The one song Geddy Lee wishes he’d written
The revelation came as Geddy Lee wass set to begin a book tour for his new memoir, My Effin Life, which is due for release on November 14th. In the run-up, the Rush bassist, vocalist and occasional keyboard player had been reflecting on his musical journey and influences.
Speaking to CBS News in a recent interview, Lee was asked about the songs that have inspired him. When asked to name his musical idols, Lee rapidly replied with The Who. He has been a long-time fan of the British rock band and frequently cited them as an act that gave great impetus to his own work.
Therefore, when the follow-up question was for Lee to name the song that he wishes he had written, it came as little surprise that he once again went with a classic from The Who. “‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’,” the Rush man quickly responded.
The nearly nine-minute song was released by The Who back in 1971. Taken from their album Who’s Next, the track reached number 15 in the US. However, it was its epic scope that had the biggest impact on Lee as he later wrote his own rock operas, like the 20-minute track ‘2112’ with Rush.
It’s not just the band’s songs he loved, when noting their album Who’s Next? as one of the best ever made, “That album embodies all the best things about rock and roll. Great songwriting, great playing. Almost every tune is a classic,” Lee told Classic Rock. By the time it was released, Lee was already fronting Rush and cited that album as a major influence on him and his bandmates, who’d play Who tracks as they rehearsed.
Later in the quick-fire interview, he also revealed his favourite Rush track, explaining that it was ‘The Garden’ from their 2012 record Clockwork Angels, the final album that the band released in their discography prior to the passing of the drummer Neil Peart in 2020.
Lee’s new memoir discusses all of this and more. As the synopsis reads: “For the first time is his account of life inside and outside the band. Long before Rush accumulated more consecutive gold and platinum records than any rock band after the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, before the seven Grammy nominations or the countless electrifying live performances across the globe, Geddy Lee was Gershon Eliezer Weinrib, after his grandfather murdered in the Holocaust.”
It continues: “As he recounts the transformation, Lee looks back on his family, in particular his loving parents and their horrific experiences as teenagers during World War II.”
Before concluding: “He talks candidly about his childhood and the pursuit of music that led him to drop out of high school. He tracks the history of Rush which, after early struggles, exploded into one of the most beloved bands of all time. He shares intimate stories of his lifelong friendships with bandmates Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart – deeply mourning Peart’s recent passing-and reveals his obsessions in music and beyond.”
But there is no more obvious an example of Lee’s true passion than in his appreciation for both The Who and Entwistle, a man favourably known as The Ox, who would provide so much stability for Lee’s style. About the song with The Who, ‘My Generation’, Lee once said: “Seriously? A Pop song with bass solos? John ‘The Ox’ Entwistle was arguably the greatest rock bassist of them all, daring to take the role and sound of the bass guitar and push it out of the murky depths while strutting those amazing chops with his own kind of ‘Twang!’”
Watch the interview with CBS News below.
