Far Cry

In honor of Rush’s 2007 Snakes & Arrows tour, which started last night in Atlanta, Georgia, I am going to do a series of blogs about each song on the new album. I’ll do a new blog post each day (hopefully!), one for each of the 13 songs, and I will post the lyrics first, and then my commentary on what the lyrics mean to me and/or any other relevant commentary that may spring from the lyrics. I’ll also cut out all the repeated choruses and refrains from the lyrics, for the sake of space and needless repetition.

These won’t be blogs about how much I love Rush or about Rush-related issues – meaning, you don’t have to like Rush to, hopefully, read and enjoy these posts. Like all my blogs, these will primarily be commentaries on religion, politics, philosophy, and the state of life on this watery little planet – you know, serene musings.

Track 1: Far Cry

Pariah dogs and wandering madmen
Barking at strangers and speaking in tongues
The ebb and flow of tidal fortune
Electrical changes are charging up the young

It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit
It's a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing

One day I feel I’m on top of the world
And the next it’s falling in on me
I can get back on
One day I feel I’m ahead of the wheel
And the next it’s rolling over me
I can get back on

Whirlwind life of faith and betrayal
Rise in anger, fall back and repeat
Slow degrees on the dark horizon
Full moon rising, lays silver at your feet

You can almost see the circle growing
You can almost feel the planet glowing

One day I fly through a crack in the sky
And the next it’s falling in on me
I can get back on

Besides being one of the best songs, musically, on the album, the message of Far Cry really resonates with me. Growing up in my comfortable, safe, upper middle class, Christian world, I certainly haven’t come to find, as an adult, the world I thought I’d inherit. Life never turns out quite how you expect – which, you come to find out, is not necessarily a bad thing. I never thought I’d be 32, with two kids, divorced and remarried to the same person, and back in school to work in a hospital setting. Yet I feel happy with where I am and what I’ve come through, and I feel that I am on the right track. Still, those ups and downs of the daily grind can take their toll. One day I fly through a crack in the sky, and the next it’s falling in on me.

It’s easy to get caught up in the fears and anxieties of this world we’ve inherited. Terrorism, bird flu, political ineptitude, unjust wars, the loss of liberty in the name of freedom, outrageous gas prices, theocratic politicians who legislate their misguided sense of morality at the expense of humanity, hopeless greed, guileless corporate gunslingers, the squeezing out of the middle class, and $6 hotdogs at the ballpark. Considering this, it’s little wonder that I heard a recent news report saying violent crime was up all across the board. Who couldn’t have predicted this 7 years ago? Anyone who was intellectually honest and had even a thimbleful of foresight.

But despite those things, hope remains. And that’s one of the most powerful messages of this song, I believe. That little, innocuous, repeated phrase – “I can get back on.” Even in the face of the horrors, anxieties, and uncertainties of the modern age, if we can keep forging ahead, keeping picking ourselves up, and keep refusing to be ruled by fear, maybe we can help ensure our children can