Neil Peart RIP


The restless wind
Has seen all things
In every kind of light
Rising with the full Moon
To go howling through the night
The sleepless wind
Has heard all things
Between the sea and sky
In the canyons of the city
You can hear the buildings cry

Oh the wind can carry
All the voices of the sea
Oh the wind can carry
All the echoes home to me

Run with wind and weather
To the music of the sea
All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Chase the wind around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

Play of light
A photograph
The way I used to be
Some half-forgotten stranger
Doesn't mean that much to me
Trick of light
Moving picture
Moments caught in flight
Make the shadows darker
Or the colors shine too bright

Oh the light can carry
All the visions of the sea
Oh the light can carry
All the images to me

Run to light from shadow
Sun gives me no rest
Promise offered in the east
Broken in the west
Chase the sun around the world

I want to look at life
In the available light

All four winds together
Can't bring the world to me
Shadows hide the play of light
So much I want to see
Chase the light around the world

I want to look at life
In the available light

I'll go with the wind
I'll stand in the light

Available Light - Lyrics by Neil Peart
 
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My mouth literally dropped wide open as I came across the news.

RIP dear Maestro
 
I don't mean to make light of the situation, but I take comfort in his knowing he is a part of history and made a huge mark on the world and world of musical art. We could all hope for so much.

Rest easy, path forger.
 
His music were my formative etudes. I learned composition ideas that went far beyond the instrument he used to express them.

His words brought me into reading various philosophers that gave me, as a 14 year old kid, some hefty mental exercise in verbal logic that enhanced my rhythmic logic.

His integrity formed my poor white trash upbringing into a self driven college degree and a strong belief that art is greater than money.

His difficulties kept me grounded...believing that success is more than recognition.

I did not know him but his effect on my life is profound in so many ways I cannot fully assess.

I met him riding down the freeway headed to town(going bowling if I remember right) in the back seat of a friends car hearing Tom Sawyer for the first time on my friends new Nakamichi tape deck and 200 watt Carver Amp...though he was not in the car physically I could hear the thought processes far clearer than most that I had ever spoken with face to face. The next day I was messing around with one handed 16ths on the Hi-Hat with syncopated bass drum. A few years later my sister gave me a big-ish gift certificate to a local record store and I bought the Rush catalog - then spent several years learning to play the songs with extreme accuracy....teaching me far more about discipline and self motivation than any other single source ever had.

I remember seeing the Grace Under Pressure Tour with a friend who was also a drummer...our eyes pressed hard against binoculars watching details few would notice...then seeing the next album with the graphic showing the skinny kid with the binoculars....laughing like crazy...knowing I was one of many. I commiserate our loss with you other kids that did the same.
 
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I’m lost for words. I have only been shocked twice before with the death of a musician. Neil Peart is the third.
Will miss you
 
Oh no... very sad to hear that. He was one of a kind. One of my biggest influences and source of inspiration. I've always been a Rush fan, but since they packed it in I became an even bigger Rush fan.. collecting all the DVDs and albums that I'd missed. I was secretly hoping he would come out of retirement one day... but gone too soon. He will be missed. He will live on in his countless awe-inspiring works..
 
Terrible news. A man who battled & overcame to achieve so much. An eloquent wordsmith who also penned some of the most iconic drum tracks in modern rock history. He had his own voice, sadly now silenced way too early.

RIP Neil.
 
Terrible news. A man who battled & overcame to achieve so much. An eloquent wordsmith who also penned some of the most iconic drum tracks in modern rock history. He had his own voice, sadly now silenced way too early.

RIP Neil.
People forget, he wrote a lot of their lyrics. A sad day for the Drumming community.
 
Yes sad unexpected news. He had both words and beats. Maybe the most 'air drummed' of all. Rest in Peace.
 
That's terrible news for sure. I was already interested in the drums before I heard Moving Pictures nearly 40 years ago, but upon hearing Neil's solos in Tom Sawyer, that was it... I was hooked and I unofficially became a drummer that day. All these years later, YYZ is probably my favorite song of all time, and his solo in the Exit Stage Left version of YYZ is still my favorite drum solo of all time. His influence on my early drumming years cannot be overstated. I don't know how many times I listened to songs like La Villa Strangiato, Jacob's Ladder or The Weapon to figure out what the hell he was playing! Simply put, I wouldn't be the drummer I am today without Neil's immense influence. RIP
 
Rest In Peace Neil. I'd heard a rumor a year or so ago, turned out it was true. He kept it a secret up until the end, just as I knew he would. I hope he went out peacefully.
 
His music were my formative etudes. I learned composition ideas that went far beyond the instrument he used to express them.

His words brought me into reading various philosophers that gave me, as a 14 year old kid, some hefty mental exercise in verbal logic that enhanced my rhythmic logic.

His integrity formed my poor white trash upbringing into a self driven college degree and a strong belief that art is greater than money.

His difficulties kept me grounded...believing that success is more than recognition.

I did not know him but his effect on my life is profound in so many ways I cannot fully assess.

I met him riding down the freeway headed to town(going bowling if I remember right) in the back seat of a friends car hearing Tom Sawyer for the first time on my friends new Nakamichi tape deck and 200 watt Carver Amp...though he was not in the car physically I could hear the thought processes far clearer than most that I had ever spoken with face to face. The next day I was messing around with one handed 16ths on the Hi-Hat with syncopated bass drum. A few years later my sister gave me a big-ish gift certificate to a local record store and I bought the Rush catalog - then spent several years learning to play the songs with extreme accuracy....teaching me far more about discipline and self motivation than any other single source ever had.

I remember seeing the Grace Under Pressure Tour with a friend who was also a drummer...our eyes pressed hard against binoculars watching details few would notice...then seeing the next album with the graphic showing the skinny kid with the binoculars....laughing like crazy...knowing I was one of many. I commiserate our loss with you other kids that did the same.

the first 5 statements are my life exactly as well. I sort of got chills reading them!!

...he was like a second father in some ways to me. Grace Under Pressure was my first tour to see them on...at 12 years old. I saw them at least twice on every tour after that, and more on many when I was an adult. I had to soak in every moment that I could with them.

So much other well said, and sentimental comments in this thread...
 
RIP Neil. Thank you for the many years of inspiration and your tremendously high standards of creativity and performance. A true genius came through with your life's work, the likes of which will not soon be forgotten.

With much sadness.?
 
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