#RiffORama - Rush - Limelight (1981)

Slechte verliezer, voltijds toffe peer en gitaarslinger par excellence Cedric Maes doet op Radio Willy al enige tijd verwoede pogingen om de gitaarriff in eer en glorie te herstellen middels het wekelijkse “best songs in the world”-programma en in de jaarlijkse 'Riff Top 100'. Wij voegen er deze week graag nog eigengereid een paar aan toe.

Het was op een saaie zondagmiddag dat wij plotseling werden blootgesteld aan dit Canadese trio en er nooit meer van zijn los geraakt. Uiteraard was het op de Nederlandse televisie, dat we een documentaire zagen over het maken van 'Moving Pictures', de plaat waarmee de faam van Rush de hoogste toppen zou bereiken. Volkomen terecht trouwens. Want die plaat is de perfectie nabij. 

Zoals de meeste van de songs op het album, werd ook Limelight geschreven door drummer Neil Peart. Zelf niet de meest sociale persoonlijkheid, legde hij dat hier vast voor de eeuwigheid. Zelf zei hei daarover: "Success puts a strain on the friendship and it puts the strains on your day-to-day relationship, and it's something that we did go through, you know, we're not immune to it. But we were able to overcome it just through our closeness and we were able to help each other with difficulties like that and then we could deal with the pressures and things and that."

Meer bepaald over deze song omschreef zanger-bassist Geddy Lee het als volgt: "Limelight was probably more of Neil's song than a lot of the songs on that album in the sense that his feelings about being in the limelight and his difficulty with coming to grips with fame and autograph seekers and a sudden lack of privacy and sudden demands on his time... he was having a very difficult time dealing with. I mean we all were, but I think he was having the most difficulty of the three of us adjusting; in the sense that I think he's more sensitive to more things than Alex and I are, it's harder for him to deal with those interruptions on his personal space and his desire to be alone. Being very much a person who needs that solitude, to have someone coming up to you constantly and asking for your autograph is a major interruption in your own little world. I guess in the one sense that we're a little bit like misfits in the fact that we've chosen this profession that has all this extreme hype and this sort of self-hyping world that we've chosen to live in, and we don't feel comfortable really in that kind of role."

Over de solo in de song bekende gitarist Alex Lifeson aan FarOutMagazine: "I love the elasticity of the solo. It’s a very emotional piece of music for me to play. The song is about loneliness and isolation, and I think the solo reflects that. There’s a lot of heart in it. It’s a feel thing: you have to feel a solo as you play it, otherwise, it’s going to sound stiff. I never had that problem with Limelight. The first time I laid it down in the studio, I feel a real attachment to it and I could tell it was special. Even now, it’s my favourite solo to perform live. I never get tired of it. Each time I’m about to play it, I take a deep breath and I exhale on that first note. I guess that sounds corny, but for me, it releases something.”