12/30: Time Stand Still
I was planning on getting really schmoopy today, but then I saw that music video.
I let my past go too fast
No time to pause
If I could slow it all down
Like some captain
Whose ship runs aground
I can wait until the tide comes around
Years ago, I was driving back from my best friend’s apartment a few cities over, and I stopped for gas on I-90. The sunset had caught on the horizon, setting the autumn trees aflame. Winter would come soon, the long dreary grey of Western New York. This song was playing on the car stereo, and I felt the most powerful, aching sense of loss. I wasn’t even sure why.
It was one of the last times I ever saw my friend alive.
So under normal circumstances, I can’t listen to “Time Stand Still.” But it’s the perfect song to play out this year, a perfect gem of melancholy and longing. Now that I’ve come to the end of this project, and of 2024, I too wish I could make this moment last a little longer—but I must settle for taking a brief breath to look around me now, to see more of the people and the places that surround me now.
I’ll have more to say on it tomorrow, but thank you to you all for joining me on this journey. It’s been a wild, wonderful ride.
Before I get too misty-eyed though, I have to point y’all to the music video.
Because y’all. Y’all. This music video. I could attempt to describe the wild, egregious green screening and Geddy’s drugged out, mulletted mugging for the camera… but like many Rush videos from the ‘80s, it must be seen to be believed.
Thanks so much for the work put into this project. While I only caught on several months back, it has really been a nice journey. Rush is solidly my most listened to artist. ‘Time Stand Still’ has long been in my top three of Rush songs. It came along during the back half of my college experience, which was perfectly suited for using this song as an anthem for life. And, yes, the video!!!! 🫠
I will fight anyone who says anything negative about that video. Everything about it is perfect--Geddy and Alex's spins, Neil's grimaces on the drum fills, even Aimee Mann's wistful little wave at the end. It is the greatest piece of art ever put on film.