10 Rock Songs That Left Us All Hanging
2. Cygnus X-1 - Rush
As prog music was starting to get more and more accessible, even some hardcore prog fans drew their line at Rush. Given Neil Peart’s wise background, the lyrics almost seemed impossible to understand in some spots, taking us on 10 minute journeys that feel like they were more suited to a short fantasy novella than an actual rock song. It’s never a bad thing to write like this…you just need to make sure that you actually end your story by the time the song is over.
As A Farewell to Kings wraps up, we get Cygnus X-1, which tells a riveting story about a man voyaging out in a spaceship in search of new lands. During his travels, he runs into a black hole and ends up getting pulled in by its force, as his atoms start to split apart. The music doesn’t hold back during this section either, as Geddy Lee goes for broke with his vocals and the backing track getting more and more chaotic as the black hole takes its hold. As we emerge on the other side though, all we get is ambient noise, as we all wonder what exactly happened to this man.
These questions wouldn’t be answered until the next album Hemispheres, where the opening song picks up the story of this man traveling through the cosmos. Though this may have been ingenious at the time, it also feels like the album doesn’t have a proper ending. We went through all that buildup to see the other side, and all we got was a musical form of a TO BE CONTINUED screen.