#99: Rush / "Subdivisions"

Writer(s): Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee & Neil Peart

Year: 1982

Album: Signals

Escape the Mass Production Zone

My Dad’s disappointed with me. In a recent conversation with my mother, he described me as “lost potential.” I’m feeling pretty low. Is there a way out?

I spend long hours in my bedroom, and I listen to some Rush. It’s almost if Geddy Lee wrote the song "Subdivisions" with me in mind.

Opinions all provided,

The future pre-decided,

Detached and subdivided…

Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone…

In the high school halls, in the shopping malls, conform or be cast out.

In the basement bars, in the backs of cars, be cool or be cast out.

Everyone’s pressuring me to be just like them! I’ve never had sex in a car with a girl, but, if I ever have the chance, Geddy’s telling me it’s okay to say no!

Granny and Me

One of my Grandmothers is dead. The other is senile. I wish Geddy and I could have lived together in an idyllic Hobbit village. I picture her as a surrogate – a wise old lady, possibly with an omniscient psychic vision, to interpret and chronicle my life.

Geddy understands how hard it is to be a middle-to-upper class suburbanite. Her voice is the balm to, as she so astutely puts it, “Sooth the restless dreams of youth!”

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Probably my favorite Rush song - mostly due to those Genesisish power-keyboard chords.