Story Behind The Song: 45 years of Rush song ‘Closer to the Heart’
By 1977, Rush had been together for nearly ten years. In that time, the Canadian prog-rockers had gone from a little-known Ontario garage rock outfit to one of the most promising rock bands on the scene. Their 1974 self-titled debut won them modest success, with ‘Working Man’ resonating with blue-collar rock fans in places like Cleveland, where Donna Haper, a local DJ, had added the track to her station’s regular playlist, singlehandedly winning Rush a whole new legion of dedicated fans.
Rush may easily have written ‘Closer To The Heart’ with these new listeners in mind. “And men who hold high places,” Geddy Lee sings in the opening verse, his eyes on America’s bitterly divided senators, “must be the ones to start to mould a new reality / Closer to the heart.” In this particular song, goodness and harmonious conduct have radical power.
Indeed, it is not just the political elite Rush are interested in. In the second verse, craftsmen (songwriters and blacksmiths) are used as examples of people who are always “[forging] their creativity closer to the heart.” Though separated by circumstance, philosophers and ploughmen must also “sow a new mentality closer to the heart.”
Rush recorded ‘Closer To The Heart’ and all the other songs on A Farewell To Kings at Rockfield Studios in Wales. In the June of 1977, the band had just wrapped up their enormous 16-month tour supporting their previous album, 2112. Rather than taking a well-deserved break, Rush (now with added Neil peart) decided to record the follow-up right away.
Finding the right place to record proved immensely difficult, with producer Terry Brown conducting extensive research before finally settling on a secluded studio in rural Monmouthshire. It was perfect. Rockfield offered Rush the solitude and privacy they needed to write, rehearse and record. In just three weeks, the album was complete.
‘Closer To The Heart’ immediately stood out. Both in terms of structure and texture, it was immediately evocative of Led Zeppelin – especially when it came to Geddy Lee’s lead vocal line. Upon the single’s release, Rush’s suspicion that they were onto a winner proved correct. By February 1978, it had reached number 36 in the UK singles chart, earning the band their first UK hit. On both sides of the Atlantic, fans spotted something universal in ‘Closer To The Heart’, and today it remains one of the band’s most popular live tracks.
Introducing the song during Restropsective I in 1997, Geddy Lee recalled, “There was such a demand to hear it, and we’d stopped playing it for a while. It’s always resonated with people for some reason, and it was a hit as far as we’ve ever had a hit. It got us on the radio, the kinds of radio that would never normally associate with us, so it was as close as we ever came to a pop song, especially at that point. Over here in the UK, it had that effect, and in the US too.”
