Released June 25, 2007 | Length 4:07 Writer(s) Lifeson/Lee/Peart | |
Producer(s) Rush & Nick Raskulinecz | ||
"The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)" is the fourth track and third single from Rush's 2007 album Snakes & Arrows.
Inspiration and lyrical structure
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.
Neil 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.
In the early 1990s, Peart put words to the title. The song is written in the form of a pantoum.