Friday Night Videos: Rush - Tom Sawyer

Okay, this is, uh, the hit single section of our album 

Good day 

Good day 

Uh, Geddy Lee is here from Rush 

Hi, Geddy, I'm Bob McKenzie, this is my brother Doug 

How's it going, Geddy?

Oh, it's going pretty good

Good day, eh 

Good day 

Thanks for coming down to do our hit 

Well, it's my pleasure, eh 

Did, did our lawyer call you? 

Yeah, um, I, you know, ten bucks is ten bucks

Good day hoseheads, it's time once again for our retro video music program called Friday Night Videos. Tonight we are traveling back across our northern border to the land of hockey and Labatt's beer better known as Canada. 

I'm going to cut to the chase right out of the gate! The album 'Moving Pictures' by the Canadian trio Rush, is arguably the best rock album ever produced. PERIOD.

There, I said it and I'm not taking it back.

Every track on Moving Pictures is a testamate to the supreme musical prowess of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and the late master of rock drumming Neil Pert.

Tonight we have the first track off of Moving Pictures entitled Tom Sawyer:

Now, most fans of the band Rush know that there is another video for the song Tom Sawyer, but I decided to go with this live version that aired on MTV back in the day even though it was actually a promo video for the band's live album Exit Stage Left. 

History:

The song was written by Geddy Lee, drummer Neil Peart, and guitarist Alex Lifeson in collaboration with lyricist Pye Dubois of the band Max Webster, who also co-wrote the Rush songs "Force Ten", "Between Sun and Moon", and "Test for Echo". According to the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an episode to the making of Moving Pictures), "Tom Sawyer" came about during a summer rehearsal vacation that Rush spent at Ronnie Hawkins' farm outside Toronto. Peart was presented with a poem by Dubois named "Louis the Lawyer" (often incorrectly cited as "Louis the Warrior") that he modified and expanded. Lee and Lifeson then helped set the poem to music. The "growling" synthesizer sound heard in the song came from Lee experimenting with his Oberheim OB-X. For "Tom Sawyer", Lee switched from his Rickenbacker 4001 to a Fender Jazz Bass he purchased from a pawn shop.

Here is an equally strong track from Moving Pictures entitled Limelight:

 

Rush was a Canadian rock band formed in Toronto in 1968, consisting of Geddy Lee (bass, vocals, keyboards, composer), Alex Lifeson (guitars, composer), and Neil Peart (drums, percussion, lyricist). After its formation in 1968, the band went through several configurations until arriving at its classic lineup with the addition of Peart in 1974, just after the release of their eponymous debut album, which contained their first highly-regarded song, "Working Man".

Rush is known for its musicianship, complex compositions, and eclectic lyrical motifs drawing heavily on science fiction, fantasy and philosophy. The band's style changed over the years, from a blues-inspired hard rock beginning, later moving into progressive rock, then a period marked by heavy use of synthesizers, before returning to guitar-driven hard rock since the end of the 1980s. The members of Rush have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments, with each winning numerous awards in magazine readers' polls.

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