Pressure)
------- ----- -------

An ill wind comes arising
Across the cities of the plain
There's no swimming in the heavy water --
No singing in the acid rain
Red alert
Red alert

It's so hard to stay together
Passing through revolving doors
We need someone to talk to
And someone to sweep the floors --
Incomplete
Incomplete

The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
ou sometimes drive me crazy --
But I worry about you

I know it makes on difference
To what you're going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg --
And I worry about you...

Cruising under your radar
Watching from satellites
Take a page from the red book --
Keep them in your sights
Red alert
Red alert

Left and rights of passage
Black and whites of youth
Who can face the knowledge
That the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete
Absolute

Absalom, Absalom, Absalom

Red Sector A (Grace Under Pressure)
--- ------ -

All that we can do is just survive
All that we can do to help ourselves is stay alive...

Ragged lines of ragged grey
Skeletons, they shuffle away
Shouting guards and smoking guns
Will cut down the unlucky ones

I clutch the wire fence until my fingers bleed
A wound that will not heal -- a hear that cannot feel --
Hoping that the horror will recede
Hoping that tomorrow, we'll all be freed

Sickness to insanity
Prayer to profanity
Days and weeks and months go by
Don't feel the hunger -- too weak to cry

I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate
Are the liberators here -- do I hope or do I fear?
For my father and my brother, it's too late
But I must help my mother stand up straight...

Are we the last ones left alive?
Are we the only human beings to survive?...

The Big Money (Power Windows)
--- --- -----

Big money goes around the world
Big money underground
Big money got a mighty voice
Big money make no sound
Big money pull a million strings
Big money hold the prize
Big money weave a mighty web
Big money draw the flies

Sometimes pushing people around
Sometimes pulling out the rug
Sometimes pushing all the buttons
Sometimes pulling out the plug
It's the power and the glory
It's a war in paradise
It's a cinderella story
On a tumble of the dice

Big money goes around the world
Big money take a cruise
Big money leave a mighty wake
Big money leave a bruise
Big money make a million dreams
Big money spin big deals
Big money make a mighty head
Big money spin big wheels

Sometimes building ivory towers
Sometimes knocking castles down
Sometimes building you a stairway --
Lock you underground
It's that old-time religion
it's the kingdom they would rule
It's the fool on television
Getting paid to play the fool

Big money goes around the world
Big money give and take
Big money done a power of good
Big money make mistakes
Big money got a heavy hand
Big money take control
Big money got a mean streak
Big money got no soul...

Manhattan Project (Power Windows)
--------- -------

Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon -- that would settle the score
Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst --
They always had before...

Imagine a man where it all began
A scientist pacing the floor
In each nation -- always eager to explore
To build the best big stick
To turn the winning trick --
But this was something more...

The big bang -- took and shook the world
Shot down the rising sun
the end was begun -- it would hit everyone
When the chain reaction was done
The big shots -- try to hold it back
Fools try to wish it away
The hopeful depend on a world without end
Whatever the hopeless may say

Imagine a place where it all began
They gathered from across the land
To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
All of the brightest boys
To play with the biggest toys --
More than they bargained for...

Imagine a man when it all began
The pilot of "Enola Gay"
Flying out of the shockwave on that August day
All the powers that be, and the course of history,
Would be changed for evermore...

Force Ten (Hold Your Fire)
----- ---

Tough times demand tough talk
demand tough hearts demand tough songs
demand --

We can rise and fall like empires
Flow in and out like the tide
Be vain and smart, humble and dumb
We can hit and miss like pride

We can circle around like hurricanes
Dance and dream like lovers
Attack the day like birds of prey
Or scavengers under cover

Look in -- to the eye of the storm
Look out -- for the force without form
Look around -- at the sight and the sound
Look in look out look around --

We can move with savage grace
To the rhythms of the night
Cool and remote like dancing girls
In the heat of the beat and the lights

We can wear the rose of romance
An air of joie de vivre
Too-tender hearts upon our sleeves
Or skin as thick as thieves'

rising falling at force ten
we twist the world and ride the wind

Look in -- look the storm in the eye
Look out -- to the sea and the sky
Look around -- at the sight and the sound
Look in look out look around --

Time Stand Still (Hold Your Fire)
---- ----- -----

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
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
Experience slips away...

I turn my face to the sun
Close my eyes.
Let my defences 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

Make each impression a little bit stronger
Freeze this motion a little bit longer
The innocence slips away...

Summer's going fast, nights growing colder
Children growing up -- old friends growing colder
Experience slips away...

Mystic Rhythms (Grace Under Pressure)
------ -------

So many things I think about
When I look far away
Things I know -- things I wonder
Things I'd like to say
The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown
We suspend our disbelief
And we are not alone --

Mystic rhythms -- capture my thoughts
And carry them away
Mysteries of night escape the light of day
Mystic rhythms -- under northern lights
Primitive things stir
The hearts of everyone

We sometimes catch a window
A glimpse of what's beyond
Was it just imagination
Stringing us along?
More things than are dreamed about
Unseen and unexplained
We suspend our disbelief
And we are entertained

Mystic rhythms -- capture my thoughts
And carry them away
Nature seems to spin
A supernatural way
Mystic rhythms -- under city lights
Or a canopy of stars
We feel the powers and we wonder what they are
We feel the push and pull of restless rhythms from afar

Show Don't Tell (Presto)
---- ----- ----

How many times do you hear it?
It goes on all day long
Everyone knows everything
And no one's ever wrong
Until later

Who can you believe?
It's hard to play it safe
But apart from a few good friends
We don't take anything on faith
Until later

Show Don't Tell

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
You've figured out the score
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
I've heard it all before
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
I don't care what you say
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

You can twist perceptions
Reality won't budge
You can raise objections
I will be the judge
And the jury

I'll give it due reflection
Watching from the fence
Give the jury direction
Based on the evidence
I, the jury

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
Hey - order in the court
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
Let's try to keep it short
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
Enough of your demands
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
Witness take the stand
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
Hey - order in the court
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
Let's try to keep it short
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
I don't care what you say
SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME
Let's see exhibit A
 
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