This is the final post in a series of six, in which I’m lyricblogging the 1976 Rush album 2112. To start at the beginning, see the post that started it all here.
“Something for Nothing” is the gem and culmination of 2112, the part I’ve been most eager to get to — a song I can listen to again and again, and a parting bit of imparted wisdom that sticks deep in your mind where it belongs.
Neil Peart (Rush’s peerless drummer and primary lyricist) is well known for having drawn inspiration from Ayn Rand’s “Objectivist” philosophy, and he has surely produced no more direct expression of that influence than in “Something for Nothing”, which is both a wake-up call to the dreamer who has yet to back his plans up with committed and decisive action, and a fierce defense of the individual’s right to take pride in and enjoy profit from his own hard-won achievements.
“Something for Nothing” is a worthy anthem to rouse you to action when you crawl reluctantly out of bed in the morning, or to keep in your head through late night entrepreneurial labors of love when exhaustion might drive others to their comfortable beds. Its bold, ringing declaration has surely changed my life for the better, and I hope it will do the same for others.
Something for Nothing
Waiting for the winds of change
To sweep the clouds away
Waiting for the rainbow’s end
To cast its gold your way
Countless ways
You pass the days
Waiting for someone to call
And turn your world around
Looking for an answer to
The question you have found
Looking for
An open door
You don’t get something for nothing
You can’t have freedom for free
You won’t get wise with the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dream might be
What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story
In your head is the answer
Let it guide you along
Let your heart be the anchor
And the beat of your own song
You don’t get something for nothing
You can’t have freedom for free
You won’t get wise with the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dream might be
Previous: Tears
2112 — The Complete Album
- 2112
- A Passage to Bangkok
- The Twilight Zone
- Lessons
- Tears
- Something for Nothing
This is the fifth post in a series of six, in which I’m lyricblogging the 1976 Rush album 2112. To start at the beginning, see the post that started it all here.
“Tears” is where the album gets philosophically interesting to me again, as its longing, reflective lyrics seem to pose a profound question about the value of compassion and its limits.
“What would touch me deeper?”, the song asks, “Tears that fall from eyes that only cry?” Tears draw our natural sympathy, but their meaning is diluted when coming from someone for whom we know they flow frequently and freely.
“Would it touch you deeper, than tears that fall from eyes that know why?” Whose tears carry the greater sorrow, or should be ascribed the greater gravity? Those of the ignorant and consequently helpless, or the more reservedly given tears of one who sees and understands the world through the lens of reason, and is moved by a deeper understanding of its workings and flaws?
Tears
All of the seasons and all of the days
All of the reasons why I’ve felt this way
So long…
So long
Then lost in that feeling I looked in your eyes
I noticed emotion and that you had cried
For me,
I can see
What would touch me deeper…
Tears that fall from eyes that only cry?
Would it touch you deeper
Than tears that fall from eyes that know why?
A lifetime of questions, tears on your cheek
I tasted the answers and my body was weak
For you,
The truth.
What would touch me deeper…
Tears that fall from eyes that only cry?
Would it touch you deeper
Than tears that fall from eyes that know why?
Previous: Lessons | Next: Something for Nothing
2112 — The Complete Album
- 2112
- A Passage to Bangkok
- The Twilight Zone
- Lessons
- Tears
- Something for Nothing
This is the fourth post in a series of six, in which I’m lyricblogging the 1976 Rush album 2112. To start at the beginning, see the post that started it all here.
“Lessons” picks up the mood with an upbeat, rambling riff and largely optimistic lyrics to match. The impression I get is of a joyous homecoming, as might be experienced by the guitar-discovering protagonist of 2112 in encountering the world he had only dreamt of, or perhaps by members of the Elder Race, as they returned to reclaim their home planet. The choruses in between the upbeat bits evoke the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx, protesting that their demands of conformity to The Plan have gone unheeded. Their reprimands appear to be in vain, as the song ends on an upswing, fading off merrily over the horizon.
Lessons
Sweet memories
Flashing very quickly by
Reminding me
And giving me a reason why
I know that
My goal is more than a thought
I’ll be there
When I teach
What I’ve been taught
And I’ve been taught…
You know we’ve told you before
But you didn’t hear us then
So you still question why
No! You didn’t listen again!
You didn’t listen again!
Sweet memories
I never thought it would be like this
Reminding me
Just how close I came to missing
I know that
This is the way for me to go
You’ll be there
When you know what I know
And I know…
You know we’ve told you before
But you didn’t hear us then
So you still question why
No! You didn’t listen again!
You didn’t listen again!
Previous: The Twilight Zone | Next: Tears
2112 — The Complete Album
- 2112
- A Passage to Bangkok
- The Twilight Zone
- Lessons
- Tears
- Something for Nothing
This is the third post in a series of six, in which I’m lyricblogging the 1976 Rush album 2112. To start at the beginning, see the post that started it all here.
As with “A Passage to Bangkok” I’m letting the lyrics to this moody intermediate track stand on their own. The most interesting stuff to analyze will be coming up shortly, as we get to the last few tracks on the album.
The Twilight Zone
A pleasant faced man steps up to greet you
He smiles and says he’s pleased to meet you
Beneath his hat the strangeness lies
Take it off, he’s got three eyes
Truth is false and logic lost
Now the fourth dimension is crossed
You have entered the twilight zone
Beyond this world strange things are known
Use the key, unlock the door
See what your fate might have in store
Come explore your dreams’ creation
Enter this world of imagination
You wake up lost in an empty town
Wondering why no one else is around
Look up to see a giant boy
You’ve just become his brand new toy
No escape, no place to hide
Here where time and space collide
You have entered the twilight zone
Beyond this world strange things are known
Use the key, unlock the door
See what your fate might have in store
Come explore your dreams’ creation
Enter this world of imagination
Previous: A Passage to Bangkok | Next: Lessons
2112 — The Complete Album
- 2112
- A Passage to Bangkok
- The Twilight Zone
- Lessons
- Tears
- Something for Nothing
When telling unpleasant truths is “inciting hatred”: Dutch politician Geert Wilders is set to be prosecuted for comments made in speeches and in his anti-Islam film “Fitna”
The charges stem partly from a 15-minute film Wilders released online last March, “Fitna,” which features disturbing images of terrorist acts superimposed over verses from the Quran to paint Islam as a threat to Western society.
The movie drew complaints from the European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, as well as concern from the United States, which warned it could spark riots.
The film opens with a controversial caricature of the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb, followed by translated portions of Islam’s holy book, the Quran. The passages are interspersed with graphic images of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States juxtaposed with audio from 9-1-1 calls made by the victims trapped inside the World Trade Center in New York.
The video includes images of other terror attacks; bloodied victims; beheadings of hostages; executions of women in hijab, the traditional full-body covering; and footage, with subtitles, of Islamic leaders preaching inflammatory sermons against Jews and Christians.
The film concludes with scrolling messages reading in part: “The government insists that you respect Islam, but Islam has no respect for you” and “In 1945, Nazism was defeated in Europe. In 1989, communism was defeated in Europe. Now the Islamic ideology has to be defeated.”
Wilders has been outspoken in his criticism of Islam and called the religion a threat to the world.
“It’s not a provocation, but the harsh reality and a political conclusion,” Wilders said of the film when it was released last year.
Wilders’ 16-minute film “Fitna” can be viewed on Google Video, and is also posted on Hot Air. Have a look and see for yourself. And think about it in the context of the 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh over “Submission”, a film criticizing Islam’s treatment of women. Van Gogh’s associate Ayaan Hirsi Ali has had to take refuge in the United States following threats on her own life.
Should the kind of speech contained in “Fitna”, which largely presents the West’s Jihadist enemies in their own words and actions, really be repressed because it might upset some people? If so, why the apparent double standard when it comes to insistence on expressive freedom in the Western art world, which has been unrelenting in its criticism of Western and particularly U.S. actions, yet from which we’ve heard nary a peep regarding radical Islam’s deeply anti-liberal, anti-feminist, anti-semitic, anti-civilizational bent? (As Glenn Reynolds aptly put it: “They do this because they know we won’t behead them. Such is the bravery of artists.”)
Eugene Volokh posted a brief review of “Fitna” when the film first appeared last March (hat tip: Instapundit):
This is of course a rhetorical work, not an academic inquiry, and it’s trying to stir people emotionally. But I didn’t see much of hyperbole or gratuitious insults. Wilders is arguing against an important and dangerous ideological movement; my sense is that his approach is well within bounds of legitimate criticism.
So I think this is a significant contribution to the ideological debate, and it seems to me that we — and especially Wilders’ fellow Dutch, to whom he is speaking most specifically — should take it seriously, naturally together with whatever responses might come out.
Fore more background on Wilders, see this fine WSJ article.
More posts about “Fitna” from last March:
Update: Robert Spencer has a post about Wilders’ prosecution at JihadWatch.
Another excellent article at Big Hollywood. Good and timely advice.
