Lyrics to Circumstances - Decade Lyrics

This version of Circumstances was released by Rush in 1978.

Our Rush Songs profile has Circumstances lyrics from 1978 and most if not all of the lyrics by Rush that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Rush or about the 1970s in general.

A boy alone, so far from home
Endless rooftops from my window
I felt the gloom of empty rooms
On rainy afternoons
Sometimes in confusion
I felt so lost and disillusioned
Innocence gave me confidence
To go up against reality

All the same we take our chances
Laughed at by time
Tricked by circumstances
Plus ca change
Plus c’est la meme chose
The more that things change
The more they stay the same

Now I’ve gained some understanding
Of the only world that we see
Things that I once dreamed of
Have become reality
These walls that still surround me
Still contain the same old me
Just one more who’s searching for
A world that ought to be

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Rush has released many songs over the years besides Circumstances. Rush released songs from 1974 to 2007 spanning across albums like Rush, Fly By Night, Caress Of Steel, 2112, A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Counterparts, Test For Echo, Vapor Trails, Feedback, and Snakes & Arrows. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Rush.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Circumstances by Rush

When you decide to study the lyrics to Circumstances, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1978 song by Rush. Some of the lyrics to Circumstances have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Rush and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Circumstances if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Circumstances" means the words set to the music of Circumstances, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Rush. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Circumstances and the lyrics to Circumstances are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Rush who came here looking just for the lyrics to Circumstances, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.