"Then, once I have lyrics, being able to shape them around a song is nothing new for me, I've been doing that for 25 years. The soul searching part of it, the spontaneous part of it, that was, and remains, a really terrific process"
About this Quote
Geddy Lee frames songwriting less as lightning-bolt inspiration than as a two-step craft: first, the hard, private excavation; then, the practiced carpentry. He splits the process into “soul searching” and “shape,” and that division is the tell. For a musician synonymous with precision and complexity, he’s careful to demote the mechanics - “nothing new for me… 25 years” - while elevating the part that can’t be routinized. It’s a subtle recalibration of what artistry is supposed to look like when you’ve already proven you can execute.
The phrasing does quiet image management. By stressing longevity, he claims authority; by stressing spontaneity, he dodges the stereotype of the prog-rock technician who’s all intellect and no blood. “Soul searching” gives the work stakes beyond arrangement, and “spontaneous” signals that even a veteran still needs surprise to feel alive inside the material. There’s also a hint of humility: mastery doesn’t make the core mystery easier, it just makes you better at recognizing it when it shows up.
Contextually, it reads like an artist reflecting on late-career creation: the muscle memory is reliable, but it isn’t the point. The “terrific process” line isn’t gushy; it’s relief. After decades of turning emotion into structure, he’s still chasing the moment where the lyric exposes something he didn’t know he was carrying - and then trusting his craft to give that revelation a melody sturdy enough to travel.
The phrasing does quiet image management. By stressing longevity, he claims authority; by stressing spontaneity, he dodges the stereotype of the prog-rock technician who’s all intellect and no blood. “Soul searching” gives the work stakes beyond arrangement, and “spontaneous” signals that even a veteran still needs surprise to feel alive inside the material. There’s also a hint of humility: mastery doesn’t make the core mystery easier, it just makes you better at recognizing it when it shows up.
Contextually, it reads like an artist reflecting on late-career creation: the muscle memory is reliable, but it isn’t the point. The “terrific process” line isn’t gushy; it’s relief. After decades of turning emotion into structure, he’s still chasing the moment where the lyric exposes something he didn’t know he was carrying - and then trusting his craft to give that revelation a melody sturdy enough to travel.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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