Godzilla (4:41)

This was inspired by a series of Japanese films from the 1950s featuring the Godzilla monster, which was inspired by the commercial success of King Kong (1933) and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953). In 1962 King Kong vs. Godzilla hit theaters all over. The song lyrics depict famous scenes of Godzilla films.

According to the book Contents Under Pressure: 30 Years Of Rush, while opening on tour with Blue Oyster Cult, Rush members replaced a sound recording that queued up with a video of Godzilla at the opening of the set with a recording of “Hello, My name is Mister Ed.” The two bands often played pranks on one another during the tour.

Hideki Matsui of The New York Yankees is nicknamed Godzilla and at home games this is played when he comes up to bat.

In 1998, a new Godzilla movie was released. This song wasn’t used in the movie, since producers wanted something more contemporary. They used a P. Diddy song called “Come With Me” on the soundtrack.

During the second half of the song, Japanese words are spoken: “Rinji news o moshiagemasu! Rinji news o moshiagemasu! Gojira ga Ginza hoomen e mukatte imasu! Daishikyu hinan shite kudasai! Daishikyu hinan shite kudasai!” Translated to English: “Attention, emergency news! Attention, emergency news! Godzilla is going toward the Ginza area! Immediately escape, catch up, find shelter please! Immediately escape, catch up, find shelter please!”

A 12” single of this song (Columbia 3-10725, 1977 promo) was produced with the studio version on one side and a live version (that is not the version found on either Some Enchanted Evening or Extraterrestrial Live) on the other side - the song is most easily identified by Eric’s introduction - “It’s not Raymond Burr