The Language of Lyrics – Analysis of Rush’s “Force 10”

You have written a great melody with an interesting rhythmic structure and a catchy vocal melody. Now you need to write words to go along with your song. When I was a freshman in high school, I analyzed Rush’s “Force 10” from the Hold Your Fire album. In the process, (with my Hold Your Fire T-shirt on and a poster of the three men I admire most hanging on the board), I delivered a speech on the eight literary devices that constitute well-written poetry or lyrics. They are onomatopoeia, alliteration, similes, hyperboles, personifications, rhymes, assonances, and metaphors.

I chose “Force 10” because it contained all eight literary devices and therefore received additional credit for my speech. I will define these literary devices and give examples.

Onomatopoeia is the first literary device used in the introduction. Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound it describes. The initial ahhh, an onomatopoeia, lasts about 15 seconds. Sets the pitch of the song as a song that requires resistance. The second device presented is alliteration. Alliteration is a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists of repeating the same consonantal sound at the beginning of several words in close succession. “Hard times call for tough words call for tough hearts call for tough songs call for…” The repetition of the tough words and call for stresses the need to take control of any undesirable situation and reverse it for a favorable outcome.

Neil Peart immediately asserts the fallibility of the human condition with “We can rise and fall like empires, come and go like the tide,” which is a simile. A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things, often introduced with the word “as” or “like”. He is comparing our ability to succeed and fail to the collective effort of an empire and the intense force of Mother Nature. He continues his comparison with “Be vain and clever, humble and foolish, we can hit and miss like pride” to further emphasize how we can be “vain and clever” as the strength of empires at their height or humble and foolish when they are. destroyed.

The next line, “We can go around like hurricanes” is an example of hyperbole. When used as a literary device, hyperbole is an exaggeration that, while not meant to be taken literally, still describes a situation or image that is at least feasible or possible. This lyric emphasizes how we as humans can be disorganized and chaotic like a storm that randomly sweeps and destroys. Or we can “Dance and dream like lovers” is the other side of the coin, which states that when we are happy; we express emotion with joy and creation. “Attack the day like birds of prey” again refers to achieving tunnel vision without regard for who may be hurt along the way. “Scavengers under cover” is the fear we feel when we cannot fend for ourselves and be autonomous.

After the first two verses, the chorus says “Look into the eye of the storm”. It is the first example of personification. Personification is an ontological metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person. Storms don’t literally have eyes, but they do have a focal point where their force is strongest, as looking someone in the eye is the most direct way to approach a person. “Beware the formless force.” The song goes on to warn us to be careful of our surroundings: “Look around you: at sight and sound, look in, look out, look around you.”

In the third line, there are examples of both rhyme and assonance. A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words (most often at the end of a sentence) and is most often used in poetry and songs. Assonance is an abstention from vowel sounds to create internal rhymes within a phrase or sentence.

“We can move with wild grace to the rhythm of the night

Cool and remote like ballerinas

In the heat of the rhythm and the lights”

This verse emphasizes how we can be hidden within our own introspection. Focused on the music of nature, night rhythms with lights to contrast between the natural rhythms of nature and the artificial lights of a closed club environment. “In the heat of the beat” is an example of assonance. This rapidly sung lyric with internal rhyme shows an impulsive and emotional response to music.

The last verse compares “the rose of romance” to “an air of joie vivre” or “the joy of living” as a metaphor. A metaphor is a concise way of speaking when comparing two things, saying that one is the other. This equivocal comparison, a flower associated with love to the joy of living. Neil Peart elaborates on the comparison, “hearts too tender on our sleeves”, meaning that to love is to become vulnerable, and contrasts with the simile “skin as thick as thieves”.

The bridge is another example of hyperbole, “going up and down hard ten, we twist the world and ride on the wind.” The force ten is exemplified as a force beyond our three-dimensional existence, as literally twisting the world would require a power beyond our current knowledge.

I have used these literary devices to write my own songs. It helps to be aware of these techniques for writing great letters. In a case of writer’s block, literary devices are fun tools to play with. For example, another Rush song that is specifically a play on literary devices is “Anagram.” In this song, Neil cleverly wrote it to be a play on words and the song is actually quite fluid. The chorus says: “There is no safe seat at the party, do your best stab against the beast, the night is getting thin, the saint is turning into sin.” Only the choir uses alliteration, metaphor, rhyme and personification… Neil Peart shows that the use of these devices will always engage the listener’s ear, so with all that said, let’s close with a thought… Let’s not be misfits in the fog of our outbursts… Let us never ever challenge for an endless end and receive what we think we can achieve between us in the middle of the fog.