Following the band's dissolution, singer and guitarist Guy Picciotto, guitarist Eddie Janney, and drummer Brendan Canty formed One Last Wish with Embrace alumnus Michael Hampton. The three later joined former Rites bassist Mike Fellows for a quasi-reincarnation of Rites of Spring named Happy Go Licky, releasing an LP/CD of various live concert recordings though never producing any studio work. Picciotto and Canty eventually teamed up with the former Embrace singer Ian MacKaye (owner of the band’s label, Dischord Records) in Fugazi.
Rites of Spring was the band’s self-titled debut album from 1985. Its twelve songs were recorded at Inner Ear Studios in February of 1985, and released on vinyl in June of that year as Dischord Records #16. The album was rereleased on CD and cassette in 1987, with an additional track from the same session, "Other Way Around", as well as the four songs from the Rites' follow-up EP, All Through a Life, Dischord #22. The CD and cassette originally retained the number "16" while the 1991 repress, as well as the 2001 remastered version of the same seventeen songs, were numbered "16CD" and given the new title End on End.
The band are named after Igor Stravinsky's famous ballet composition entitled The Rite of Spring/Le Sacre du printemps. The piece is widely dissonant and the context of the ballet is extremely bleak, revolving around pagan rituals.
Spring
Rites of Spring Lyrics
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Reaching out to find a way to get back to where we'd been
And if summer left you dry with nothing left to try
This Time...... Caught at a distance from myself and there was no one there to know
What could I do?
I have learned sometimes a need can run too deep and we throw away the things
We most wanted to keep and inside we lie over and over again
If you don't know you'd better learn to believe me
When I say I'm going to build a wall around this town Around these hearts and hands.
The lyrics to Rites of Spring's song "Spring" are about the struggle to find oneself and one's heart's desires. The opening lines, "Caught in time so far away from where our hearts really wanted to be / Reaching out to find a way to get back to where we'd been," express a feeling of being lost and disconnected from one's true desires. The following lyrics, "And if summer left you dry with nothing left to try / This Time...... Caught at a distance from myself and there was no one there to know," convey a sense of disillusionment and loneliness, as if the singer has lost touch with their own identity.
As the song progresses, the lyrics suggest that the singer has made mistakes in the past and may have given up on their true goals. The lines, "I have learned sometimes a need can run too deep and we throw away the things / We most wanted to keep and inside we lie over and over again," speak to the idea of self-sabotage and the difficulty of holding onto one's dreams in the face of fear, doubt, and self-doubt.
The final lines, "If you don't know you'd better learn to believe me / When I say I'm going to build a wall around this town / Around these hearts and hands," suggest a desire for protection and a willingness to take charge of one's own life. Overall, "Spring" is a deeply introspective and contemplative song that explores themes of identity, desire, and the struggle for self-realization.
Line by Line Meaning
Caught in time so far away from where our hearts really wanted to be
Stuck in a moment far removed from the desires of our heart
Reaching out to find a way to get back to where we'd been
Striving to return to a place we've been before
And if summer left you dry with nothing left to try
When summertime offers no more opportunities
This Time...... Caught at a distance from myself and there was no one there to know
Yet again, I find myself separated and alone without anyone to see
What could I do?
What choices were available to me?
I have learned sometimes a need can run too deep and we throw away the things We most wanted to keep and inside we lie over and over again
I've realized that sometimes our needs surpass what we hold dear and we end up with empty hands and a deceitful heart
This Time......
Once again, we're in the same situation
If you don't know you'd better learn to believe me When I say I'm going to build a wall around this town Around these hearts and hands.
Trust me when I say that I shall create a barrier around this place and our emotions.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Y, GREGORY SLIJGER, JERRELEY ZANIAN JOHN SLIJGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind