Lyrics to
Xanadu

This version of Xanadu was released by Rush in 1977.

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‘To seek the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise…’

I had heard the whispered tales of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops of eastern lands unknown
Time and Man alone
Searching for the lost Xanadu

Xanadu…

To stand within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise

A thousand years have come and gone but time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end, weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost
Xanadu

Xanadu…

Held within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honeydew
And drunk the milk of Paradise

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Rush has released many songs over the years besides Xanadu. 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.

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About Lyrics and Xanadu by Rush

When you decide to study the lyrics to Xanadu, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1977 song by Rush. Some of the lyrics to Xanadu 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 Xanadu 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 Xanadu" means the words set to the music of Xanadu, 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 Xanadu and the lyrics to Xanadu 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 Xanadu, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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