Parenting and Rush

My 8-year-old son loves Rush. We listen all the time in the car. One of the things I appreciate about them now, as a dad, that I didn't before is that I can share any of their songs with my boy and not have things I'd rather not have to explain.

I don't try to shield my son from profanity (he hears plenty at home!), but I do try to shield him from ugly ideas. For now.

So I don't much care if he hears a Dua Lipa song where she drops an F-bomb, as long as he knows we don't say those words and certainly not outside the house. But I'd rather not have to explain, say, Aqualung just yet. Or why a big-legged woman ain't got no soul.

With Rush, I can't think of any songs that touch on things I don't want to talk to him about. We can listen to Tom Sawyer and talk about what it means that his mind isn't for rent to any god or government. We can listen to the Fear series and talk about what we're afraid of (and also laugh at the fact that they're numbered backwards). We can talk about the Manhattan Project (though I had to explain they were in the desert, not in Manhattan). Or Subdivisions, and how kids can be mean. Or Roll the Bones, and how lucky we are. etc. etc.

He's never asked about Passage to Bangkok, but even if he did, eh, no big deal.

We mostly listen to PW and the following albums, so maybe there are deep cuts on the early records that are inappropriate. But I doubt it.

Anyway I just think it's a rare gift for a band to put out that many records that speak to adults but also have beautiful ideas you can talk to a kid about.