Lakeside Park: Background

“‘Lakeside Park’ evokes lazy summer days and nights, the kind of life the band had given up in order to ‘make it.’ Geddy’s vocal has a poignancy that shows that at least part of him misses those carefree days. It’s the kind of song to which just about every listener can relate because most of us have a Lakeside Park of our own.”—Bill Banasiewicz, Rush Visions

“Neil grew up in Port Dalhousie, where there was an amusement park on the lakeshore. The lyrics try to capture the feelings of being adolescent and being free on Victoria Day (May 24), [Queen Victoria’s birthday and the traditional start of the summer season in Canada)].”—Robert Telleria, Merely Players

“In my early teens I achieved every Port kid’s dream: a summer job at Lakeside Park. In those days it was still a thriving and exciting whirl of rides, games, music, and lights. So many ghosts haunt that vanished midway; so many memories bring it back for me. I ran the Bubble Game—calling out ‘Catch a bubble; prize every time’ all day—and sometimes the Ball Toss game. When it wasn’t busy, I would sit at the back door and watch the kids on the trampoline. . . . I got fired.”—Neil in “A Port Boy’s Story,” quoted in Merely Players

Geddy in a 1993 Raw interview says the song makes him cringe when he hears it on the radio. If one were to guess why, it’s probably because of its unvarnished sentimentality.

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