Red Tide
by Rush

Album: Presto (1989)
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  • 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 through 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 is the time to turn the tide
    Now is the time to fight
    Let us not go gently
    To the endless winter night

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

    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
    Let us not go gently
    To the endless winter night

    Let us not go gently
    To the endless winter night

    Let us not go gently
    To the endless winter night Writer/s: Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, Neil Elwood Peart
    Publisher: Anthem Entertainment
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 3

  • Ben from Phoenix, AzHaha wow. First time I had ever read all the lyrics at once, written down. Never knew it was environmental until now. Every time I heard it before, always thought it (as well as Red Lenses) was about communism. "This is not a false alarm. This is not a test." "Let us not go gently to that endless winter night."
  • John from Asheville, NcI think the lyrics exceed the music and melody here. Good song from a good album.
  • Brian from Meriden, CtOne of the things I really enjoy about Neil's brilliant lyricism are the subtleties. I can go back and put on a Rush album 2 or 3 decades old and pick up new subtleties I never "got" before. And with a slightly altered sense of the song I am further stimulated to explore its meaning with each adroit turn of the phrase. Well done, O Baterista.
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