Posted on Jul 4, 2020
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UCRs top 100 classic rock songs list brings us to #48: Rush "TOM SAWYER"
Rush grab their much deserved slot on our Top 100 Classic Rock Songs list with a track that found the band once again breaking new ground artistically.
The unmistakeable sonic boom synthesizer intro of "Tom Sawyer" launches side one of 1981’s landmark Moving Pictures. Thanks largely to this song, the LP reached the top five of the Billboard album charts and would eventually become Rush’s best-selling record.
From the band's perspective, every single second of "Tom Sawyer" would be hard fought for in the studio as they worked to get things exactly right. What began (as it often does) as simple noodling at soundcheck evolved into a much more complex undertaking. Fortunately their efforts paid off and "Tom Sawyer" was quite well received, to put it mildly.
The positive reception however, came as a complete shock to the band. Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee once recalled that “when we wrote it, we had no idea that it would touch such a nerve with people.” Today, he calls it a “quintessential” part of the Rush catalog. Of course, South Park’s Eric Cartman had some trouble with the lyrics, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone else who can’t recite the classic opening lines verbatim: “A modern-day warrior/ Mean mean stride/ Today’s Tom Sawyer/ Mean mean pride.”
"Tom Sawyer" also features a particularly epic solo from Alex Lifeson. (For every frustrated guitar player who spent countless hours in the bedroom trying to get every note exactly right, just know that you weren’t alone.) Lifeson has joked in the past about nailing the solo in a short period of time, but he later admitted that in reality quite a bit of tinkering was necessary to finally get a satisfactory take.
The finished results speak for themselves: It’s clear that Rush got exactly it right with "Tom Sawyer."
Rush grab their much deserved slot on our Top 100 Classic Rock Songs list with a track that found the band once again breaking new ground artistically.
The unmistakeable sonic boom synthesizer intro of "Tom Sawyer" launches side one of 1981’s landmark Moving Pictures. Thanks largely to this song, the LP reached the top five of the Billboard album charts and would eventually become Rush’s best-selling record.
From the band's perspective, every single second of "Tom Sawyer" would be hard fought for in the studio as they worked to get things exactly right. What began (as it often does) as simple noodling at soundcheck evolved into a much more complex undertaking. Fortunately their efforts paid off and "Tom Sawyer" was quite well received, to put it mildly.
The positive reception however, came as a complete shock to the band. Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee once recalled that “when we wrote it, we had no idea that it would touch such a nerve with people.” Today, he calls it a “quintessential” part of the Rush catalog. Of course, South Park’s Eric Cartman had some trouble with the lyrics, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone else who can’t recite the classic opening lines verbatim: “A modern-day warrior/ Mean mean stride/ Today’s Tom Sawyer/ Mean mean pride.”
"Tom Sawyer" also features a particularly epic solo from Alex Lifeson. (For every frustrated guitar player who spent countless hours in the bedroom trying to get every note exactly right, just know that you weren’t alone.) Lifeson has joked in the past about nailing the solo in a short period of time, but he later admitted that in reality quite a bit of tinkering was necessary to finally get a satisfactory take.
The finished results speak for themselves: It’s clear that Rush got exactly it right with "Tom Sawyer."
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Edited >1 y ago
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The ultimate Rush song and speaking as a guitarist, it is an exceedingly difficult solo.
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