Out of the Cradle

Background and Commentary

In the Vapor Trails tour book, Neil attributes the title and one of the key lines of “Out of the Cradle” to Walt Whitman’s 1859 poem about his birth as a poet, “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking.” In the poem, the key word is death, because the poet cannot be born until the poet’s self dies. In the song, the key word appears to be love, because that’s the force that has the power to renew life endlessly: “Surge of energy, spark of inspiration / the breath of love is electricity . . . here we come out of the cradle / endlessly rocking.”—Rob Freedman, Rush Vault

The song was one of the first written for the album, and during that creative process, the piece “underwent some serious surgery as time passed, and that was the kind of relaxed approach we were taking, allowing us to reexamine songs with the luxury of perspective, and repair or replace any parts that didn’t survive that test of time. Sometimes a developing song seemed to lose momentum, or our faith (the critical force), and was abandoned, but that had always been our version of “natural selection.”—Neil in Vapor Trails tour book

The piece comes last on the album, a signal to at least one music writer that the band was ready to shift back into work mode. “Rush fans hoping to see more of the band may take comfort from the album’s final song. “Out of the Cradle,” ends on a hopeful note with triumphant lyrics inspired by Walt Whitman, “Here we come out of the cradle / Endlessly rocking.”—Geneen Pipher, CNN

Lyrics

It’s not a place
It’s a yearning
It’s not a race
It’s a journey

It’s not an act
It’s attraction
It’s not a style
It’s an action

It’s a dream for the waking
It’s a flower touched by flame
It’s a gift for the giving
It’s a power with a hundred names

Surge of energy, spark of inspiration
The breath of love is electricity
Maybe time is bird in flight
Endlessly mocking
Here we come out of the cradle
Endlessly rocking
Endlessly rocking

It’s a hand
That rocks the cradle
It’s a motion
That swings the sky
It’s method on the edge of madness
It’s a balance on the edge of a knife
It’s a smile on the edge of sadness
It’s a dance on the edge of life

Endlessly rocking

Tablature

By Travis Lausch

Excerpted from Ultimate Guitar.

This is only a partial tab

Intro
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||——————–5–5–5–4–||
||——————————–||
||–4p2—4p2—4p2—————||
||——2—–2—–2————-||
||——————————–||
almost sounds like bass

Verse
||————————||
||—-7—7—————||
||–4—4—4-2-2–1——||
||——————-4-2–||
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Pre Chorus/Chorus
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||–9–9-9-9–9-9-9–9-9-7–7-7-7–7-7-7–7-7-7–7-7–||
||–9–9-9-9–9-9-9–9-9-7–7-7-7–7-7-7–7-7-7–7-7–||
||–7–7-7-7–7-7-7–7-7-5–5-5-5–5-5-5–5-5-5–5-5–||
||–0–0-0-0–0-0-0–0-0-0–0-0-0–0-0-0–0-0-0–0-0–||
|
||–0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-||
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For complete tab, go to Ultimate Guitar.

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