"For Neil (We Feel Your Presence)" Original song written as a tribute to Neil Peart

The short version:
This is a song I’ve recently written for Neil, grown out of the inspiration, excitement, enthusiasm and love that he ignites in me :)
Things to watch out for in song/video
-Rush synthesizer sounds/chimes inspired by the ones Neil used for example in Xanadu!
-Rush references (of course)
-Photos Neil took himself that I found on his blog :)
-the early Rush like song form which kinda just happened haha! Aka different parts stitched together without a real chorus :)

The long version:
Many of the images (and of course videos) were either taken by Neil or someone accompanying Neil on his adventures, or were taken from Rush related videos, maybe some of you will recognize them :)

Neil has been a very special and important person to me for a bit over 2 years now but it was a couple months ago I started feeling like I was getting different signs from him, seeing him/being reminded of him in different places/things, seeing him in the wonders of nature which he loved so much. While going through Neil’s blog posts to find images for this video I stumbled upon a photo of a monument to Ernest Hemingway and this was the caption: “The inscription reads, “Best of all he loved the fall, the leaves yellow on the cottonwoods, leaves floating on the trout streams, and above the hills the high blue windless skies. Now he will be a part of them forever. Ernest Hemingway, Idaho, 1939.” The words had been written for a friend’s eulogy, but resonate well for the writer, too.”
And they resonate perfectly with my song, that sums up the feelings I had about Neil that helped to inspire this song :) but as I was watching Taking Center Stage a couple weeks ago all that came together with the inspiration and love I felt that I got the idea to write a song for him and here we are. I’ll let the song speak the rest.
This is the first song I’ve written in several years and the first I’ve ever tried to properly record (at least as properly as I could with a usb mic and garage band, but it was a really fun experience haha!)
Anyways thank you so much if you listen to the song, I would implore you to watch till the end cause the clips and the lyrics only get more special as you watch further! I really hope fellow Neil appreciates/lovers out there understand where this song came from and really enjoy it! Thanks to everyone out there and thank you of course to Neil Peart :)

I included in parenthesis the songs I was thinking of when writing the lyrics, I just love Rush references!

Lyrics:
Rhythms pound inside me
Fulfilling my mind and clearing my body
In a whirlwind I can see
A thousand papers flying by me

Stories of triumph and glory
A time before history
Cities of gold (-Seven Cities of Gold)
Tales of old
Dystopias and Utopias
Fools and thieves (-Faithless)
Cogs and machines (-Clockwork Angels in general haha)
Daring escapes (-Red Barchetta)
And enchanting landscapes
All there in front of me
But gone just as swiftly

I feel a presence fill the space
A familiar face
Strong yet distant
Noble and consistent
A friend a guide a teacher
Within the rhythms deep resonance
I can feel your presence (-Afterimage)

The gravity of a winter forest (-Resist)
Waves pounding in a storm at sea
Birds of spring that return in chorus
The grandness of mountains or the tallest tree

The light cast into canyons
The wisdom of a star filled sky
A good book to get lost in
The light of a sunrise catching your eye

A road that carries you along
The stoic cliffs along the ocean
The ancient rhythms of insect song
A mountain flower about to open

The light of a distant planet as is flashes
The rumble of a stampede as it passes
The wind as it flows over grass
The light between the clouds as they part (-Jacobs Ladder)
The spray beneath a waterfall as it crashes
The wonder of a new life cycle about to start
I feel your presence

Always a student forever a professor
Unending enthusiasm for every new skill or adventure
You help us find the magic in the mess (-Natural Science)
With the light in your eyes and the joy you confess
It seems that you’re gone and yet you live on
In every time you hear us say
“What’s the most excellent thing I can do today?” (-quote from the CBC Music interview) :)

If you read all of that thank you so much! :)

and again Thank you Neil :)

Видео "For Neil (We Feel Your Presence)" Original song written as a tribute to Neil Peart канала April Flowers