Defend the Indefensible: Rap in the Middle of "Roll the Bones" (Rush)

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"...gonna kick some gluteus max.
It's a parallax, you dig?"

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:16 (twenty years ago)

The video in which a skeleton with sunglasses performs said rap:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wU9U7FQPPgA&search=rush%20roll%20the%20bones

― caspar (caspar), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:34 (twenty years ago)

It's dreadful, but certainly no less cringe-worthy than KRS-One's unforgivable cameo in REM's "Radio Song."

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 March 2006 11:38 (twenty years ago)

that rapping skelton....

― latebloomer: a nice guy, i like him just fine, but he's a mouth breather (latebl, Monday, 27 March 2006 12:00 (twenty years ago)

oh crap i just opened up an oppurtunity for someone to post jpegs of red skelton and some random rapper...wait to go, me!

― latebloomer: a nice guy, i like him just fine, but he's a mouth breather (latebl, Monday, 27 March 2006 12:01 (twenty years ago)

it was like Peart had read about rap but never heard it

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 27 March 2006 13:03 (twenty years ago)

c'mon, he's canadian.

― baby, disco is fuck (yournullfame), Monday, 27 March 2006 13:22 (twenty years ago)

Protection
For Gangs, Clubs
And Nations
Causing Grief In
Human Relations
It’s A Turf War
On A Global Scale
I’d Rather Hear Both Sides
Of The Tale
See, It’s Not About Races
Just Places
Faces
Where Your Blood
Comes From
Is Where Your Space Is
I’ve Seen The Bright
Get Duller
I’m Not Going To Spend
My Life Being A Color

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 27 March 2006 13:22 (twenty years ago)

Would it have been any better with McCauley Culkin lip-synching it?

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 27 March 2006 13:55 (twenty years ago)

still better than kevin federline

― which gets more streed cred, being the guy who knocked up britney spears or bein, Monday, 27 March 2006 13:56 (twenty years ago)

Is that a trick question?

xpost

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 27 March 2006 13:56 (twenty years ago)

C'mon, everybody knows that white Jewish Canadians INVENTED rap!

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 27 March 2006 16:52 (twenty years ago)

geT BUSY WITH THE FACTS!

it's rig the small get big!

this rap has given me more fun and pleasure than many actually good raps! so maybe it's actually good! for sure hilarious and dorky and bonkers in that middlebrow canadian way that only my boyz from the great white north could master....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 27 March 2006 16:56 (twenty years ago)

to echo what alex said upthread: this isn't THAT much worse than the "rapping" on "my name is prince." and the videos for "roll the bones" and "my name is prince" were equally ridiculous.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 27 March 2006 17:10 (twenty years ago)

It's goofy and stupid, but not indefensible. I like it as much as Barney Sumner gettin' jiggy with it on the first Electronic album ("Feel Every Beat," "Idiot Country").

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 27 March 2006 17:11 (twenty years ago)

rapping skeleton

― Lets Do Lunch, Monday, 27 March 2006 17:20 (twenty years ago)

it's not as bad as the style council rap song or the rap in the middle of that that petrol emotion song.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 27 March 2006 17:22 (twenty years ago)

and it's not as bad as madonna's terrible rap either.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 27 March 2006 17:23 (twenty years ago)

which one?

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 27 March 2006 17:36 (twenty years ago)

I used to keep a stash of emergency cash inside my promo copy of Roll the Bones because I knew that none of my roommates nor any house guests would ever open it.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 27 March 2006 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Better than the Barenaked Ladies.

― xhuxk, Monday, 27 March 2006 17:45 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, it's not great but I don't actually mind this so much as a goofy throwaway novelty song (i.e. not a massive radio smash) although it's become a whipping post for everyone who just doesn't like Rush anyway to make fun of. It's at least more fun than "Nobody's Hero", which was just dull. It was unfortunately pretty unavoidable in Canada for some time. I'll admit I was embarrassed to see them play it live during the Vapor Trails tour, completed with animated skeleton on the video screens and band members hamming it up.

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 27 March 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

nobody's hero's lyrics are pretty dire, "social commentary" by peart! yikes!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 27 March 2006 18:13 (twenty years ago)

Man, that rap part in the video is great! Does anyone actually expect a rapping skeleton with sunglasses to "keep it real"?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 27 March 2006 18:14 (twenty years ago)

keepin' it real wierd!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 27 March 2006 18:19 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

respect the real

Jack -- relax.
Get busy with the facts.
No zodiacs or almanacs,
No maniacs in polyester slacks.
Just the facts.
Gonna kick some gluteus max.
Its a parallax -- you dig?
You move around
The small gets big. its a rig.
Its action -- reaction --
Random interaction.
So whos afraid
Of a little abstraction?
Cant get no satisfaction
From the facts?
You better run, homeboy --
A facts a fact
From nome to rome, boy.

Whats the deal? spin the wheel.
If the dice are hot -- take a shot.
Play your cards. show us what you got --
What youre holding.
If the cards are cold,
Dont go folding.
Lady luck is golden;
She favors the bold. thats cold.
Stop throwing stones --
The night has a thousand saxophones.
So get out there and rock,
And roll the bones.
Get busy!

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 7 December 2007 22:36 (eighteen years ago)

"I used to keep a stash of emergency cash inside my promo copy of Roll the Bones because I knew that none of my roommates nor any house guests would ever open it."

I used to keep acid in the first Sodom LP for the same reason. I knew no one would go "hey, let's listen to some Sodom!".

― Nate Carson, Saturday, 8 December 2007 04:54 (eighteen years ago)

Its action -- reaction --
Random interaction.
So whos afraid
Of a little abstraction?
Cant get no satisfaction

Peart certainly loves his "-tion"s

― Joe, Sunday, 9 December 2007 04:20 (eighteen years ago)

"-tion"s are a very hot suffix these days among those in the rhyming know.

― Z S, Sunday, 9 December 2007 04:24 (eighteen years ago)

three years pass...

From Nome to Rome, boy.

― buzza, Saturday, 29 October 2011 06:35 (fourteen years ago)

three years pass...

It's a parallax you dig?

― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 27 March 2015 14:18 (eleven years ago)

I love these guys, and I get that the song is meant to be a bit silly, but it's just the worst

― Free Me's Electric Trumpet (Moodles), Friday, 27 March 2015 14:21 (eleven years ago)

Whole album is pretty terrible, with a few exceptions

― Free Me's Electric Trumpet (Moodles), Friday, 27 March 2015 14:21 (eleven years ago)

Its action -- reaction --
Random interaction.
So whos afraid
Of a little abstraction?
Cant get no satisfaction

This is overkill to the point of abuse
Rhyme Crime

― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 27 March 2015 14:22 (eleven years ago)

I like Rush plenty, but no way am I going to try and defend this!

― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Friday, 27 March 2015 22:25 (eleven years ago)

Huge rapping skeleton fan, so this is a good song for me.

― Tomás Piñon (Ryan), Friday, 27 March 2015 22:33 (eleven years ago)

huh. somehow I never saw this video.

https://vimeo.com/99605187

― how's life, Saturday, 28 March 2015 09:57 (eleven years ago)

I love the acoustic guitar on this.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 28 March 2015 11:44 (eleven years ago)

one month passes...

i avoided listening to this song forever because I knew this was in it; finally did. it really ruins an otherwise great song.

― akm, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 03:38 (eleven years ago)

Do live recordings of "Roll the Bones" without the rap exist?

― Tomás Piñon (Ryan), Wednesday, 27 May 2015 05:25 (eleven years ago)

Probably not? Here it is in Dallas last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMIcnsPr7Y

― how's life, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 09:30 (eleven years ago)

the small gets big, it's a rig

― ciderpress, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 13:28 (eleven years ago)

Celebrities, they're just like us, they like Rush.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 13:32 (eleven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5OuFx-dSI0

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 30 May 2015 11:35 (eleven years ago)

Nice to see Hot Chip popping up in the live clip upthread

― MaresNest, Saturday, 30 May 2015 16:16 (eleven years ago)

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