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The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)

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"The Larger Bowl"
Promotional single by Rush
from the album Snakes & Arrows
ReleasedJune 25, 2007
GenreProgressive rock, hard rock
Length4:07
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Lifeson/Lee/Peart
Producer(s)Rush & Nick Raskulinecz
Rush singles chronology
"Spindrift"
(2007)
"The Larger Bowl"
(2007)
"Caravan"
(2010)

"The Larger Bowl" is the fourth track and third single from Rush's 2007 album Snakes & Arrows.

Inspiration and lyrical structure

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The lyrics were written by the drummer and primary lyricist Neil Peart. The title was inspired by a "dysentery dream" he had while touring West Africa on his bicycle in 1988.[1]

Peart's book The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa includes a chapter entitled "The Larger Bowl" in which he describes the dream. The excerpt in which he mentions the song is as follows:

Anyway... a song was playing in the store, a plaintive ballad called "The Larger Bowl." Something about loneliness and the misfortunes of life, I recall. No such song as far as I know, but I like the title.[2]

In the early 1990s, Peart put words to the title.[1] The song is written in the form of a pantoum.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Neil Peart. The Game of Snakes and Arrows Archived 2007-04-21 at the Wayback Machine (accessed May 19, 2007).
  2. ^ Neil Peart. The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa. Lawrencetown Beach: Pottersfield Press, 1996).