In the winter of my sophomore year in high school a friend of mine, Brian, was driving me to a performance.  We were part of a dance ensemble in high school.  It was something like Glee, but not as fancy.  Brian was driving his Porsche 914, it was the Porsche that had the engine in the back and it was very light.  I think he took me along because I added weight to the car, which helped with the traction.  It was these car rides where I was introduced to Rush, a band that still influences me and some of my students today.  Brian was well versed in music and his large collection of tapes proved it.  Some of the first Rush songs he played for me were off of the Moving Pictures album and they included “Tom Sawyer” and “Red Barchetta.”  Red Barchetta was fitting for the vehicle we were in and it sometimes felt that as the song moved along, so did the pressing of the gas pedal.  As time went on, I started saving money to buy my own Rush cassettes.  I learned more about their music and their history.  The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. (from Wikipedia)  They are considered, by many, to be one the best trios in rock history.  Love them or hate them, they have been very influential to many artists.  It is not just their music that has influenced me, it was their lyrics that made an impact.  It all came together in my junior year English Literature class with Mrs. Peters.  While studying metaphysical poetry I read a phrase that matched a line from the Rush song “Losing it.”  The line “for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” comes from John Donne and his Meditation XVII.  Some of you might recognize a later version of this line from Ernest Hemingway, For Who the Bell Tolls, 1940.  I thought it was so cool that a band that I followed used classic pieces of literature.  I was hooked.

(excerpt from “Losing it” – lyrics by Peart)

Some are born to move the world –

To live their fantasies

But most of us just dream about

The things we’d like to be

 

Sadder still to watch it die

Than never to have known it

For you – the blind who once could see –

The bell tolls for thee…

From this point on I dissected Neil Peart’s lyrics and looked for their origins.  Every song had meaning and a reason it was created.  Power Windows, a popular Rush fan website, has a page dedicated to what inspired their lyrics and they have another page dedicated to how Rush has inspired others within literature, film, and pop culture.  I can credit Rush as my leading inspiration into classic literature and it’s use within my 6th grade classroom today.  Without this literature foundation I would never be teaching Tolkien to eleven year old students.  I have been teaching The Lord of the Rings for the past ten years. It is one my favorite units to teach, but more importantly it is quite enjoyable for my students.

Other Rush lyrics I use in the classroom-

(excerpt from “Red Sector A” – lyrics by Peart)
-a girl’s point of view from a Nazi concentration camp

I hear the sound of gunfire

At the prison gate

Are the liberators here-

Do I hope or do I fear?

For my father and my brother-it’s too late

But I must help my mother

Stand up straight

(excerpt from “Witch Hunt” – lyrics by Peart)
-about witch trials and modern day persecutions

Quick to judge,

Quick to anger,

Slow to understand

 

Ignorance and prejudice

And fear

Walk hand in hand

 

Thank you Alex, Geddy, and Neil.

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Photo- By N914 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons