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Rush - Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres

Rush - Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Hemispheres
Released: 1978

Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres Lyrics

Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres

This song continues the story from Cygnus X-1 on the album A Farewell to Kings. It uses the Greek mythology of Apollo, the god of reason, and Dionysus, the god of love.

The followers of Apollo believe straight logic can lead them while the followers of Dionysus believe that love will lead them. Civil war ensues until the adventurer from Cygnus X-1 comes across this world. Since traveling through Cygnus X-1, a black hole, his body has been destroyed but he can still see and think. He becomes upset with the war and cries out to the people, Apollo, and Dionysus. The people hear his cry, stop fighting, unite, and proclaim the hero Cygnus, the god of balance.

Kicking off the Rush album Hemispheres, this song runs 18:08 and is an exemplar of the band's progressive rock leanings at the time. For their next album, Permanent Waves, they took a different approach, with more compact, tuneful songs like "The Spirit Of Radio" and "Freewill." These radio-friendly songs earned Rush a much wider audience.

According to Rush lead singer Geddy Lee, recording vocals for this song and the others on the Hemispheres album was a miserable experience, since they recorded the music first without making sure he could properly sing over the tracks.