History Music / AFarewellToKings

''A Farewell to Kings'' is the fifth studio album by the Canadian ProgressiveRock band Music/{{Rush|Band}}, released in 1977. The followup to their BreakthroughHit ''[[Music/TwentyOneTwelve 2112]]'', it continues in a similar style, although it takes a more philosophically mature approach to the themes used in that album, and it is also the only of the band's albums in this period not to contain a side-length epic. Like the previous release, it was commercially successful, spawning the hit single "Closer to the Heart", and is well liked by fans, also containing fan favourites "Xanadu" and "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage". The latter of these was another ScienceFiction RockOpera whose story would be continued on the band's next album ''Music/{{Hemispheres}}''.

!!Personnel

[[AC: Band]]

* Geddy Lee: vocals, bass and twelve-string guitar, Minimoog, bass pedal synthesizers
* Alex Lifeson: electric and acoustic six- and twelve-string guitars, classical guitar, bass pedal synthesizers
* Neil Peart: drums, orchestra bells, wind chimes, bell tree, vibraslap, triangle, tubular bells, temple blocks

[[AC: Guests]]

* Terry Brown: spoken vocals on "Cygnus X-1"

[[AC: Side One]]

[[AC: Side Two]]

Every nerve is torn apart...''

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The second half of "Xanadu" is about [[spoiler:how miserable the protagonist is after achieving immortality]].

''A Farewell to Kings'' is the fifth studio album by the Canadian ProgressiveRock band Music/{{Rush}}, released in 1977. The followup to their BreakthroughHit ''[[Music/TwentyOneTwelve 2112]]'', it continues in a similar style, although it takes a more philosophically mature approach to the themes used in that album, and it is also the only of the band's albums in this period not to contain a side-length epic. Like the previous release, it was commercially successful, spawning the hit single "Closer to the Heart", and is well liked by fans, also containing fan favourites "Xanadu" and "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage". The latter of these was another ScienceFiction RockOpera whose story would be continued on the band's next album ''Music/{{Hemispheres}}''.

* FilkSong: "Xanadu" is based on Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge's [[WhatCouldHaveBeen legendarily unfinished poem]] "Literature/KublaKhan".

* BlackHole: A central focus of "Cygnus X-1".

* {{Cliffhanger}}: "Cygnus X-1" ends with [[spoiler:the protagonist being pulled into a BlackHole]].

* NoEnding: "Cygnus X-1" ends with [[spoiler:the protagonist being pulled into a BlackHole]]. {{Justified|Trope}}, as the plot is continued on the next album.
* NothingIsScarier: At the end of Cygnus "X-1", [[spoiler:after the protagonist is pulled into the BlackHole, the only things left are some eerie chords from Lifeson's guitar and a faint sample of a beating heart.]]

!!Tropes

'''''A Farewell to Kings''''' is the fifth studio album by the Canadian ProgressiveRock band Music/{{Rush}}, released in 1977. The followup to their BreakthroughHit ''[[Music/TwentyOneTwelve 2112]]'', it continues in a similar style, although it takes a more philosophically mature approach to the themes used in that album, and it is also the only of the band's albums in this period not to contain a side-length epic. Like the previous release, it was commercially successful, spawning the hit single "Closer to the Heart", and is well liked by fans, also containing fan favourites "Xanadu" and "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage". The latter of these was another ScienceFiction RockOpera whose story would be continued on the band's next album ''Music/{{Hemispheres}}''.

'''''A Farewell to Kings''''' is the fifth studio album by the Canadian ProgressiveRock band Music/{{Rush}}, released in 1977. The followup to their BreakthroughHit ''[[Music/TwentyOneTwelve 2112]]'', it continues in a similar style, although it takes a more philosophically mature approach to the themes used in that album, and it is also the only of the band's albums in this period not to contain a side-length epic. Like the previous release, it was commercially successful, spawning the hit single "Closer to the Heart" and containing fan favourites "Xanadu" and "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage". The latter of these was another ScienceFiction RockOpera whose story would be continued on the band's next album ''Music/{{Hemispheres}}''.

* LastNoteNightmare: "Cygnus X-1"

* TitleTrack: "A Farewell to Kings"

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The second half of "Xanadu" is about how miserable the protagonist is after achieving immortality.

* DownerEnding: "Xanadu". A man finds the secret to immortality, but at the price of never leaving the titular palace. A thousand years later, he's been driven mad and is desperately wishing for death.

* NoEnding: "Cygnus X-1" ends with the protagonist being pulled into a BlackHole. {{Justified|Trope}}, as the plot is continued on the next album.