Influences

Often I begin or end posts here with a quote or a lyric I find meaning in, so perhaps any discussion of influences should begin by looking at the words, and the people who originated them, that have had some bearing on my life.

Like most people, I’ve had many influences in my life. I look around my world and find I can cite many other influences, some good, others, not so much. Some are people I’ve known, others people I’ve admired from afar, many are not even people at all.

Music has been inspiring me since before I was old enough to understand what many artists were singing about. Human history has been influenced countless times by popular music; consider the protest songs of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Neil Young, and many others from a few generations back. Change is often inevitable, but music has the ability to motivate like nothing else in this world.

So, what musicians and songwriters have most influenced me? A complete list would take weeks to compile, but perhaps most important has been the body of work by the Canadian trio Rush, whose lyrics are principally written by percussionist Neil Peart.

Here’s a sample of Mr. Peart’s lyrics which have influenced my perspectives and helped shape my philosophy of life:

There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.
…
You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that’s clear- I will choose free will.
…
Each of us, a cell of awareness,
Imperfect and incomplete
Genetic blends, with uncertain ends,
On a fortune hunt that’s far too fleet.
~ excerpted from “Freewill” – Permanent Waves, 1980.

Though his mind is not for rent, don’t put him down as arrogant.
His reserve, a quiet defense, riding out the day’s events.
…
No, his mind is not for rent to any god or government.
Always hopeful, yet discontent,  he knows changes aren’t permanent,
But change is.
~ excerpted from “Tom Sawyer” – Moving Pictures, 1981

He’s got to make his own mistakes and learn to mend the mess he makes.
He’s old enough to know what’s right but young enough not to choose it.
He’s noble enough to win the world but weak enough to lose it.
…
He’s not concerned with yesterday he knows constant change is here today.
He’s noble enough to know what’s right but weak enough not to choose it.
He’s wise enough to win the world but fool enough to lose it.
He’s a New World man.
~ excerpted from “New World Man” – Signals, 1982

We can go from boom to bust, from dreams to a bowl of dust.
We can fall from rockets’ red glare down to “brother can you spare”
Another war, another waste land, and another lost generation.
~ excerpted from “Between the Wheels” – Grace Under Pressure, 1984

All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer by the stars.
All of us do time in the gutter, dreamers turn to look at the cars.
…
It’s not as if this barricade blocks the only road.
It’s not as if you’re all alone in wanting to explode.
…
Someone set a bad example, made surrender seem all right;
the act of a noble warrior who lost the will to fight.
~ excerpted from “The Pass” – Presto, 1989

I could go on like this for quite a while, but for now I’ll pause. Rush has often been called a thinking person’s band and although I don’t consider myself a great thinker by any stretch of the imagination, I’m a mediocre mind even on my best day, but I must admit that each new collection these three very human beings release surprises and challenges me on many levels.

I’ve been working off and on for a while now on an essay chronicling my long relationship with the music of Rush, and I’ll return again to the theme of influences at some point in the future, but for now, I leave you with one last lyric, something uncommon in the Rush canon – a love song!

Goddess in my garden
Sister in my soul
Angel in my armor
Actress in my role

Daughter of a demon-lover
Empress of the hidden face
Priestess of the pagan mother
Ancient queen of inner space

Spirit in my psyche
Double in my role
Alter in my image
Struggle for control

Mistress of the dark unconscious
Mermaid of the lunar sea
Daughter of the great enchantress
Sister to the boy inside of me

Polarize Me
Sensitize Me
Criticize Me
Civilize Me
Compensate Me
Animate Me
Complicate Me
Elevate Me
~ excerpted from “Animate” – Counterparts, 1993