I’ve been listening to Clockwork Angels for several weeks now. It’s Rush’s final studio album, and even though it’s 12 years old, I’m still not as familiar with it as with their earlier albums.

I think my struggle with it is that, while I know it tells a story, I can’t figure out what the story is. I suppose I should read the novel at some point.

But, that said, there’s some great tracks on here.

Headlong Flight talks about looking back on a full life and reveling in those experiences. I love the line “I wouldn’t trade tomorrow for today” as an expression of living in this moment.

Perhaps my favorite track is “Wish them well”, which is about having compassion for the people who mistreat you. Wish them well, and move on. “Don’t even pause and ask them why.” This is such sage advice, which goes hand in hand with not trading tomorrow for today. “Spirits turned bitter by the poison of envy” are not worth another moment of your time.

The Garden reminds me of Candide and Leibniz, and the “best of all possible worlds”. And now, looking at the annoted lyrics on rush.com I see that Peart was, in fact, thinking of that when he wrote those lyrics.

So, yeah, I’m definitely going to have to read the novel.