Album: Power Windows (1985)

License This Song 

• Imagine a time
  When it all began in the dying days of a war
  A weapon, that would settle the score
  Whoever found it first
  Would be sure to do their worst
  They always had before
  
  Imagine a man
  Where it all began
  A scientist pacing the floor
  In each nation, always eager to explore
  To build the best big stick
  To turn the winning trick
  But this was something more
  
  The big bang, took and shook the world
  Shot down the rising sun
  The end was begun, it would hit everyone
  When the chain reaction was done
  The big shots, try to hold it back
  Fools try to wish it away
  The hopeful depend on a world without end
  Whatever the hopeless may say
  
  Imagine a place
  Where it all began
  They gathered from across the land
  To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
  All of the brightest boys
  To play with the biggest toys
  More than they bargained for
  
  The big bang, took and shook the world
  Shot down the rising sun
  The hopeful depend on a world without end
  Whatever the hopeless may say
  
  Imagine a man
  When it all began
  The pilot of Enola Gay
  Flying out of the shock wave
  On that August day
  All the powers that be
  And the course of history
  Would be changed for evermore
  
  The big bang, took and shook the world
  Shot down the rising sun
  The end was begun, it would hit everyone
  When the chain reaction was done
  The big shots, try to hold it back
  Fools try to wish it away
  The hopeful depend on a world without end
  Whatever the hopeless may say
  
  The big bang, took and shook the world
  Shot down the rising sun
  The hopeful depend on a world without end
  Whatever the hopeless may say Writer/s: ALEX ZIVOJINOVICH, GARY LEE WEINRIB, NEIL ELWOOD PEART
  Publisher: Anthem Entertainment
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 16

• Boochster from MinnesotaEnola Gay dropped the first bomb, called the 'Fat Man' (uranium based) on Hiroshima. The second bomb (dropped on Nagasaki) was plutonium based, and dropped by the 'Bocks Car,' another B-29.
• John Barry from FloridaGreat song, powerful lyrics and great drumming. Like Marathon, it kinda builds up the crescendo, then at some point releases the buildup and ends more or less the way it started.
  
  To Scott in Philadelphia: while it's true we were all lucky we acted first, you should be the one moving to some underdeveloped country. You don’t seem to understand democracy, under which we have the right to complain to make things better. Something I've seen in poor countries is that people are mostly driven by their governments, and complaining doesn't change anything, let alone make things better. America is better because we challenge our government – not because we don’t, for better or worse.
  
  On the other hand, Africa is too big a continent to simply brand it "AIDS ridden". Also, Mexico is not as poverty stricken as you think, and South America is not as drug laden as you think. You should get your facts straight, dude.
• Drake from Huntington Beach, CaAlbum name just gave me a hint of what all songs mean. It's about all the destructive ideas that lead to trouble, locally and globally. This song is about what the title of it is, Manhattan Project, the American nuclear weapons program plan. It was during 1939, Germany and the other axis powers were growing out of control and the allies were worried about it. America was worried about Germany's scientists and their projects. Growning scared America decided to end that fear, by building the nuke. However, 1945 ended the Nazi rule and Imperial Japan was still a threat, so U.S. insisted to use it to end the conflict of WWII. Hiroshima got wasted as planned. Now to say another thing, it was planned by what ARF sayed below that it was planned by the Democrats, who were always wary to everyone's eyes. The scientists ( most of them ) not believing in religion, thought that they could try to act like God. Now that's evil for ya. Unpredictable, and intelligent they killed thousands, Rush was told by our governments thoughts and actions to write this song. Still, its good, one of Rush's greatest hits. Lots of imagery was included in this album, to bad people wouldn't want to listen to this and understand ideology in music.
• Philip from Spokane, WaThis song got me very interested in the manhattah project and influenced me to do a lot of reading and research on nuclear physics and engineering. Eventually I went to visit the Hanford site a couple times where they developed the nuclear material for these bombs. as a result of all my intrigue, after I get my bachelor of science in mechanical engineering I'll be going to grad school for nuclear engineering since in my opinion it is the energy of the future. All thanks to one song by rush.
• Dougee from San Bernardino, CaThis is an awesome and thought-provoking song. It's sobering to think that, prior to the invention of nuclear weaponry, mankind was incapable of annihilating itself on a global scale. Now, it is only a missile launch away. It's possible in theory to create a thermonuclear weapon of unlimited size - one that could potentially pulverize the earth or knock it out of orbit. It's only thanks to the restraint of a number of smart world leaders (and a bit of luck - Bay of Pigs, etc.) that we haven't erased ourselves from existence or doomed humanity to a bleak post-apocalyptic existence as depicted in "The Day After." However, we still owe a debt of gratitude to the scientists who risked (and lost) their lives discovering the properties of radioactivity, for there are many peacetime uses of atomic energy and radioactive substances. And, the deterrent effect of weapons stockpiles has likely saved millions of war-related deaths. All in all, a subject as heavy and complex as the uranium and plutonium used in the weapons.
• Arf from Los Angeles, CaThe song also helped me deal with the death of my aunt six months after 9/11, after her exposure on that August day. Also, as for justifying the bombing?
  
  http://www.aiipowmia.com/inter24/in170204hiroshima.html
  
  By Gary Schaefer
  Associated Press
  
  HIROSHIMA, Japan -- Near where the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima, the faces of the victims silently appear and fade on a wall of television monitors in a relentless display of the attack's human toll.
  
  Amid the thousands of faces, one stands apart: that of Cpl. John Long Jr., U.S. Army Air Force.
  Long, who died in the blast while being held by the Japanese, is the first American serviceman to be enshrined at a memorial here, throwing light on the little-known story of U.S. prisoners of war who perished at Hiroshima.
  
  P.S., Republicans, it was a Democratic leadership that inspired Neil Peart to write the song.
• John from Asheville, NcPretty powerful song...both lyrically and vocally. It's a highpoint from Power Windows, an album that took a while but finally grew on me a bunch.
• Matt from New Castle, NhI remember my science teacher once told us that scientists working on the Manhattan Project had a rather frightening theory about the atom bomb. It was that igniting one could potentially cause a chain reaction that would eventually cause every atom on Earth to explode. When they tested the first bombs they took a big chance. Good song, though. Rush writes a lot of tunes about WWII.
• Tony from Toledo, OhThis song reminds me of my permanently interrupted grad school at Michigan State Univeristy. Some of my former profs even claimed to have worked on the Mahattan Project in
  WW II! Remarks like "all the brightest boys with the biggest toys" sure sounds like some of those doctors-like the $6 billion nuclear cyclotron that they were looking forward to using; but then it was cancelled forever!
  They reembered the name of the Enola Gay which dropped the frist atom bomb on Hiroshima.
  Remember a place where it all began. I used to hear some song like this on the FM radio in East Lansing, MI but I think it contained a countdown. And I looked desperately for that song at the record shops.
  That weapon that would settle the score. I guess the wisdom of Roosevelt and Truman opened the Pandora's box of nuclear war which will lead to Armageddon!
• Mike from Indianapolis, InAll the powers that be
  And the course of history
  Will be changed forever more
  That says it all!
  
  There is a lot of powerful imagery in this song.
• Chuck from Houston, TxI think as awesome at writing lyrics as Neil Peart is, there is a mistake in this song. One of the first lyrics used, in the third sentence "In the dying days of the war" well.... the Manhattan project didn't start during the "Dying" days, infact, they were out there, already set up and working in Los Alamos over a year before the allies invaded Euroup, as Sjoerd from Norway pointed out for us.
• Scott from Philadelphia, PaTo the guy asking, "What does that say about our country?" That we were smart enough to act first! Otherwise we'd be speaking Japanese right now. Listen, dude- you don't like it here, there's hundreds- thousands of other countries just begging for you to come live with them! Go live in AIDS ridden Africa or poverty stricken Mexico, or war-torn Israel or Iraq, or drug laden South America. Then come back and complain about this country!
• David from Flagstaff, AzI love this song, the chorus really gets me going. As for WIL's comment, I'll quote the song to him-"...the fools tried to wish it away...".
• Wil from Milwaukee, Wi...and the US is still the ONLY country to have ever used nuclear weapons on other human beings...what does this say about the philosophy of America???
• Sjoerd from Groningen, NorwayIn 1939, the Nazis were rumored to be developing an atomic bomb. The United States initiated its own program under the Army Corps of Engineers in June 1942. America needed to build an atomic weapon before Germany or Japan did. The program was called Manhattan Project.
• Dee from Indianapolis, In"Power Windows" was my 1st cassette I ever bought. I was a huge Rush fan from getting hooked on "Exit Stage Left" when I was about 14, so when this album came out I had to have it. I was working at McDonalds and bought it at Musicland at our local mall. To me, this was Rush's last GREAT work. Don't get me wrong, I think Rush rocks still, but I'm a fan of the older stuff over all. I think this would be a great tune to play in history class when studying the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan during WWII.

More Songfacts:

I Write The SongsBarry Manilow

Barry Manilow didn't write his #1 hit "I Write The Songs." Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys wrote it.

(Walking) In the RainThe Ronettes

Ronnie Spector nailed the vocal for The Ronettes song "(Walking) In the Rain" on the first take -- unheard of in the perfectionist producer Phil Spector's world.

We Belong TogetherMariah Carey

Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" was the best-selling song of the 2000s in the US.

Paper PlanesM.I.A.

"Paper Planes" was inspired by M.I.A.'s hassles trying to get a visa to enter America.

Then He Kissed MeThe Crystals

The '60s hit "Then He Kissed Me" was covered by The Beach Boys as "Then I Kissed Her."

Uptown FunkMark Ronson

"Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson was 2015's best-selling single in both the U.S. and U.K.

Editor's Picks

Yacht Rock QuizFact or Fiction

Christopher Cross with Deep Purple? Kenny Loggins in Caddyshack? A Fact or Fiction all about yacht rock and those who made it.

Butch VigSongwriter Interviews

The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.

80s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

MTV, a popular TV theme song and Madonna all show up in this '80s music quiz.

Jon Oliva of Trans-Siberian OrchestraSongwriter Interviews

Writing great prog metal isn't easy, especially when it's for 60 musicians.

The FratellisSongwriter Interviews

Jon Fratelli talks about the band's third album, and the five-year break leading up to it.

Victoria WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

Despite appearances on Carson, Leno and a Pennebaker film, Williams remains a hidden treasure.