The Fountain of Lamneth

"The Fountain of Lamneth"
Song by Rush from the album Caress of Steel
Genre Heavy metal, Progressive rock, Hard rock
Length 19:58
Label Mercury Records
Writer Lee and Lifeson
Lyrics by Peart
Producer Rush & Terry Brown
Caress of Steel track listing
"The Necromancer"
(4)		 "The Fountain of Lamneth"
(5)

The Fountain of Lamneth is the fifth song from Rush's third album Caress of Steel. The music was written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson and the lyrics were written by Neil Peart. It chronicles a man's journey to find the Fountain of Lamneth. It consists of six parts:

    • "I. In the Valley" – 4:18
    • "II. Didacts and Narpets" – 1:00
    • "III. No One at the Bridge" – 4:19
    • "IV. Panacea" (music: Lee) – 3:14
    • "V. Bacchus Plateau" (music: Lee) – 3:16
    • "VI. The Fountain" – 3:49

Song information

"The Fountain of Lamneth" is the first of three sidelong epics Rush would write. It is broken into six smaller parts; however, unlike later extended songs such as "La Villa Strangiato", "Xanadu" and "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres," the individual parts "The Fountain of Lamneth" do not segue seamlessly, but rather each segment fades out as the next fades in.

Regarding "Didacts and Narpets" (which consists mostly of a drum solo), in the October 1991 news release from the Rush Backstage Club, Neil Peart said: "Okay, I may have answered this before, but if not, the shouted words in that song represent an argument between Our Hero and the Didacts and Narpets - teachers and parents. I honestly can't remember what the actual words were, but they took up opposite positions like: "Work! Live! Earn! Give!" and like that." A didact is a teacher, and "narpet" is an anagram of "parent".