Exit...stage Left

"to seek the sacred river alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honey dew
And drink the milk of paradise...."

I had heard the whispered tales
Of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book. i took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and man alone
Searching for the lost ---- xanadu

Xanadu ---- to stand within the pleasure dome
Decreed by kubla khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, i will dine on honey dew
And drink the milk of paradise

A thousand years have come and gone
But time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end
Weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost ---- xanadu

Xanadu ---- held within the pleasure dome
Decreed by kubla khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall i return
Escape these caves of ice
For i have dined on honey dew
And drunk the milk of paradise
More than paradise

Inspiried by 'a nice morning drive', by richard s. foster
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

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...

Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

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

Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

The clouds prepare for battle
In the dark and brooding silence
Bruised and sullen stormclouds
Have the light of day obscured
Looming low and ominous
In twilight premature
Thunderheads are rumbling
In a distant overture

All at once,
The clouds are parted
Light streams down
In bright unbroken beams

Follow men's eyes
As they look to the skies
The shifting shafts of shining
Weave the fabric of their dreams...

(an exercise in self-indulgence)
Music by geddy lee, alex lifeson, and neil peart

Instrumental

I. buenas noches, mein froinds!
Ii. to sleep, perchance to dream ...
Iii. strangiato theme
Iv. a lerxst in wonderland
V. monsters!
Vi. danforth and pape
Vii. the waltz of the shreves
Viii. never turn your back on a monster!
Ix. monsters! (reprise)
X. strangiato theme (reprise)
Xi. a farewell to things

Words by neil peart, music by alex lifeson

Ten score years ago, defeat the kingly foe
A wondrous dream came into being
Tame the trackless waste, no virgin land left chaste
All shining eyes, but never seeing

Beneath the noble birth
Between the proudest words
Behind the beauty, cracks appear
Once, with heads held high
They sang out to the sky
Why do their shadows bow in fear?

Watch the cities rise
Another ship arrives
Earth's melting pot and ever growing
Fantastic dreams come true
Inventing something new
The greatest minds, and never knowing...

The guns replace the plow, facades are tarnished now
The principles have been betrayed
The dreams's gone stale, but still, let hope prevail
History's debt won't be repaid