George Dance

Middletown Dreams

The office door closed early
The hidden bottle came out
The salesman turned to close the blinds
A little slow now, a little stout
But he's still heading down those tracks
Any day now for sure
Another day as drab as today
Is more than a man can endure

Dreams flow across the heartland
Feeding on the fires
Dreams transport desires
Drive you when you're down
Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town

The boy walks with his best friend
Through the fields of early May
They walk awhile in silence
One close, one far away
But he'd be climbing on that bus
Just him and his guitar
To blaze across the heavens
Like a brilliant shooting star

The middle aged Madonna
Calls her neighbor on the phone
Day by day the seasons pass
And leave her life alone
But she'll go walking out that door
On some bright afternoon
To go and paint big cities
>From a lonely attic room

It's understood
By every single person
Who'd be elsewhere if they could
So far so good
And life's not unpleasant
In their little neighborhood

Dreams flow across the heartland
Feeding on the fires
Dreams transport desires
Drive you when you're down
Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town
They dream in Middletown

- Neil Peart
1985 Core Music Publishing (SOCAN)

Will Dockery

"George Dance" wrote:
>
> Middletown Dreams
>
> The office door closed early
> The hidden bottle came out
> The salesman turned to close the blinds
> A little slow now, a little stout
> But he's still heading down those tracks
> Any day now for sure
> Another day as drab as today
> Is more than a man can endure
>
> Dreams flow across the heartland
> Feeding on the fires
> Dreams transport desires
> Drive you when you're down
> Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town
>
> The boy walks with his best friend
> Through the fields of early May
> They walk awhile in silence
> One close, one far away
> But he'd be climbing on that bus
> Just him and his guitar
> To blaze across the heavens
> Like a brilliant shooting star
>
> The middle aged Madonna
> Calls her neighbor on the phone
> Day by day the seasons pass
> And leave her life alone
> But she'll go walking out that door
> On some bright afternoon
> To go and paint big cities
> >From a lonely attic room
>
> It's understood
> By every single person
> Who'd be elsewhere if they could
> So far so good
> And life's not unpleasant
> In their little neighborhood
>
> Dreams flow across the heartland
> Feeding on the fires
> Dreams transport desires
> Drive you when you're down
> Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town
> They dream in Middletown
>
> - Neil Peart
> 1985 Core Music Publishing (SOCAN)

Great song, haven't listened to Rush in a couple of decades and this brings
back some good memories... my most vivid "Rush" memory is from early 1983
late on a very cold night in Atlanta. As I was walking home I passed a
record store with a group of people gathered by the door, so I went over to
see what all the commotion was about.

Turns out they were camped out there to be the first in line to buy Rush
tickets, music on the boombox and excited conversation on Rush-topics... one
was a rumor that Peart had cancer and this might be the last time they'd see
him, which was sad but apparently not exactly true. I sat a while with them
and took in a bit of the Rush fandom, and moved on... never saw any of these
folks again but the images and faces are as clear as yesterday's... maybe
there's a poem in there with these fleeting characters...

"All these memories
they're certainly mine.
She's gone, she's gone, she's gone...
on the train to Anaheim."
-David Blue

--
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