time stand still

With the exception of my wife and son, much of my family is perplexed at my nearly obsessive insistence on attending every Rush concert possible whenever they decide to tour.  They deem it out of character for me and just plain odd.  This round, they came at the perfect time - the weekend after my first round of exams.  Houston was Saturday night and my brother's family got me tickets to the Dallas one Sunday night.  Like I said, perfect timing.  (The only downside was I wasn't able to go to San Antonio's concert since it was the night before an exam.)  So I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a way of demonstrating why Rush is a necessity for me.  I could describe that they are arguably one of the most influential bands of modern history; or, that any chance to see arguably one of the best living drummers in the world is not an opportunity to be missed; or, any rock concert where one gets literary allusions ranging from Hemingway to Twain to McCullers to Shakespeare is rare and impressive; or, how upon when asked what my rather reserved nephew thought of the first set at his first Rush concert responded with a grin and a hoarse voice from all the screaming, "I'm deaf and I can't talk."

But in the end as is often the case, my muse (my wife) answered it for me.  She's rather a late-comer to Rush and probably likes watching me watch the concert as much as the concert itself.  Or, so she says.  But I saw her tear and choke up with their second song of the night.  It's a song that she's not seen them play before and has desperately wanted to hear for several years now.  It's also one of those songs that personally, I can't listen to very frequently.  With familiarity, it begins to lose its raw power in its melancholic and ephemeral appreciation of all that is life.  So maybe after reading the lyrics to this song, my family will perhaps understand my obsession a bit better.  As someone who just finished the first round of exams and with no immediate trips to MD Anderson is ready for a break, who's laid it all on the line by changing careers midstream, who's dealing with a teenage son growing up way too quickly, who's dealing with a brother and cancer, whose life seems to be speeding past inexorably, this song epitomizes why Rush is Rush to me and could not have been a better theme song for my weekend.

I turn my back to the wind
To catch my breath
Before I start off again.
Driven on without a moment to spend
To pass an evening with a drink and a friend

I let my skin get too thin
I'd like to pause
No matter what I pretend
Like some pilgrim
Who learns to transcend
Learns to live as if every step was the end

Time stand still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
Time stand still
See more of the people and the places that surround me now
Time Stands still

Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away

I turn my face to the sun
I Close my eyes
Let my defences down
All those wounds that I can't get unwound

I let my past go too fast
No time to pause
If I could slow it all down
Like some captain, whose ship runs aground
I can wait until the tide comes around

Time stand still
I'm not looking back
But I want to look around me now
Time stand still
See more of the people and the places that surround me now

Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Make each impression, a little bit stronger
Freeze this motion a little bit longer

The innocence slips away

The innocence slips away...

Time stands still

Summer's going fast, nights growing colder
Children growing up, old friends growing older
Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away...
The innocence slips away.