The Big Wheel
by Rush

Album: Roll The Bones (1991)
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Songfacts®:

  • Neil Peart ("Roll The Bones Radio Special"): "The Big Wheel is a good example on this album; where it seems to be autobiographical, but it's really not. It's where I've looked for a universal of that tradeoff between innocence and experience, and that song certainly addresses that. Not in the circumstances of my own life so much, or if it is, it's not important that it be autobiographical, that's just by the by really. Very much I want to find universal things that others can relate to, and that's a thing that's part of everyone's life, so I think that's probably one reason why I'm drawn to it. And then so much of it is drawn from observing people around me too, so that becomes a factor in it too; how they responded to life, and how they take to it. How they adapt to that innocence and experience thing." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mike - Mountlake Terrace, Washington

Comments: 2

  • John from Overland Park, KsI have to agree with Joe Public. The bridge had some lyrics that I particularly liked: "Wheel turns round, landing on a leap of fate / Life redirected in ways unexpected / Sometimes the odd number wins." The twisting of the common phrases "leap of faith" and "twist of fate" I thought was particularly imaginative.
  • Joe Public from Anytown, AlThis is just an anthem for life and every young person's simple dreams. This is the way that ordinary people live. "Playing for time / Don't want to wait for heaven / Looking for love / For an angel to forgive my sins / Playing with fire / Chasing something new to believe in / Looking for love / The way the big wheel spins."
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