I am currently listening to Rush's Moving Pictures and Geddy Lee has just sung the line "...before the motor law." What is he referring to? Is it a Canadian thing?

Or is this kind of knowledge on a "need to know" basis only?  

P.S. This remastered version sounds astounding: the guitar solo on "Limelight" is a transcendent experience.

Edited by bluetailfly

It's a sci-fi song.  The "motor law" is something about not being allowed to drive cars in the future.  Great song, but thematically it's a re-write of 2112. 

bluetailfly wrote: TheProgtologist wrote: No...it's set in a fictional setting or world.A totalitarian/police-state type setting(I always assumed) And I also would assume that the "motor law" bans the use of the pollution-causing internal combustion engine,and people only use air-cars.So what the protagonist in the story is doing is basically a crime. Wow, I don't quite pick up those queues. I thought it was a straightforward biographical nostalgic lyric about Peart's childhood. I like your take on it though...

Well...the police state thing is something I always had in my head,that might be really off the mark.

But where in Peart's childhood would there be a "gleaming alloy Air-Car"?

And my police state assumption stemmed from the "On Sunday I elude the eyes(security cameras?police survelliance?)and hop the turbine frieght,to far outside the wire(?),where my white-haired Uncle waits".

Just the fact that the protagonist has to go to great lengths just to leave the city,leads me to believe that the society he lives in is totalitarian,and there is very little freedom or privacy in it.

TheProgtologist wrote: And my police state assumption stemmed from the "On Sunday I elude the eyes(security cameras?police survelliance?)and hop the turbine frieght,to far outside the wire(?),where my white-haired Uncle waits". Just the fact that the protagonist has to go to great lengths just to leave the city,leads me to believe that the society he lives in is totalitarian,and there is very little freedom or privacy in it.

Yeah, read over the lyrics and think you're right. It's interesting that the story that inspired it was published in "Road and Track" in 1973 (but the story was set in 1982).

http://members.aol.com/redbarche/ANiceMorningDrive.html

and Peart's "motor law" in the song seems to be government emissions laws in the story.

A Barchetta is a Fiat made car:

http://www.fiatbarchetta.com/

yargh wrote: bluetailfly wrote: A Barchetta is a Fiat made car: http://www.fiatbarchetta.com/ ...but the one referenced in the was the old Ferrari barchetta.

Good to know, but where does it mention Ferrari?

There are a couple of books with basically the same story - one of them's by Nicholas Fisk, but I can't remember the title.

bluetailfly wrote: Is that what the lyric is? You mean there's not like an old roadster called a Red Barchetta? Wow, what an odd concept for a song. Sci Fi short story as prog rock.

Always thought this was the best science fiction story in the form of a song - and personally my favourite Rush tune. Odd! Bloody hell this is the essence of good progressive music! Who wants stories about wizards and fairies - that's fantasy for the kids?

Rare 1952 Ferrari Barchetta Acquired by Petersen Automotive Museum

Posted Aug 28, 2005, 1:00 PM ET by Lu Zhou
Related entries: Sports/GTs, Time Warp

One of the rarest and most significant Ferraris of all time, the black 1952 Ferrari Barchetta that Enzo Ferrari gave to Henry Ford II has now been added to the portfolio of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The car that inspired the original T-bird more than fifty years ago also won the prestigious best of show honors at the Meadow Brook Concorso d’Italia earlier this month. This historic Ferrari is 100% original and has less than 13,000 original miles on it. Beginning next month, the Barchetta will be on display on the second floor of the Peterson Automotive Museum. This is definitely one car worth fighting the L.A. traffic to go see.

Ok,so not a red on e but still a real car...

Edited by Tony R