Song #54: Rush - "Limelight"

Song #54: Rush - "Limelight" (1981)

Moving Pictures

"Those who wish to be must put aside the alienation, head on with the fascination, the real relation, the underlying theme."

No matter which way you slice it - whether you want to dissect the piece as a detailed account of star-studded alienation, a critique of the celebrity world, a band, or specific band members', personal struggles dealing with the sudden rise to fame, or a heavily-metaphorical take on the fame world itself - Rush's hit song "Limelight" is an amazing rock song through and through, in my opinion, accomplishing all of those aforementioned qualities to a tee and providing me with some emotional empathy all its own.

I've talked enough about my sudden rise in popularity during my high school years with enough pretentiousness to fulfill an impressionistic indie film, but every once in a while during the last two years of my high school career, I'd take it slow, spend a night on the rocking chair and listening to some of the most deeply moving songs in my phone's music library. One of them was Rush's "Limelight" which, no matter what mood I found myself in because of what happened that day in school or what fantastic conversations took place, would bring me back down to Earth and remind me of crucial things I was lacking in while trying to maintain this popular film critic of the halls of school. I'm not saying it was anything near the magnitude of what Rush drummer Neil Peart experienced when he first signed onto the band (being that the song is predominately his and deals with his struggles to cope with sudden fame in an industry where privacy and solitude is a rarity), but I will say that the personal effect this tune had on me was potent and present.

It also helps that the song is just a damn perfect rock song, combining an incredible intro of absorbing instrumentation, exciting and enthusiastic vocals throughout, a guitar solo that reeks an emotion all its own, and provides lyrics that are easy to read, yet sometimes heavily metaphoric and vague. This is a multi-layered song about a very real issue that I'm surprised isn't brought up more in contemporary music in the digital age.

Give "Limelight" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l63eixpYRWk