The Rush song that reminds Geddy Lee of Neil Peart
When Neil Peart tragically passed away in 2020, it was a dark day for the music industry. Although Rush had retired from touring five years earlier and had decided to conclude their story, Geddy Lee still held out hope for sharing the stage with Peart once again, which tragically wasn’t to be.
Peart was the main instigator behind Rush’s decision to retire, as he wanted to spend more time with his family. In 2023, Lee admitted to holding “resentment” towards the drummer because their story would have continued if it was up to him. Furthermore, he also revealed it was a struggle to convince Peart to agree to one final lap of the world.
Due to his health struggles that ensued shortly after the tour, Peart was proved right to prioritise his family over Rush. Although Lee and Alex Lifeson would have liked to have carried on, it’s not Rush without Peart behind them. He was the beating heart of the group, their songwriter, and his arrival was crucial in shaping their legacy.
The Canadian prog-rock trio released their final album, Clockwork Angels, in 2012. The LP was recorded over the previous two years, and the three rock titans collided for one last outing. At the time, they didn’t know this would be their parting gift to the world and one track from the record he holds extreme fondness towards.
The track in question is the album closer, ‘The Garden’, which has become more important to Lee following Peart’s passing. Clockwork Angels was a passion project for the drummer, who used the album to create a fictional world, and a lead character who sets out to conquer his dreams, concluding on ‘The Garden’, where he realises what truly matters in life.
Although the song isn’t one of Rush’s most well-known tracks, it’s the track that reminds Lee most of Peart. He explained to Vulture: “‘The Garden’ from Clockwork Angels. It’s because of the nature and almost foreboding atmosphere of that song in terms of what eventually happened with my friend and bandmate. The statement of that song talked so much about where he had found himself in life. Many times I’ve thought about … well, it’s hard for me to listen to ‘The Garden’ without thinking about him unknowingly at the end of his life.”
Lee continued: “I remember Alex and I had been throwing some ideas around in my home studio here in Toronto. He had gone for the day, and I came into the studio the next morning, listened back to some of these little ideas, and started playing on my bass. ‘The Garden’ just came out. I put together the intro with a little bit of a synthesiser part, and it moved so beautifully into the verses. Alex came in the next day, and it also made perfect sense to him.”
The bassist concluded: “The whole experience of making ‘The Garden’ from the beginning through the end was a real joy for us.”
By the time most bands reach their final album, their best days are comfortably behind them, and they are a shadow of their former selves. However, Rush is a different story and Lee’s remarks about ‘The Garden’ show they left on a high note.
