Rush: Something for Nothing

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