The Fountain of Lamneth is the fifth song from Rush

Rush (band)

Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...

's third album Caress of Steel

Caress of Steel

Caress of Steel is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1975. The album shows more of Rush's adherence to hard progressive rock, as opposed to the blues-based heavy metal and hard rock style of the band's first two albums. Long pieces broken up into various sections and...

. The music was written by Geddy Lee

Geddy Lee

Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...

 and Alex Lifeson

Alex Lifeson

Aleksandar Živojinović, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey...

 and the lyrics were written by Neil Peart

Neil Peart

Neil Ellwood Peart , OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is the drummer for the rock band Rush.Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario . During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer...

. It chronicles a man's journey to find the Fountain of Lamneth. It consists of six parts:

1. • "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

Cygnus X-1 series

The Cygnus X-1 duology is a duology of songs by Canadian progressive rock band Rush. It consists of "Book I: The Voyage" and "Book II: Hemispheres". Book I is the last song on the A Farewell to Kings album, while Book II is the first song on 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".