Red Tide

An environmental song about pollution and ecological destruction — the "red tide" being both a literal phenomenon (harmful algal blooms) and a metaphor for the spreading damage humans inflict on their world. Peart's lyrics are pointed without being preachy.

The arrangement balances the album's new guitar prominence with tasteful keyboard textures, creating an atmospheric backdrop for the environmental message. It's one of the more sonically lush tracks on what is generally a leaner record than its predecessors.

"Red Tide" connects to the environmental concerns Peart had touched on in "Second Nature" from Hold Your Fire, but with a more direct and less abstractly philosophical approach.