Better Than What Was Scheduled
submitted by SK and ghostsniper via comments
"A poem Anne referred us to some time ago comes to mind:" and "In reply to SK"
From SK:
Trees - Joyce Kilmer 1886 – 1918
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
and ghost's reply:
And then there’s this:
[Intro]
There is unrest in the forest, there is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight, and the oaks ignore their pleas
[Verse 1]
The trouble with the maples, and they’re quite convinced they’re right
They say the oaks are just too lofty, and they grab up all the light
But the oaks can’t help their feelings if they like the way they’re made
And they wonder why the maples can’t be happy in their shade
[Bridge]
There is trouble in the forest, and the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream, “Oppression!”, and the oaks just shake their heads
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 2]
So the maples formed a union, and demanded equal rights
“The oaks are just too greedy, we will make them give us light”
Now there’s no more oak oppression, for they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, axe and saw
===================
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This classic prog-rock track from Rush’s 1978 album Hemispheres tells the story of a conflict between oaks and maples. It ends with a sense of “equality”, but at the righteous and/or sinister expense from the imposed and/or agreed upon acts of justified (or unjustified) violence of destruction.
Constructively, or rather musically and rhythmically, Rush’s signature time signature changes include 4/4 (standard 4 beats per measure, introduced in Verse 1), 6/8 (fairly common time, especially throughout this song, during the choruses and the acoustic guitar-driven sections), and 5/4 (a relatively uncommon meter).
Rush invokes 5/4 time intermittently throughout the song’s instrumental break (which comprises 50% of the song), which brings in a lyric-free musical sense of conflict, mystery, and tension (ripe with the 7-measure hard-rock guitar solo), but only after the break’s first section of a peacefully bucolic, woodland nature in 4/4 time.
The hard rock 5/4 guitar solo then merges back to the instrumental guitar-driven 6/8 meter, but not before a brief foray into 5/4 resolving back to 4/4 in time for the resolution of the revolution in the final (outro) lyrical sections, with the dramatic vocalized penultimate decree (“by hatchet, ax, and saw”).
While the song may appear to simply reflect upon the futility of conflict, given Neil Peart, Rush’s drummer, and lyricist, stated that they were based on a random image that once drifted into his head, the band’s history suggests alternate interpretations.
As the-the-then 1970’s adherents of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, the band bought-into the virtues of selfishness (as being for the greater good, assumably); thus, the oaks are justified in “grabbing up all the light” by their superior nature.
(Curiously, the annotations to the song herein substantiate the maple as being the national tree of Canada, Rush’s home country, vs. oaks, the national tree of both Great Britain and the U.S.A).
The equalizing influences (“hatchet, axe, and saw”) are those of democracy and socialism, which curtail the dominance of the strong.
And yet in the hands of the strong (e.g., the wealth and power of despotic oligarchs) the same means oppress the weak, ensuring inequality reigns-in those without economic, educational, and/or militaristic strength (including the fortitude to fight against injustices).
Is Ayn Rand’s hyper-capitalistic philosophy a travesty?
It depends on the definition of “capitalism” and how governments decide to uphold, exploit, de-regulate, or regulate the concept (as they define it?), and whether that American “invisible hand” chops down trees, plants seeds, or some variation of both.
