"Early one morning as Brutus and I lingered over breakfast in our country hotel, before suiting up to ride to the next show, we were looking through the English papers. Brutus was paging through The Times, and said, ?Hey, look at this.? Even upside down, I recognized a live shot of us, and a headline that was snotty and dismissive. It was a review of our London shows, and obviously not a good one. I said to Brutus, ?Never mind that,? and he said, ?Yeah,? and turned the page.
Later that day, at the venue, I was checking my e-mails, and saw a story on AOL titled ?Worst Rock Lyricists.? Curious, I opened it and read that some ?hip? magazine had declared Sting the all-time worst rock lyricist, which seemed kind of dumb. Then, in second place, I was startled to see?gulp?my name. Ouch!
I felt my face burning with shame and anger, to be so publicly declared ?the second worst rock lyricist of all time,? and to read my work described in words like ?an awful mix of science and fantasy.? Though obviously written about songs from thirty years ago, and by someone whose choice for ?great? lyricists would probably be, oh, Joey Ramone or Morrissey, it still stung.
After the show, as Mark, our European bus driver (who was incredibly helpful this tour, so attentive to the needs of us and the bikes?which are, of course, of equal importance), drove us to our overnight stop, we were followed by two cars, and Mark couldn?t shake them. Now, imagine yourself sitting at home one night in your pajamas and making this statement: ?I was followed home from work by two carloads of strangers, and they won?t leave.?
I couldn?t confront these invaders without making matters worse, so poor Brutus had to go out and lay down the law??or at least threaten to summon them. For the second time on that British run I had to overhear the complaint that makes my skin crawl, ?But we made them what they are.? (As Katharine Hepburn once said, in a similar situation, ?The hell you did!)
In a somewhat lighter vein, here?s a bit of advice that Alex, Geddy, and I were joking about during an intermission one night, and agreed ought to be passed along: Guys, if your girlfriend hates Rush, don?t bring her to the show. And if you absolutely have to bring her, buy her earplugs. At two of those British venues we looked out all night at a scowling female, front-row center, each with her fingers in her ears for the whole show. Hardly inspiring, for them or us!"
But as the English like to say, after a good bout of complaining, ?Still . . . mustn?t grumble.?
Neil's not the worst lyricist...he's second worst :)
Moderator: Priests of Syrinx
-
Big Blue Owl
- Posts: 7457
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:31 am
- Location: Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Neil's not the worst lyricist...he's second worst :)
(((((((((((((((all'a you)))))))))))))))
-
Walkinghairball
- Posts: 25037
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:42 pm
- Location: In a rock an roll venue near you....as long as you are in the Pacific Northwest.
-
Big Blue Owl
- Posts: 7457
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:31 am
- Location: Somewhere between the darkness and the light
