Shannon’s Perspective:
Time, if nothing else, will do it's worst, so do me that favor
And tell me the good news first...the good news first...
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it should come as no surprise to those who know me that I'm a bad news first kind of person, a just rip the Band-Aid off, just get to the point kind of person. After the release of this album Larry and I made a conscious effort to become good news first people, if nothing else than at least with each other. I think we did pretty good but overall I still remained a bad news first person in most of my life. But not now and not for a long while, I'm guessing, because I'm gonna need good news first and last so I guess we can put the bad news in the middle. I will most definitely need a spoon full of sugar to make this particular brand of medicine to go down.
Seeing the cast of clowns and suck ups at the Inauguration just proves my point. It is going to be a very long four years for sure.
P.S. I know Larry sometimes carries the weight of the world on his shoulders but know that I encourage him to let me shoulder some of the weight as well.
We're going to need this the next four years.
But first, let me discuss my love of a particular passage in this song - which was love at first hear. This is when I first bought and listened to Snakes & Arrows in 2007. So I had no knowledge at that time of everything you are about to read below from the actual author.
The passage:
Some would said they never fear a thing, well I do (well I do)
And I'm afraid enough for both of us, for me and you (for me and you)
To put this in further perspective, I was only 12 years into my marriage. We had successfully navigated the 7-Year Itch, made it past the 10 year mark and our sons were becoming teenagers.
As a husband and father that passage spoke volumes to me. The last thing you want to have happen is for your wife and children to fear anything. Not having a home. Not having food. Not having love. Not having hope. So I took this passage very much to heart and would repeatedly emphasize it to Shannon. I wanted her to know not to worry and that I would always take care of her and our sons. I'm not sure she really got it in the beginning, but I believe she grew into understanding it from my perspective. And then would promptly proclaim we are a team and I get it, but it's not all on you to carry.
But I did. And do. And it's not a big deal to me because that is how I am built. In my heart of hearts I feel it is my responsibility to take care of these humans I love so much no matter the cost to me.
So you can probably guess how much seething rage I have for any males (not men) who are the exact opposite of this.
Now, let us hear directly from the author on the inspiration for this song.
The piece uses a lyrical device Neil in his essay The Game of Snakes & Arrows says he got from Robert Frost in which he depicts a quarrel, but its not between two people but between the narrator and the world.
“In the song ‘Good News First,’ I had a device that was kind of new to me in the lyrical approach. I had the notion I wanted to write songs that weren’t really about me and one other person, but about me and a whole bunch of people. I kind of couch the lyrics in the traditional relationship song of a quarrel between two people, but, again, it’s in fact me arguing with these whole masses of people who just happen to disagree with me. And another element of that, too, is—it’s a common thing you hear—well, I have some good news and some bad news, and I always say, give me the good news first. You know, to me that’s self-evident, of course. Give me the ice cream, then give me the medicine, not the other way around. So, that was a kind of humorous twist that I wanted to get across in there, and address a certain mentality that I was quarreling with: the whole idea, in the middle eight of the song, [of people who say] they never fear a thing. First, I get kind of tired of that, because it’s such empty bravado to say you’re not afraid of anything. If you’re not, you have no imagination. That’s the way I put it. Unfortunately, you can have too much imagination and be too afraid, but there’s a line you can walk, where you’re sensibly afraid of things. So, I took it to the other extreme, and said . . . I’m afraid of enough for both me and you. There’s a sense of self-revelation in there, but it’s really a much larger sense of the individual against a mass of people, too.”—Neil in The Game of Snakes and Arrows, Snakes and Arrows DVD
I think we've done a pretty good job on this project side-stepping a few topics that there are LITERALLY thousands of songs that cover them - Politics, Religion and Sex.
But I cannot and will not side-step the current environment. But that doesn't mean I don't want to hear the good news first...
Good News First
Music by Lee and Lifeson / Lyrics by Peart
The best we can agree on is it could have been worse
What happened to your old Benevolent universe?
You know the one with stars that revolve around you
Beaming down full of promises to bring good news
You used to feel that way the saddest words you could ever say
But I know you'll remember that day
And the most beautiful words I could ever say
And the most beautiful words I could ever say
The worst thing about it all is that you might have been right
And I'm still not really sure what started that fight
But I still get this feeling there's more trouble ahead
So never mind the bad news let's have the good news instead
You used to feel that way the saddest words you could ever say
But I know you'll remember that day
And the most beautiful words I could ever say
And the most beautiful words
Some would said they never fear a thing, well I do (well I do)
And I'm afraid enough for both of us, for me and you (for me and you)
Time, if nothing else, will do it's worst, so do me that favor
And tell me the good news first...the good news first...
You used to feel that way the saddest words you could ever say
But I know you'll remember that day
And the most beautiful words I could ever say
And the most beautiful words I could ever say
Oooh the most beautiful words I could ever say...
Rest In Peace, Neil Peart - 09/12/1952 - 01/07/2020
30th Anniversary
Our Story - Shannon's Perspective
Our Story - Larry's Perspective
Ghost of a Chance (Rush) and why?
Ghost of a Chance 