Il Faut Cultiver Notre Jardin
My relationship with words is a complicated one; my parents did not provide the best environment for me to grow up in, and I found solace, guidance, and wisdom in prose, poetry, and music. I have always been drawn to words that have meaning beyond the words and spaces used to build them, and of the many things I have read and heard, the words of Neil Peart have had the most profound impact on me. His words were a source of inspiration and comfort for me, and I found myself returning to them again and again as I navigated the trials and tribulations of my life. You know how some people have a “life coach”? Well, I had Neil Peart. It worked out pretty well for me.
To listen to the lyrics and read the words of Peart is to be invited inside his mind to journey with him as he explores himself and the world around him. The words are a window into his soul, and in those words are lessons that are offered freely to those who are willing to listen.
The death of Neil Peart in January of 2020 was devastating to me on a personal level; in many ways it was worse than the loss of a family member despite never having met him. He was a mentor and an inspiration, and the grief I felt was tangible and powerful.
Recently, I started listening to “Clockwork Angels” again. I had subconsciously avoided it after Peart’s death as a way of not having yet another reminder that he would never write another album or play another show. Throughout my life I have found that the things that I need to hear the most are the things that I am most resistant to hearing, and this was no exception.
It was in this state that I was able to hear the album and see it for what was potentially blindingly obvious to everyone else: “Clockwork Angels” is a modern retelling of Voltaire’s Candide that is informed by Peart’s own philosophical journey.
It seems odd that a novel written in 1759 would have any relevance to the modern world, but the themes of the novel are as relevant today as they were when the novel was written. The world is a chaotic place, and it is easy to get caught up in the chaos and lose sight of what is important. Peart was a student of history, and he was able to see the parallels between the world of today and the world of Voltaire. He also saw the parallels between his own life and the life of Candide, and he used the novel as a framework to explore his own journey.
In Candide, the title character operates according to the philosophy of his mentor, Pangloss, who believes that our universe is the best of all possible worlds, and that everything that happens is part of a divine plan. This is a reference to the philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz, who believed that the universe was a clockwork machine that operated according to set laws and rules. Voltaire’s brilliance is in taking that premise to it’s logical conclusion through the arc of the novel where Candide and his companions travel the world and experience a series of horrors and tragedies, while Pangloss continues to cling to his increasingly untenable philosophy.
The culmination of the novel is when Candide and his companions meet a character only known as “the Turk”, who explains to Candide that he has found happiness by abstaining from politics by cultivating the fruits of his garden for himself and his family. This sentiment stands in stark contrast to the horror and tragedy that Candide and his companions have experienced throughout their journey. For Candide, the Turk’s philosophy is a call to action, a call to focus on those things within our control. “Il Faut Cultiver Notre Jardin” - we must tend our garden.
It is to this concept that Peart returns for the final song on the final Rush album, a song simply titled “The Garden”. The song is a meditation on the human condition and the need to focus on the things that we can control, and was described by Peart as a “love letter to life itself”. In this song are echoes of the call to action that Candide received from the Turk; “The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect, the way you live, the gifts that you give”. In this one song is the culmination of Peart’s life journey, and it is a fitting end to his life’s work.
The Garden
In this one of many possible worlds, all for the best, or some bizarre test?
It is what it is – and whatever
Time is still the infinite jest
The arrow flies when you dream, the hours tick away – the cells tick away
The Watchmaker keeps to his schemes
The hours tick away – they tick away
The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect
So hard to earn, so easily burned
In the fullness of time
A garden to nurture and protect
In the rise and the set of the sun
‘Til the stars go spinning – spinning ’round the night
It is what it is – and forever
Each moment a memory in flight
The arrow flies while you breathe, the hours tick away – the cells tick away
The Watchmaker has time up his sleeve
The hours tick away – they tick away
The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect
The way you live, the gifts that you give
In the fullness of time
It’s the only return that you expect
The future disappears into memory
With only a moment between
Forever dwells in that moment
Hope is what remains to be seen