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Rush ~ Witch Hunt ~ Time Machine - Live in Cleveland [HD 1080p] [CC] 2011
Click on "CC" icon for Closed Captioning (Lyrics on Screen) "Witch Hunt" is the sixth song from Rush's eighth studio album "Moving Pictures" recorded at Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada in October and November 1980. The album was released on February 12, 1981. After touring to support their previous album, Permanent Waves (1980), the band started to write and record new material in August 1980 with co-producer Terry Brown. They continued to write songs with a more radio-friendly format, featuring tighter song structures and songs of shorter length compared to their early albums. Moving Pictures received a positive reception from current and retrospective music critics & became an instant commercial success, reaching number one in Canada and number three in the United States and the United Kingdom. It remains Rush's highest-selling album in the United States after it was certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for over 4 million copies sold. "Limelight", "Tom Sawyer" and "Vital Signs" were released as singles across 1981. This is part of Rush's "Fear Series," which is also made up of the songs "The Enemy Within" (Part I from Grace Under Pressure), "The Weapon" (Part II from Signals), and "Freeze (Part IV from Vapor Trails). This is part III. (Parts I - III are all played in sequence is the live Grace Under Pressure Tour video). Subtitled "Part III of Fear", this was in fact the first part of the "Fear" series to be composed. Peart decided to write the lyrics of songs after speaking to a friend who believed that - contrary to the belief of many - man's fundamental drive did not come from positive emotions such as love or reason, but from fear. Peart, interested by this idea, decided to explore different types of fear through a series of lyrics. "Witch Hunt" deals with man's most primitive fear - the fear of "the other" - and how this can feed a mob mentality. The carefully written lyric is potently at those who would criticize anyone for what they are, rather than what they do. The entire lyric is written with sharp precision, and one of the most effective lines of the song shows the utter absurdity in limiting freedom of expression: "Those who know what's best for us/Must rise and save us from ourselves." The lyrics describe how a vigilante mob gathers under torch light, distorting the features of the "twisted and grotesque" faces. The lyrics do not explain what the mob intends to do, but in the second set of stanzas indicate that the mob feeds on xenophobia and religious zealotry: "They say there are strangers who threaten us / Our immigrants and infidels / They say there is strangeness too dangerous / In our theaters and bookstore shelves". The dark images conjured by the lyric are accompanied by an impressively brooding musical score. The ranting of a furious mob can be heard at the beginning of the track while ominous keyboards (incidentally another guest performance by Huge Syme) gradually fade in. The doom-laden sound is completed by a trolling tubular bell. Driven by Lifeson's stormy guitar, this song is another departure for Rush; there are no fast runs or explosive solos (on the album version; a solo is played by Alex on this live version) - the excitement of "Witch Hunt" comes from it's layers of textures and an almost perfect link between music and lyric. While the song itself is anything but humorous, the studio technique used to produce the effect of the angry mob in the song's introduction has an amusing story behind it: "We went outside of Le Studio and it was so cold, it was really cold; we were well into December by then, I think. We were all out there. We put a couple of mics outside. We started ranting and raving. We did a couple of tracks of that. I think we had a bottle of Scotch or something with us to keep us warm. So as the contents of the bottle became less and less, the ranting and raving took on a different flavor. We were in the control room after we had laid down about twelve tracks of mob - in hysterics. Every once in awhile you'd hear somebody say something really stupid." According to the Rush biography Visions, the mob sounds were purposely mixed so they could not be understood. The idea was to add to the feeling of fear. Vocalist Geddy Lee told The Plain Dealer newspaper in a 2011 interview the song's message is even more relevant today than when it was first recorded: "It's one of those songs that means as much today, if not more, considering what's gone on in the world with racial profiling and all these different issues. The sentiment of that song is as appropriate as ever." * The song was recorded the same night that John Lennon was shot in New York. The band was right in the middle of laying down the tune when they heard the tragic news. Alex Lifeson - Guitar Geddy Lee - Vocals, Bass, Synthesizers Near Peart - Drums, Percussion Hugh Syme - Synths on album version
