Rush, "2112" (song)

Rush (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart). "2112." Rush: 2112. Uni/Mercury Records, 822 546-2 M-1, 1976. Running time: 20:34.

Future totalitarian society has banned music as unproductive. The piece opposes computers and a priestly class on one side against a simple musical instrument and a muscian on the other. Note esp. II. "Temples of Syrinx," which are filled with computers; III. "Discovery" of a "strange device," apparently a low-tech, stringed music instrument (like a lyre or acustic guitar); IV. "Presentation" and rejection of the ancient instrument and its music on the ground that it is, in the formulation of F. Pohl and J. Williamson, "unplanned" (see entry for them under Friction, The Reefs of Space). Lyrics and analysis available at many sites on the Internet.

(RDE, 28/XI/93), RDE, Title, 27Aug19