RUSH - Top 50 Songs

     Compiling this list wasn't too difficult. The problem is ranking them. I will do my best, but it could change every day. Before I reveal the list, I would like to address something that I couldn't do five years ago. On January 7, 2020, Neil Ellwood Peart passed away from cancer. At the time, it was such devastating news. I had considered coming on Sound Mind to share my feelings, but I just couldn't do it. Consider this list my tribute to a great lyricist and an amazing individual. I will include my favorite lyric for each song, except the instrumentals. Peace.

50. STICK IT OUT ( Counterparts )

     Trust to your instincts

49. DRIVEN ( Test for Echo )

     The road unwinds towards me. What was there is gone. The road unwinds before me and I go riding on.

48. CARAVAN ( Clockwork Angels )

     I can't stop thinking big.

47. THE MAIN MONKEY BUSINESS ( Snakes and Arrows )

     Instrumental

46. GHOST RIDER ( Vapor Trails )

     There's a shadow on the road behind. There's a shadow on the road ahead.

45. SPINDRIFT ( Snakes and Arrows )

     Where are the words to answer you?

44. EARTHSHINE ( Vapor Trails )

     Pale facsimile, like others see when they look in my direction.

43. LOCK AND KEY ( Hold Your Fire )

     No reward for resistance. No assistance, no applause.

42. BU2B ( Clockwork Angels )

     Blind men in the market buying what we're sold.

41. TIME STAND STILL ( Hold Your Fire )

     I turn my back to the wind to catch my breath before I start off again.

40. ONE LITTLE VICTORY ( Vapor Trail )

     The greatest act can be one little victory.

39. DISTANT EARLY WARNING ( Grace Under Pressure )

     The world weighs on my shoulders, but what am I to do?

38. THE ANARCHIST ( Clockwork Angels )

     A missing part of me that grows around me like a cage.

37. BIG MONEY ( Power Windows )

     It's the fool on television getting paid to play the fool.

36. FORCE TEN ( Hold Your Fire )

     We can move with savage grace to the rhythms of the night.

35. SECRET TOUCH ( Vapor Trails )

     The way out is the way in.

34. ALIEN SHORE ( Counterparts )

     Color and culture, language and race, just variations on a theme.

33. HEADLONG FLIGHT ( Clockwork Angels )

     I wish that I could live it all again.

32. BY-TOR AND THE SNOW DOG ( Fly By Night )

     Tobes of Hades, lit by flickering torchlit

31. THE TREES ( Hemispheres )

     And the trees are all kept equal with hatchet, ax, and saw.

30. CHEMISTRY ( Signals )

     Electricity? Biology? Seems to me it's Chemistry.

29. CAMERA EYE ( Moving Pictures )

     I feel the sense of possibilities.

28. NATURAL SCIENCE ( Permanent Waves )

     Living in their pools they soon forget about the sea.

27. XANADU ( A Farewell to Kings )

     Time has passed me by, stars stopped in the sky.

26. CLOSER TO THE HEART ( A Farewell to Kings )

     You can be the captain and I will draw the chart. Sailing into destiny closer to the Heart.

25. DREAMLINE (Roll the Bones )

     We are young, wandering the face of the Earth.   

24 CYGNUS X-1 PART ONE ( A Farewell to Kings )

     Sound and fury drowns my heart. Every nerve is torn apart.

23. ANTHEM ( Fly By Night)

     Anthem of the heart and anthem of the mind. A funeral dirge for eyes gone blind.

22. AFTERIMAGE ( Grace Under Pressure )

     Suddenly you were gone from all the lives you left your mark upon.

21. FAR CRY ( Snakes and Arrows )

     One day I'm ahead of the wheel and the next it's rolling over me.

20. A FAREWELL TO KINGS ( A Farewell to Kings )

     Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise

19. FLY BY NIGHT ( Fly By Night )

     My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend.

18. BASTILLE DAY ( Caress of Steel )

     See them bow their heads to die, as we would bow as they rode by. 

17. CIRCUMSTANCES ( Hemispheres )

     All the same,  take our chances, laughed at by time.

16. JACOB'S LADDER ( Permanent Waves )

     The shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams.

15. THE PASS ( Presto )

     All of us get lost in the darkness. Dreamers learn to steer by the stars.

14. BETWEEN SUN AND MOON ( Counterparts )

     We just need a break from the headlong race.

13. MIDDLETOWN DREAMS ( Power Windows )

     Dreams flow across the heartland feeding on the fires. Dreams transport desires. Drive you when you're down. Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town.

12. BETWEEN THE WHEELS ( Grace Under Pressure )

     Wheels can take you around, wheels can cut you down.

11. FREEWILL ( Permanent Waves )

     If you chose not to decide you still have made a choice. 

10. RED BARCHETTA ( Moving Pictures )

     Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I've got a desperate plan.

9. SUBDIVISIONS ( Signals )

     Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone.

8. WORKING MAN ( RUSH )

     It seems to me I could live my life a lot better than I think I am.

7. YYZ ( Moving Pictures )

     Instrumental

6. TOM SAWYER ( Moving Pictures )

     No, his mind is not for rent to any God or government

5. THE SPIRIT OF RADIO ( Permanent Waves )

     One likes to believe in the freedom of music

4. 2112 ( 2112 )

     We have assumed control, we have assumed control, we have assumed control.

3. LA VILLA STRANGIATO ( Hemispheres )

     Instrumental

2. ANALOG KID ( Signals )

     Too many hands on my time. Too many feelings. Too many things on my mind. When I leave I don't know what I'm hoping to find and when I leave I don't know what I'm leaving behind.

1. LIMELIGHT ( Moving Pictures )

     Living in the limelight, the universal dream for those who wish to seem. For those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation, get on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme.