I get a slightly different meaning from verses 3 & 4. For me, it introduces a paradox - in the first half, we have the dreamer, the misfit, the outcast. There is a longing for something else, but suburbia doesn't help, it has "no charms", only forced conformity. So the dreamer seeks fulfilment in the city, the bright lights, so different from what he or she has grown up with. The lure of the city, though, is a phantom, because the city is full of predators who prey on the dreamer - we have the age-old tale of the broken life as the "rats" feed, the descent into squalor and misery. So far, so much the same... For me, though, the lines "Somewhere out of a memory/Of lighted streets on quiet nights" is a wistful desire to return to the suburbs - the memory that provides comfort during the hard times in the city. The paradox is that the suburbs cannot provide solace to the dreamer until they are no longer there. It's actually terribly sad.

@GuylainPrince

3 жыл бұрын

Ah? Interesting? Did not thought of that. Good point, dear Graham!

@carlraymond2672

3 жыл бұрын

This a valid interpretation I think. As a french, I probably don’t understand everything at 100% but I agree with this comment. I grew up in what you can call suburb in france. Everything In this song, about living as a teenager and a bit of my young adult life (I m 25) in the suburbs is quite accurate. Everything seems to be the same and is reproducted without ending. And I was (am) a bit of a misfit that just dreamed of those lights in the city and being a movie director. So at 22 I went to Nice (a city in south of france near Cannes) to a film school. At the beginning it was great. But slowly the smalls desires appeared. Everything that I couldn’t live in the suburbs I tried it. And slowly problems come with it. Money, fast life (a race that I can’t win and that I’m not used to), trying drugs etc ...Those small desires took me away of my goal/dream, I spend time for things that are useless. But also the dream as a suburban , this illusion that the city is better (which most of the time is because of superficials desires I think) and I will find my place (not being a misfit) transformed into desillusion. So about a year and a half ago, I started to remember my life in the suburb, quiet and peacefull in a way. I mist my family, the few friends I had, the simple life that is pre decided. So the dream now is probably the suburbs or the memory I have of it. That nostalgic feeling. (And again is that memory or new dream an illusion ? This made think about a Joe Walsh song Life of illusion). I m still a misfit in the city, and I still dream of being a movie director (hopefully I will graduate at the end of the year). Once you leave someone or something, you started to miss it as time goes by. Once you live your dream you realize that it was a dream and this is not what you expect because it is projection of your mind to escape the reality. « Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose » neil wrote in Circumstances. The idea that in a way you will be never satisfied and will always dream of something else. Both of those songs have a sad/melancholic feeling but also it gives me hopes. Don’t expect to much about things, be grateful for what you have, every little thing. And try to build something greater by small steps. Try to be director and then manage to live a more quiet life like back in the days. In a sense search for something greater than the city lights or just escaping the suburban life. I maybe got a bit far but at least this is what the song makes me say to myself. It is very sad, yes, if you take nothing about it except the observation I think. Well I think it was long enough sorry about that but Neil is such a great lyricist and I identified so much to a lots of Rush’s songs that I could write and talk about it forever. Also sorry for my english, I hope it is not full of mistakes ahah. And Guylain that was a great video, keep making these !

@AnOldGreyDog

3 жыл бұрын

@@carlraymond2672 Thanks for sharing that. Yes, you’ve described exactly what I meant. Good luck with your ambition, I hope it works for you. And your English is fine, much better than my French.

@Freeze014

3 жыл бұрын

That is how i interpreted it too.

@carlraymond2672

3 жыл бұрын

@@AnOldGreyDog Thanks :)

C’est exactement ce que je comprenais de la chanson à l’époque , bravo pour ton analyse ! J’ai compris à quel point a cette époque je me sentais tellement exclus .... j’étais athée à l’époque mais je cherchais quelque chose de grand , de différents de ce que je voyais du monde .... j’étais malheureuse dans ce monde ....( la sexualité consumériste - représenté par l’arrière d’un char que j’avais vécu plusieurs fois me parlais aussi) .... seule la découverte de Dieu a pu alimenter ma recherche de la Vérité heureuse d’un rêve au-delà d’un monde fade et sans faveur .... cette analyse que tu as présenté aujourd’hui m’a fait bien comprendre une partie de mon cheminement spirituel -- on est pas fait pour une vie vide de sens et d’amour ..... merci ...

@GuylainPrince

3 жыл бұрын

Ah, tu y vois un appel à un quelque chose de plus grand. Bravo! Je crois, en effet, qu'il y a une connexion entre certains athées et certains mystiques: le désir d'élargir son esprit, d'embrasser la réalité avec un regard très vaste. Neil était ouvertement agnostique (je ne sais pas s'il y a un Dieu ou pas); j'ai toujours senti une horreur du "contrôle", mais une ouverture à la profondeur. C'est pourquoi je suis agréablement surpris par ton commentaire. Merci!

Wow, ces génies m'ont juste époustouflé, je ne les avais jamais entendus et ça tambourine, wow ça sonne incroyable wow. Cette chanson est intemporelle à ce jour, elle souffre du même, heureusement il y a encore des rêveurs qui cherchent à conquérir les banlieues, excellent jeu de mots avec le titre de la chanson félicitations, quelle musique incroyable et merveilleuse, toutes les paroles de la chanson à moi goût mais il y avait une ligne qui a secoué mon âme, "Toute évasion pourrait aider à adoucir la vérité peu attrayante, mais les banlieues n'ont aucun charme pour calmer les rêves agités de la jeunesse" C'est une vérité universelle. Salutations du Mexique. Wow me acaban de volar la cabeza estos genios, nunca los había escuchado y esa batería, wow suena increíble wow. Esta canción es atemporal hasta el día de hoy se sufre de lo mismo, afortunadamente aun hay soñadores que buscan conquistar los suburbios, excelente juego de palabras con el titulo de la canción felicidades, que increíble y maravillosa música, toda la letra de la canción me gusto pero hubo una linea que me sacudió el alma, "Cualquier escape podría ayudar a suavizar la verdad poco atractiva, pero los suburbios no tienen encantos para calmar los sueños inquietos de la juventud" Esta es una verdad universal. Saludos desde México.

@GuylainPrince

3 жыл бұрын

De nada, querido amigo. Gracias por su contribución.

Great analysis of the lyrics, structure of the song and also the meaning of the song👍

Great analysis of an exceptional song. Great music, excellent lyrics and oh, those pulsing synths! I always felt that paragraph 5 was about the daily grind of life (ratrace), the burden of time (ticking traps) and responsibilities which results in losing focus of the dreams. The restless flight refers to the moths in the previous paragraph. Losing It is my favourite track on Signals, perhaps because I'm nearing 60. But I remember the stress, anxiety and not 'fitting in' of my teenage years, reflected in Subdivisions. And, looking back, I see how I got sidetracked and not sufficienty lived up to my capablities. Still, I count my blessings. :) Thank you again for your work. Looking forward to the next episode!

@GuylainPrince

3 жыл бұрын

Your attempts to make sense of this song are as good as mine. We all try to appreciate a great song. This paragraph, indeed, can be interpreted in many ways. Personally, I see "rat race" as consumerism, "ticking traps" as "traps taking your time", away from the dream, of course. As you can see, these readings are not opposite, but maybe different sides a song that is evocative enough and not giving all in "ready-made" solutions... I am a bit younger than you, but I had "old taste" in music. At the time, I did not get the main theme of the song: I would have liked it VERY MUCH. You were lucky to hear such an echo or your preoccupations in someone else's music. Peace.

"Lose the race to rats" could refer to the "rat race" - the constant chase for money which actually overtakes your dreams

@GuylainPrince

3 жыл бұрын

Yup! That is how I understand it. Didn't I say so? If not, my mistake. Thanks for the precision.

@joeloedeman5160

3 жыл бұрын

@@GuylainPrince as I understood your comments, I thought you were interpreting it as "rats" were bad people who might somehow entrap the suburban youth through drugs or other vices.

@perronchampagne

3 жыл бұрын

Je pensais aux filles des régions qui arrivent en ville et se fait attraper par des proxénètes et tranquillement leurs rêves d’enfances s’envolent avec les small desire qu’apporte l’argent ! 😢

@GuylainPrince

3 жыл бұрын

@Joe Loedeman I went and listen to the section you refer to, and yup, you are right it sounds like it. I am more precise in my French subtitles when I talk of rats running after the same prey. And my thought is exactly like yours. Usually, when I make that kind of mistake, it is because I am already thinking of what I will say after. Again, thanks for your comment.

@AnOldGreyDog

3 жыл бұрын

The 'race' in 'rat race' is the wheel the rat exercises in, not any form of competition - the phrase describes a futile activity in which one goes precisely nowhere, despite frantic effort. It's not a race that can be 'won', as such. I think 'lose the race to rats' is simply that: rats are the ultimate survivors.