The son of Serbian immigrants, Nenad & Melka Zivojinovich, Lifeson was raised in Toronto, Ontario. Lifeson plays guitar, plays the occasional bass pedals and composes for the rock group Rush. Lifeson's solo album, Victor, was released in 1996.
Outside of music, he owns and operates a small consumer-products design, engineering, and manufacturing firm The Omega Concern, as a gourmet chef is part owner of the Toronto restaurant The Orbit Room, and is a licensed aircraft pilot and motorcycle operator.
Along with his colleagues Geddy Lee and Neil Peart, Lifeson was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996. The trio were the first rock musicians so honoured.
Promise
Alex Lifeson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A million more days
One more smoke
Release me from my ways
Break the mold
Break you're back
Break the promise you made
Seek the world now
Make you're promise today
Leave the safety
Leave this life
Leave before it's too late
It's your only chance
Don't pretend romance
Keep the new promise you made
What if I wasn't so scared?
Why can't I be brave?
I've forgotten all that we shared
You can't give me what I crave
One more glass
Take another pill
One more day
I feel like I could kill
What if you let me walk away?
You think it's me who needs to be saved
Your life a tragic, self-centered play
You never gave me what I craved
What I want
You can never give
What you want
My dead life to live
Break the mold
Break you're back
Break the promise you made
Seek the world now
Don't look back
Make you're promise today
Leave the safety
Leave this life
Leave before it's too late
It's your only chance
Don't pretend romance
Keep the new promise you made
Break the mold
Break you're back
Break the promise you made
Seek the world now
Don't look back
Make you're promise today
Leave the safety
Leave this life
Leave before it's too late
Seek the world now
Don't look back
Make your promise today
Keep the new promise you made
Keep the new promise you made
The lyrics of Alex Lifeson's "Promise" revolve around the idea of breaking free from one's past and making a new promise to oneself to start anew. The song talks about the struggles of addiction and the internal conflict between holding on to past habits and desires versus seeking a better future. The singer longs to break the promises he made to himself, to leave his old life behind and seek new beginnings. He repeatedly emphasizes the importance of making the promise today and not looking back.
The first few lines of the song suggest addiction problems - "One more glass, a million more days, one more smoke, release me from my ways." These lines depict the struggle of those struggling with addiction to quit for good. The singer is determined to break away from his past, and he believes that it can only happen if he breaks the promise he made to himself.
The chorus, which repeats throughout the song, emphasizes that this is the singer's one chance to change his life, to make a new promise, and not to give in to the temptation of slipping back to old habits. The song concludes with an emphasis on the new promise the singer has made, urging him to keep it.
Overall, "Promise" is a powerful song that speaks to the internal struggles and conflicts of those trying to overcome addiction.
Line by Line Meaning
One more glass
Desiring an extra drink to calm my inner storm
A million more days
Longing for a path that stretches on for an eternal phase
One more smoke
Inhaling a puff to escape from my own ways
Release me from my ways
Breaking free from my usual patterns to see a better day
Break the mold
Going beyond the ordinary to reach new heights untold
Break your back
Put in enormous effort to achieve the desired track
Break the promise you made
Breaking out of the promises that you made to yourself in the past
Seek the world now
Aquest for exploring the world with a new vigor and vow
Don't look back
Avoiding the past and looking forward for a new track
Make your promise today
Making a new promise to explore and pave the way
Leave the safety
Leaving the comfort zone that could be detrimental to safety
Leave this life
Letting go of the current mundane routine and strife
Leave before it's too late
Leaving right now to avoid being too late for the fate
It's your only chance
This is the only way forward, take a stance
Don't pretend romance
Avoiding to get swept up in passion and chance
Break the mold
Going beyond the ordinary to reach new heights untold
What if I wasn't so scared?
Wondering how different things could have been without fear faired
Why can't I be brave?
Aching for guts and courage to my being engrave
I've forgotten all that we shared
Forgetting past memories and moving ahead unimpaired
You can't give me what I crave
The other person cannot provide the needed love and stave
Take another pill
Desiring another pill to handle extreme chills
I feel like I could kill
Feeling intense emotional turmoil that might just spill
What if you let me walk away?
Thinking what might happen if allowed to leave this day
You think it's me who needs to be saved
The other person believes that it's not them who needs a lifesave
Your life a tragic, self-centered play
Believing the other person to be self-centered in their own way
You never gave me what I craved
The other person never provided what was needed to be saved
What I want
My desired love, not something to flaunt
You can never give
The other person cannot provide the love needed to again live
What you want
Other person wants my life to be a new haunt
My dead life to live
A new life to begin and to relive
Seek the world now
Aquest for exploring the world with a new vigor and vow
Don't look back
Avoiding the past and looking forward for a new track
Make your promise today
Making a new promise to explore and pave the way
Keep the new promise you made
Sticking to the new promise made for life to pervade
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: THOMAS RANDOLPH BELL, WILLIAM ALEXANDER HART
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
lifeson241
I Agree! I think Alex's guitar work is amazing
xxxx15us
This came out over 4 years before My Favorite Headache. After the Counterparts tour ended in 1994 the whole band wanted to take time off. Neil tutored under Freddie Gruber and did the Buddy Rich tribute project and wrote his first book, Geddy had a daughter and spent time with her, and Alex decided to use his time to make an album. He and his wife were going through a bit of a hard time and that inspired a lot of the dark stuff but it deals with all aspects; love, hate, humor, sadness, etc.
MadTheDJ
What happened was, Geddy and his wife knew they were expecting another child, so Geddy asked the band for a year off to be with his family (so as not to have to be working and touring and away from them). Neil then finished the Buddy Rich tribute recording, which led directly to him working with Freddie Gruber, as he knew he had a year away from Rush. Alex decided to use that year to assemble Victor (the band) as a solo project and to record an album. Toward the end of that year off, Neil asked for six more months to keep working with Freddie. This gives Alex ample time to finish Victor's album.
So yeah, if it hadn't been for Geddy's daughter being born, Neil might not have had time to study under Freddie (or at least not right then, though he was feeling discontent with his playing at the time, regardless, which is why he sought Freddie out), Alex wouldn't have done Victor and what became Test For Echo might have been a very different album, released a year or so earlier than it was.
Jonno2summit
Love this song. Alex and this group stand alone as awesome.
Dave's Kritter Kingdom & guitar covers coming soon
Freaking epic album! I just love this song.
mr427mla
We need a better copy of this awesome song!
lifeson241
Awesome song..It's just friggen awesome !
Em Jo
This album was a sleeper. Most songs are at least good, and some are great. As an aside, I have to point out the exchange between Youtubers xxxx15us, Nocturne2112, Kennyplay, and Ty Anderson is perhaps the longest straight string of intelligent dialogue I've yet seen on YT--devoid of insults, or flaming, and not riddled with spelling errors. Refreshing.
Chris Brett
it is the only musical collection that never leaves my 8gig iPod. it is an amazing array of music. the lounge act makes search for concept easy. and I Mother Earth is one of the best bands ever. one more astronaut.
DamienDrake
8 gigs!? Holy crap! Everybody watch out!
I kid, I kid. My first mp3 player only had 4 gigs of storage. Man did I learn fast just how inadequate that was!