Why the Sun?
Why do we seek certainty and shun mystery? When we’re being honest with ourselves, we know that humanity and progress are equally dependent on both, yet we find ourselves in modern times embracing what we believe to be incontrovertible, shying away from haze and doubt.
This is the question at the heart of “Between Sun and Moon” by Rush.
Few artists in rock or pop music so stubbornly clung to the notion of the album as a cohesive musical entity as Rush. From their earliest days to their last, Rush albums all threaded a story, a motif, or a thematic concept through the songs. “Counterparts,” their 15th studio album released in 1993, shines both as an example of the band’s ability to nudge their talents to the shifting tides of popular music — in this case, a hint o’ grunge — while remaining faithful to their commitment to the album concept. “Counterparts” songs all swim in the Yin and Yangness of things.
“Between Sun and Moon” was co-written and inspired by a poem from Pye Dubois, making it one of only three songs in the Rush CV of some 200 songs that used a lyrical co-writer. Pye Dubois’ poetry was also Neil Peart’s inspiration for the band’s best-known song, “Tom Sawyer,” and later became the inspiration for “Force 10” from Hold Your Fire in 1987. Lyrically, compared to those two condensed works, “Between Sun and Moon” is downright verbose.
The counterparts featured in this song are titular and clear, but the song itself wants to explore “the space between” the two, the lake in which we tend to land when caught between extremes. Sun and moon. Intellect and emotion. Reason and faith. Male and female.
But what the heck’s up with that chorus?
Ahh yes to yes to ahh ahh to yes
Why the sun?
My friend Andy had the best interpretation for this many moons ago when he said it’s about the mix of reactions during discovery. “Yes” is the logical/sun response to things around us, while “ahh” is the moon’s emotional response to awe.
Upon discovery of something we didn’t know, we are sparked by both wonder and understanding (ahh yes). We dissect this understanding with reason (to yes). Our most powerful insights and experiences come with a sort of inescapable ecstasy (to ahh ahh), but that ecstatic pulse can’t help but fade, and we’re left with straightforward understanding (to yes). The mystery is gone, and what once stirred us with wonder has become an assumption. Bored with what once mesmerized, we move on to seek out another new discovery.
“Why the sun?” is the frustration that reason closes the door on things. We ultimately value fact over wonder. Mystery leaves us too unsettled and off balance, while facts cool the jets. Why not the moon? Asking questions will always power our engines to be, to do, to seek, more than just knowing the answers.
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