The song that made Geddy Lee want to play music
The debate over the best bassist rarely surfaces in the world of rock music, which seems unfair considering the essential role bassists play in every band. Without solid bassists, your favourite rock bands would sound vastly different and lose much of their distinctive style. Geddy Lee, in discussing the bassists he admires most, highlights why these musicians often don’t receive the recognition they deserve.
In an interview, Lee talked about Led Zeppelin and the secret to their success. “The thing that held the whole thing down was John Paul Jones’ bass playing,” he said, “So, if you listen to ‘How Many More Times’, I mean, no matter how wild that song gets at times, there’s John Paul Jones just holding it all down in such a fluid way.”
As a bass player, it’s their job to give a structure for the group to hang off and provide a solid rhythm section to an otherwise chaotic song. As such, they are massively important but don’t get the room to solo or flex as much as guitarists, vocalists, and drummers. Subsequently, a lot of the time, they are unfairly overlooked in a band.
Of course, there are exceptions, one of which is Geddy Lee himself. When the discussion about who the best bassist out there does eventually come up, there is no denying that Lee’s name will get a mention. His music with Rush was completely genre-bending as the band dabbled with various styles, sounds and time signatures. The fact that he could hold down what had the potential to be a messy sound with his bass playing is nothing short of a miracle.
Given that he went on to make such complicated music, it’s surprising that the track that initially triggered his desire to start playing and creating is relatively simple in its structure. When asked about the song that made him want to get into music, Lee had an answer right away.
“That’s a big question,” he said, “The first song that made me interested in music was ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’ by Roy Orbison. It was the guitar intro, that riff, that I really liked and made me listen in a different way.” The song is undoubtedly a classic, but given it’s so far removed from what Lee eventually went on to make, it might come as a surprise to some people.
When he started playing, the songs he began learning were a better reflection of the musician he would eventually be. “The first song I learned to play on guitar was ‘For Your Love’ by the Yardbirds. That kind of was the beginning for me. I thought it was a great song, and I loved the open chord progression at the beginning of that song.”
