So this is actually a pretty weak post this week. It’s actually just almost blatent plagerism…but I guess since I’m admitting it perhaps not. Anyways, just listening to music and the song “Bravado” by Rush came on. One of my favorite Rush tunes, especially the line that is the title of this post.
So anyways, that song comes on and it makes me think of my friend Sam, of samwatson.us, and how he has made one of his dreams/goals come true and is now in Costa Rica. working from there for the next months…perhaps he will come back. Either way, he has set a mark and passed it, and I am happy for him.
In the Roll The Bones Tourbook, Neil Peart explained the line, “We will pay the price, but we will not count the cost”:
“A line from John Barth’s The Tidewater Tales (he said I could use it) which echoed around inside me for a long time after I read that book. To me, it just means go for it. There are no failures of talent, only failures of character. I think that’s often true too. Sure there a lot of talented people who don’t achieve artistic or worldly success, but I think there’s usually a reason – a failure inside them. The important thing is: if you fail once, or if your luck is bad this time, the dream is still there. A dream is only over if you give it up – or if it comes true. That is called irony. We have to remember the oracle’s words, from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory and lumpy athletic shoes: Just do it. No excuses.”
Peace!
Why did it have to be Rush? Dude I’m coming back. I just have to build a house here first.
This is one of my favorite Peart lines – apparently via Barth. I remember thinking of this line after I had heard that his wife and child had died and thinking that it was a heartbreaking line. I remember wondering if he thought love survived even if the objects of that love were gone? Thanks for the article.