The Clockwork Angels stopped: RIP Neil Peart

On January 7th, 2020, Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band Rush passed away from brain cancer. Aged 67.

In case you did not know, I have been a life-long Rush fan, going back to sometime in 1986 or 87 when I was introduced to them by my best friend Francois-M. (With whom I recently reconnected through Facebook) I remember the mixed taped, number 9. The tape had some of the tunes like "Limelight", "Xanadu", and "The Trees". Though the tape is long gone, its legacy remains. Rush and their many albums and evolving style form something akin to a soundtrack of my life.

In many ways, Neil's lyrics always called to me. They were the first band I listened to whose songs were not "just" about love and girls. His lyrics talked about history, philosophical concepts, immortality, science-fiction, space travel, the digital age, and mythology. All things that my young mind spent a lot of time on (and girls too, but that's for another post). Many of the questions I thought about was the subject of songs from my favorite band.

I learned of his demise on my Facebook feed first, then through quite a few people who let me know through direct messaging.

I replied a simple "Yeah I heard."

What could I say?

It was like a dear friend had passed away, one whom I never saw but who was always there. One who is still there. I'm one of those many strangers who's a long awaited friend.

I did get to see them quite a few times with other friends. Many of whom I rarely see. I saw them for the Roll the Bones, Counterparts, Test for Echo, and for R30. All of those in Montreal.

Thanks for the memories.

Farewell Neil.

See you in 2112.

It is only fitting that I leave the last words to him... From 1987's Time Stand Still

Summer's going fast Nights growing colder Children growing up Old friends growing older