Living in a Limelight

Acting is a dream for a lot of children and adults in the world. However acting has a big penalty to pay. The song "Limelight" by Rush, is about actors who "don't want to pretend that a stranger is a long awaited friend". Which were exact words of the song. The song was created in 1981 as one of Rushes first albums. This song is a message of how frustrating acting can be. "Living in a fish eye lens caught in the camera eye", in the lyric the fish eye lens is the t.v. and magazines. This song also tells the listeners that living where the whole world can see you (to be famous) can be miserable. "Limelight", can be connected to four different choices that I selected; the life of the artist, the society we live in, the times when the song was written, and the themes of a novel we have been reading in class.


First, I will talk about how the song connects to our society. "Limelight" talks about people wanting to be famous, and in our society everyone wants to be famous and rich. However the song mentions that by making that choice you won't have any privacy or secrets. Lots of magazines have deep secrets and embarrassing pictures. How would you like it if every body was reading your deepest secrets? Another way it connects to our society is that everyone who is famous is on t.v, and they are exposed to the whole world even if they don't want to be. Like Rush mentions in the song "under the fish eye lens".

Another way to connect this song is to the novel "Small Steps". In the book a singer named Kaira Deleon is getting tired of singing. She also is having trouble making friend because she is to busy doing concerts. Therefore "Limelight" is a perfect match to the novel "Small Steps".


This song also connects to the artists, Rush. This is because they are famous and under a fish eye lens because of magazines, t.v and pictures on the computer. Every where they go people will follow. Asking them questions until there throats are dry. This will happen to any famous person. Which takes us to the last connection.


My next connection I will make is with the time period the song was written in. They connect because lots of musicians at that time just couldn't handle people reading their deepest secrets in a magazine. Nobody could get any privacy, the musicians would have to walk right through the enormous parade of reporters and writers.


At first I used to just listen to the music and sometimes sing along, however after analysing this song, listening to music has changed. Now I focus more on the lyrics, and I try to figure out what they mean. I will more oftenly start singing the words of a song and think about them for a while. This song has really changed how much I listen to music and how I listen to music. In conclusion I have learned a lot about my band and my song, and I hope to learn more.