Like the moon held captive in the night sky,
I am suspended in my reality unable to breathe.
My true freedom is a vague memory.
My personal space exists only in the lens of a camera.
Vague reflections of a life I once had are mirrored in that glass.
All I wanted was to reflect my passion through my art.
Fragmented moments alone are stored deep in memory,
treasured few blinks in time that I can grasp and hold tight.
I envy that moon, alone in the night sky
surrounded by stars unable to bridge the distance.
Solitude escapes me.
~
Written for the 100 Word Song Challenge over at My Blog Can Beat up your Blog. You should check it out and follow him if you are not already.
I got to choose the song this week and I chose Limelight by Rush. (yes, it’s a Canadian band and I am Canadian). Although the song has a great rock beat in typical Rush style, there is a sadness behind the words that I felt compelled to share. Neil Peart struggled with their rise to fame and the lack of courtesy shown by fans and paparazzi. Being in the “Limelight” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vUNxqE_3N0c
polysyllabic profundities 
Great song pick and painful, yet lovely, words.
Thank you….I’d never really thought of fame from that perspective until I heard Neil’s story behind the song. Thanks for reading!
I’m sure they have many, many stories behind stories. I really need to watch a Rush Story-tellers style show.
Great song. Musicians have a brilliant way with words 😉
They certainly do!
I like how you tapped into the sadness and were so poetic. It all worked.
Thanks very much!
First, funny coincidence, but I was just listening to “Limelight” on the way home from an event this evening. I’m somewhat familiar with “the Professor’s” writing style and love all the literary echoes in Rush lyrics–some obvious like “Tom Sawyer,” others not so much, as in “Distant Early Warning” (among others). I know I’m forgetting a line that always reminds me of Eliot; I’ll have to think about it some and maybe it will come back to me. I’m also wondering if, perhaps, Neil could also have been referring to the Chaplin film of the same name (“Limelight”), which also was incredibly poignant and whose plot touched on a musician’s life as well as the recession of youth and, thus, fame? I really wouldn’t put anything past Peart’s lyrical genius and clear bibliophilic tendencies. But, anyway, that’s just my theory–I’m not a super-knowledgeable-about-Rush Rush fan (if that makes sense) per se, so I don’t know that I’ve ever read or heard interviews about the backstory of “Limelight.” Certainly given all the unfathomable tragedies in his life, he deserves to have some privacy, even if he is a star (a great touchstone word that you echo in your song). Thanks for sharing this extraordinary song and your lyrical and melancholic “riff” on it.
Second, really nice word choices here: “I envy that moon, alone in the night sky/surrounded by stars unable to bridge the distance.” I never really thought of the moon before in terms of its being lonely. I like the challenge of shifting my perspective, though!
Thanks so much for the comment and thanks for stopping by. Hope to hear more from you.
I love the moon, so I’m glad I could work it into this piece of writing as well.
Great song pick. I’ve been a Rush fan for a long time. I understand how your “personal space exists only in the lens of a camera.” I feel that way too sometimes.
Thanks…I love them too. I just found it so sad to read how that song came about.
Thanks for the great song choice! I agree, sadness is really the heart and soul of the song, and I think you echoed it wonderfully.