The seventh track on Rush’s 1982 album Signals. Written by drummer and main songwriter Neil Peart, “Losing It” revolves around two characters (one of which is based on famous writer Ernest Hemingway) who, as they got older, have started to perform much worse at their talents than they once did, and...
[Verse 1]
The dancer slows her frantic pace in pain and desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face aglow with perspiration
Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire with just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory, the echoes of old applause
[Refrain 1]
And she limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 2]
The writer's stares with glassy eyes defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
And streaked with tears of rage
Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled by sickness and indecision
[Refrain 2]
And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more
[Bridge]
Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die than never to have known it
[Chorus]
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee
The bell tolls for…
[Electric Guitar & Violin Solo]
[Outro]
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee
The bell tolls for thee
Losing It was written by Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson & Neil Peart.
Losing It was produced by Terry Brown & Rush.