Hold Your Fire

Buy at Amazon.com Force Ten (4:28) 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 (5:07) 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 older Experience slips away... Open Secrets (5:37) It went right by me- At the time it went over my head I was looking out the window I should have looked at your face instead It went right by me- Just another wall There should have been a moment When we let our barriers fall I never meant what you're thinking- That is not what I meant at all... Well I guess we all have these feelings We can't leave unreconciled Some of them burned on our ceilings Some of them learned as a child The things that we're concealing Will never let us grow Time will do its healing You've got to let it go Closed for my protection- Open to your scorn Between these two directions My heart is sometimes torn I lie awake with my secrets spinning around my head something that somehow escaped me- Something you shouldn't have said I was looking out the window I should have looked at your face instead... I find no absolution In my rational point of view Maybe some things are instinctive But there's one thing you could do You could try to understand me- I could try to understand you... Second Nature (4:35) A memo to a higher office Open letter to the powers-that-be To a God, a king, a head of state A captain of industry To the movers and the shakers- Can't everybody see? It ought to be second nature- I mean, the places where we live! Let's talk about this sensibly- We're not insensitive I know progress has no patience- But something's got to give I know you're different- You know I'm the same We're both too busy To be taking the blame I'd like some changes But you don't have the time We can't go on thinking It's a victimless crime No one is blameless But we're all without shame We fight the fire- While we're feeding the flames Folks have got to make choices- And choices got to have voices Folks are basically decent Conventional wisdom would say Well, we read about the exceptions In the papers every day It ought to be second nature- At least, that's what I feel "Now I lay me down in Dreamland"- I know perfect's not for real I thought we might get closer- But I'm ready to make a deal Today is different, And tomorrow the same It's hard to take the world The way that it came Too many rapids Keep us sweeping along Too many captains Keep on steering us wrong It's hard to take the heat- It's hard to lay blame To fight the fire- While we're feeding the flames Prime Mover (5:19) Basic elemental instinct to survive Stirs the higher passions Thrill to be alive Alternating currents in a tidewater surge Rational resistance to an unwise urge anything can happen From the point of conception To the moment of Truth At the point of surrender To the burden of proof From the point of ignition To the final drive The point of the journey is not to arrive anything can happen Basic temperamental filters on our eyes Alter our perceptions Lenses polarize Alternating currents force a show of hands Rational responses force a change of plans anything can happen From a point on the compass To magnetic north The point of the needle moving back and forth From the point of entry- Until the candle is burned The point of departure is not to return anything can happen I set the wheels in motion turn up all the machines activate the programs and run behind the scene I set the clouds in motion turn up light and sound activate the window and watch the world go 'round- anything can happen Lock and Key (5:08) I don't want to face The killer instinct- Face it in your or me We carry a sensitive cargo Below the waterline- Ticking like a time bomb With a primitive design Behind the finer feelings- This civilized veneer- The heart of a lonely hunter Guards a dangerous frontier The balance can sometimes fail- Strong emotions can tip the scale- Don't want to silence A desperate voice For the sake of security No one wants to make a terrible choice On the price of being free I don't want to face the killer instinct- Face it in you or me So we keep it under lock and key... It's not a matter of mercy It's not a matter of laws Plenty of people will kill you for some fanatical cause It's not a matter of conscience- A search for probable cause It's just a matter of instinct- a matter of fatal flaws No reward for resistance No assistance- No applause... we don't want to be victims on that we all agree, so we lock up the killer instinct- and throw away the key... Mission (5:15) Hold your fire- Keep it burning bright Hold the flame 'til the dream ignites- A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission I hear their passionate music Read the words that touch my heart I gaze at their feverish pictures The secrets that set them apart When I feel the powerful visions Their fire has made alive I wish I had that instinct- I wish I had that drive Spirits fly on dangerous missions Imaginations on fire Focused high on soaring ambitions Consumed in a single desire In the grip of a nameless possession- A slave to the drive of obsession- A spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission... I watch their images flicker Bringing light to a lifeless screen I walk through their beautiful buildings And I wish I had their dreams But dreams don't need to have motion To keep their spark alive Obsession has to have action- Pride turns on the drive It's cold comfort To the ones without it To know how they struggled- How they suffered about it If their lives were exotic and strange They would likely have gladly exchanged them For something a little more plain Maybe something a little more sane We each pay a fabulous price For our visions of paradise But a spirit with a vision Is a dream with a mission... Turn the Page (4:53) Nothing can survive in a vacuum No one can exist all alone We pretend things only happen to strangers We've all got problems of our own It's enough to learn to share our pleasures We can't sooth pain with sympathy All that we can do is be reminded- We shake our heads at the tragedy Every day we're standing in a time capsule Racing down a river from the past Every day we're standing in a wind tunnel Facing down the future coming fast It's just the age It's just a stage- We disengage- We turn the page... Looking at the long-range forecast Catching all the names in the news Checking out the state of the nation Learning the environmental blues Truth is after all a moving target Hairs to split, and pieces that don't fit How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit Tai Shan (4:14) High on the sacred mountain Up the seven thousand stairs In the golden light of autumn There was magic in the air Clouds surrounded the summit The wind blew strong and cold Among the silent temples And the writing carved in gold Somewhere in my instincts The primitive took hold... I stood at the top of the mountain And China sang to me In the peaceful haze of harvest time A song of eternity- If you raise your hands to heaven You will live a hundred years I stood there like a mystic Lost in the atmosphere The clouds were suddenly parted For a moment I could see The patterns of the landscape Reaching to the eastern sea I looked upon a presence Spanning forty centuries... I thought of time and distance The hardships of history I heard the hope and the hunger When China sang to me... High Water (5:32) When the waters rose in the darkness In the wake of the endless flood It flowed into our memory- It flowed into our blood- When something broke the surface Just to see the starry dome- We still feel that relation When the water takes us home In the flying spray of the ocean The water takes you home- Springing from the weight of the mountains Like the heart of the earth would burst Flowing out from marble fountains In the dreams of a desert thirst Something swam through the jungles Where the mighty rivers roam- Something breaks the silence When the water takes you home I hear the wordless voices When the water takes me home- Waves that crash on the shoreline Torrents of tropical rain streaming down Beyond our memory Streaming down inside our veins When something left the ocean To crawl high above the foam- We still feel that elation When the water takes us home In a driving rain of redemption The water takes me home...

Geddy Lee - Bass Guitars/Synthesizers/Bass Pedals/Vocals Alex Lifeson - Accoustic And Electric Guitars Neil Peart - Drums/Accoustic And Electronic Percussion Additional Musicians Jim Burgess - Synthesizer Prorgamming Aimee Mann - Vocals ("Time Stand Still") Andy Richards - Keyboards/Synthesizer Programming Music by Lee and Lifeson Lyrics by Peart, except "Force Ten" by Peart and Dubois Produced by Peter Collins and Rush Engineered by Jimbo Barton Mercury, September 8, 1987

Notes:

• Certified Gold by RIAA: November 9, 1987 - Highest Billboard Chart Position: 13
• "Ironically, the opening song, 'Force Ten', was almost an afterthought. In the tradition of those last-minute, spontaneous songs like 'New World Man', 'Vital Signs' and 'Natural Science', we put it together on the very last two days we had for writing." - Neil Peart, "Fireworks", Hold Your Fire Tourbook
• "I remember 'Mission' was a song Peter Collins just loved. And at some point in Britain, when we were working on it, he really wanted to do what he called The Full Monty - put orchestra and choir on it...and there's a particular sound of an English brass band, which I guess was something he grew up with that we had no feel for, the kind of band you was in the park on Sunday playing the gazebo. He was kind of obsessed with finding an authentic one. And he tracked one down in the north of England, and he wanted them to play on this track. We were really working hard on that record, and there was this weekend where this band was available. We were all supposed to fly up there to record them, and we just said, 'Look, Pete, you go. You know what you want, we're pooped, why don't you go and record them? This will be a treat for you.' And he did. And he brought it back, and he was all excited about it of course. And we never really shared the same enthusiasm for it [laughs]. And, in the end, the version of the song that we released was kind of stripped down; I don't think we used the brass band very much. We didn't use the whole arrangement. So there is another version of that song that exists that I hope we'll release that has The Full Monty on it." - Geddy Lee, Contents Under Pressure
• "'I had them try a colliery band on that song ["Mission"] - sort of the 'Hovis' sound. It was a little tool much for them,' he says. 'I remember thinking, perhaps I have gone a little too far this time, but at least they tried it! That was what was always so fantastic about them, if I had a strong idea they would always try it even if they didn't use it.' Peter went to enormous lengths to find what he wanted - eventually settling on the William Faery brass band, recorded in Oldham in the North of England." - Chemistry
• "...I couldn't resist the benefits of triggers and pads, of having litereally any sound I wanted under my sitcks or my feet- marimba, church bells, West African djembes, a self-made recording of a plastic waterbottle struck by a toothbrush (used in 'Tai Shan')...." - Neil Peart, Roadshow