, don't tell

Show me, don't tell me
You've figured out the score
Show me, don't tell me
I've heard it all before

Show me, don't tell me
I don't care what you say
Show me, don't tell me

You can twist perceptions
Reality won't budge
You can raise objections
I will be the judge and the jury

I'll give it due reflection
Watching from the fence
Give the jury direction
Based on the evidence, I, the jury

Show, don't tell

Show me, don't tell me
Hey! Order in the court
Show me, don't tell me
Let's try to keep it short

Show me, don't tell me
Enough of your demands
Show me, don't tell me
Witness take the stand

Show me, don't tell me

Show me, don't tell me
Hey! Order in the court
Show me, don't tell me
Let's try to keep it short

Show me, don't tell me
I don't care what you say
Show me, don't tell me
Let's see exhibit A



Chain lightning

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Energy is contagious
Enthusiasm spreads
Tides respond to lunar gravitation
Everything turns in synchronous relation

Laughter is infectious
Excitement goes to my head
Winds are stirred by planets in rotation
Sparks ignite and spread new information

Respond, vibrate
Feed back, resonate

Sun dogs fire on the horizon
Meteor rain stars across the night
This moment may be brief
But it can be so bright

Hope is epidemic
Optimism spreads
Bitterness breeds irritation
Ignorance breeds imitation

Respond, vibrate
Feed back, resonate

Sun dogs fire on the horizon
Meteor rain stars across the night
This moment may be brief
But it can be so bright

Reflected in another source of light
When the moment dies
The spark still flies
Reflected in another pair of eyes

Dreams are sometimes catching
Desire goes to my head
Love responds to your invitation
Love responds to imagination

Respond, vibrate
Feed back, resonate

Sun dogs fire on the horizon
Meteor rain stars across the night
This moment may be brief
But it can be so bright

Reflected in another source of light
When the moment dies
The spark still flies
Reflected in another pair of eyes



The pass

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Proud swagger out of the schoolyard
Waiting for the world's applause
Rebel without a conscience
Martyr without a cause

Static on your frequency
Electrical storm in your veins
Raging at unreachable glory
Straining at invisible chains

And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Can't face life on a razor's edge
Nothing's what you thought it would be

All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars

Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me

It's not as if this barricade
Blocks the only road
It's not as if you're all alone
In wanting to explode

Someone set a bad example
Made surrender seem all right
The act of a noble warrior
Who lost the will to fight

And now you're trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Done with life on a razor's edge
Nothing's what you thought it would be

All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars

Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razor's edge
Don't turn your back
And slam the door on me

No hero in your tragedy
No daring in your escape
No salutes for your surrender
Nothing noble in your fate

Christ, what have you done?



War paint

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Girl before the mirror
Appraises her disguise
Child become a mother
Tries to fix her eyes

No more of his excuses
It has to be today
She can keep her fantasy
If she can get away

Paint her name on a one way street
Painted cheeks with angry heat
Wounded pride on painted eyes
Paint the night with battlecries

All puffed up with vanity
We see what we want to see
To the beautiful and the wise
The mirror always lies

The mirror always lies

Boy before the mirror
Checks his camoflauge
Polishes his armor
And the charger in the garage

No more lame excuses
It has to be tonight
He can take the princess
If he can take the fight

Pound the drums with martial beat
Pound the streets with marching feet
Wounded pride, distorted eyes
Paint the night with battlecries

All puffed up with vanity
We see what we want to see
To the powerful and the wise
The mirror always lies

The mirror always lies

Boys and girls together
Mistake conceit for pride
Ambition for illusion
Dreams for self delusion

Girls and boys together
See what it is we lack
Boys and girls together
Let's paint the mirror black

Paint it black



Scars

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

I've stood upon my mountain top
And shouted at the sky
Walked above the pavement
With my sense amplified

I get this feeling

All my nerves are naked wires
Tender to the touch
Sometimes super sensitive
But who can care too much?

I get this feeling

Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again
Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again

Each emotional injury
Leaves behind its mark
Sometimes they come tumbling out
Like shadows in the dark

I get this feeling

When I think about all I have seen
And all I'll never see
When I think about the people
Who have opened up to me

I get this feeling

Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again
Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again

Snow falls deep around my house
And holds the winter light
I've heard the lions hunting
In the Serengeti night

I get this feeling

Forests turned to factories
And river, sea and sky
Hungry child in the desert
And the flies that cloud her eyes

I get this feeling

Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again
Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again

Pleasure leaves a fingerprint
As surely as mortal pain
In memories they resonate
And echo back again

Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again
Scars of pleasure, scars of pain
Atmospheric changes make them sensitive again



Presto

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

If I could wave my magic wand

I am made from the dust of the stars
And the oceans flow in my veins
Here I hide in the heart of the city
Like a stranger coming out of the rain

The evening plane rises up from the runway
Over constellations of light
I look down into a million houses
And wonder what you're doing tonight

If I could wave my magic wand
I'd make everything all right

I'm not one to believe in magic
But I sometimes have a second sight
I'm not one with a sense of proportion
When my heart still changes overnight

I had a dream of a winter garden
A midnight rendezvous
Silver, blue and frozen silence
What a fool I was for you

I had a dream of the open water
I was swimming away out to sea
So deep I could never touch bottom
What a fool I used to be

If I could wave my magic wand
I'd set everybody free

I'm not one to believe in magic
Though my memory has a second sight
I'm not one to go pointing my finger
When I radiate more heat than light

Don't ask me, I'm just improvising
My illusion of careless flight
Can't you see? My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light

Don't ask me, I'm just sympathizing
My illusions, a harmless flight
Can't you see? My temperature's rising
I radiate more heat than light

I'm not one to believe in magic
But I sometimes have a second sight
I'm not one with a sense of proportion
When my heart still changes overnight



Superconductor

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Packaged like a rebel or a hero
Target mass appeal
To make an audience feel
He really means it

Package the illusion of persona
Careful to conceal
The fact that she's only too real
She's got to screen it

Hit you in a soft place
A melody so sweet
A strong and simple beat
That you can dance to

Watch his every move
Superconductor
Orchestrate illusions
Superconductor

Watch his every move
Superconductor
Hoping you'll believe
Designing to deceive

That's entertainment

He can put a target on the market
Bask in your applause
Reality withdraws
Now he believes it

The role becomes the actor
She's addicted to applause
The stage a world because
She never leaves it

Hit you in a soft place
With sentimental ease
They know the fantasies
That you romance to

Watch her every move
Superconductor
She can manipulate reactions
Superconductor

Watch her every move
Superconductor
Pin the donkeys on her tail
Fantasy for sale

That's entertainment



Anagram (for Mongo)

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

There's a snake coming out of the darkness
Parade from paradise
End the need for Eden
Chase the dreams of merchandise

There is tic and toc in atomic
Leaders make a deal
The cosmic is largely comic
A con they couldn't conceal

There is no safe seat at the feast
Take your best stab at the beast
The night is turning thin
The saint is turning to sin

Raise the art to resistance
Danger dare to be grand
Pride reduced to humble pie
Diamonds down to sand

Take heart from earth and weather
The brightness of new birth
Take heart from the harvest
Shave the harvest from the earth

There is no safe seat at the feast
Take your best stab at the beast
The night is turning thin
The saint is turning to sin

Reasoning is partly insane
Image just an eyeless game
The night is turning thin
The saint is turning to sin

Miracles will have their claimers
More will bow to Rome
He and she are in the house
But there's only me at home

Rose is a rose of splendour
Posed to respond in the end
Lonely things like nights
I find end finer with a friend

There is no safe seat at the feast
Take your best stab at the beast
The night is turning thin
The saint is turning to sin

I hear in the rate of her heart
A tear in the heat of the art
The night turns thin
The saint turns to sin



Red tide

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Nature has some new plague
To run in our streets
History some new wrinkle
We are doomed to repeat

Fugitives at the bedroom door
Lovers pause to find an open store
Rain is burning on the forest floor
And the red tide kisses the shore

This is not a false alarm
This is not a test

Stay out of the sun
It only burns my skin
Sky full of poison
And the atmosphere's too thin

Bless the sun, the rain no more
River running like an open sore
Black wind falling to the ocean floor
And the red tide washes ashore

This is not a false alarm
This is not a test
Nowhere we can fly away
Nowhere we can rest

The party is disrupted by
An uninvited guest

Deadline approaches
For the weary land
It used to be something
But we let it run down in our hands

Too late for debate, too bad to ignore
Quiet rebellion leads to open war
Bring a sea change to the factory floor
As the red tide covers the shore

Now's the time to turn the tide
Now's the time to fight
Let us not go gently
To the endless winter night

Now's the time to make the time
While hope is still in sight
Let us not go gently
To the endless winter night

This is not a false alarm
This is not a test
Nowhere we can fly away
Nowhere we can rest




Hand over fist

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

Hand over fist
Paper around the stone
Scissors cut the paper
Cut the paper to the bone

Hand over fist
Paper around the stone
Scissors cut the paper
And the rock must stand alone

I could disappear into the crowd
But not if I keep my head in the clouds
I could walk away so proud
It's easy enough if you don't laugh too loud

I thought I was OK alone
Wait for the postman
And the telephone

Lost in a world of my own
I thought I could run alone
Thought I could run through the night alone

Hand over hand
Doesn't seem so much
Hand over hand
Is the strength of the common touch

You talk as we walk along
You never imagined I could be so wrong
Humming your favorite song
You know I've hated that song for so long

How can we ever agree?
Like the rest of the world
We grow farther apart

I swear you don't listen to me
Holding my hand to my heart
Holding my fist to my racing heart

Hand over fist
Paper around the stone
Scissors cut the paper
Cut the paper to the bone

Hand over fist
Paper around the stone
Scissors cut the paper
And the rock must stand alone

Take a walk outside myself
In some exotic land
Greet a passing stranger
Feel the strength in his hand

Feel the world expand
I feel my spirit resist
But I open up my fist
Lay hand over hand over

Hand over fist
Paper around the stone
Scissors cut the paper
Cut the paper to the bone

Hand over fist
Paper around the stone
Scissors cut the paper
And the rock must stand alone



Available light

(Lee/Lifeson/Peart)

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