The Rush song Geddy Lee was disappointed in: “It was the worst on the record”
From day one, Rush always marched to the beat of their drum. Although the prog-rock trio may have started life in a slightly different place from where they ended up, the internal chemistry between them ultimately led to the most forward-looking rock and roll ever conceived, from the brilliant prog-rock exercises of 2112 to the criminally underrated synthesiser period of the 1980s. Although Geddy Lee was often proud that the band took risks, he admitted being disappointed when hearing one classic for the first time.
For as adventurous as the band were, though, the road to becoming prog giants didn’t come easy. When the band first got their start playing complex material, they initially were in danger of being dropped by their label because of their lack of commercial potential. Once the concept behind 2112 sent them into the stratosphere, the group won their artistic freedom, leading to them creating one epic after the next across albums like A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres.
By the time the band started to make complex material, they could see themselves hitting a wall. Not being able to perform some of their songs on record, their next venture would see them making a new leap on the album Permanent Waves, featuring a host of shorter songs with a prog aesthetic.
Although tracks like ‘The Spirit of Radio’ signalled where the band would be going next, it wasn’t until Moving Pictures that the band truly became global superstars. Spawning singles like ‘Red Barchetta’ and ‘Limelight’, Rush would become one of the biggest bands in the world overnight, anchored by the cornerstone song ‘Tom Sawyer’.
While the track may have been a long song by rock radio standards, the hooks behind it were too bountiful to ignore, with Lee’s unique synthesiser lines offset by one of the greatest drum breaks of all time halfway through the song by Neil Peart. While the band was proud to have written a punchy song, but Lee had mixed feelings about hearing the final mix at first.
When discussing the track, Lee thought that the band didn’t capture what they could on the final version, saying, “I remember being disappointed in the studio, thinking we really didn’t capture the spirit of the song. We thought it was the worst song on the record at the time – but it all came together in the mix. Sometimes you don’t have the objectivity to know when you’re doing your best work”.
Despite his reservations, the song would turn into a completely different animal live, featuring the band playing their hearts out on every one of their instruments. Regardless of the sonic value of the final track, even Neil Peart would say that he loved the track, saying that he never got tired of performing it because of the constant challenges that come with playing it.
‘Tom Sawyer’ would also become a precursor to where the band went next, with keyboards dominating the stereo mix on later albums like Signals and Grace Under Pressure. Rush may have been known for going down every musical avenue they could think of, but this tune is arguably the bridge between both sides of their sonic identity.
