10 Song Meanings Fans Can't Accept
5. Rush's "The Trees" Is About Political Unrest
By the time Canadian power trio Rush got around to making the album Hemispheres, they were deep into their more heavy prog rock period. The cerebral stories behind the band's epics made for engaging tales of grandeur for their listeners. Even the shorter cuts on the record had much more going on beneath the surface.
If someone were to casually listen to the song "The Trees," many would see it as a pretentious story Neil Peart thought up about giving actual plants a narrative arc. Although the trees in question are prominent in the story, the message of the song goes beyond just arbor appreciation. The entire trees metaphor quickly blossoms into a bold observation on more Libertarian political ideals.
All of a sudden, these menial trees have gone from being just casual plants to having actual political conflicts, with the smaller feats crying oppression over the taller trees' dominion over all of the sunlight. The song then ends on the idea of socialism being manifested in the form of hatchets and axes grinding down on the trees. While many people would tend to grasp on the more simpler topics amid Rush's epics, many have found there's nothing truly simple when it comes to Rush.