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Rush – Freewill (5:21)

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About This Track

“Freewill” (Sometimes written as “Free Will”) is the second track on progressive rock band Rush’s 1980 album Permanent Waves. It is written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson with lyrics by Neil Peart. This is a good example of Rush’s progressive experimentation due to the song’s use of strange time signatures not common in popular music. The time signature alternates 6/4, 7/4, 6/4, 7/4, 6/4, 8/4 and repeats during the first verse. The chorus and bridge are in 4/4. And when the verse re-enters it alternates 4/4, 4/4, 4/4, 3/4, and repeats multiple times. Despite these time signature changes, this song remains one of Rush’s most well known and popular songs to date.

The song’s lyrics deal with the subject of free will, emphasizing that free will is not a gift but rather a choice. He explains that man can attempt to evade the fact that he must choose, but that evasion is itself a choice. Failing to think for himself, man is left with only the sad option of following a “celestial voice” or “kindness that can kill,” referring to religion and socialism, respectively.

The pervasive criticism of religion and warnings against other substitutes for self-determination in the lyrics of “Freewill” closely parallel the theme of individualism found in Rush’s other songs. In “Tom Sawyer,” Peart states that the character’s “mind is not for rent/to any god or government,” again referring to religion and socialism as incompatible with independent thought and action.
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Albums featuring this track

  • Permanent Waves
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  • The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987
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  • Chronicles
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  • Spirit Of Radio: Greatest Hits (1974-1987)
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See all 39 albums

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  • SlavicMetalhead

    the solo is awesome!

    11 days ago

  • jpeiper

    This song makes me....giddy. Just too good.

    last month

  • scientist4u

    Rush, brilliant ,

    last month

  • Joemiers

    hay my fav band from canada got to love good old ruch thay have the sound from the days that u cant miss

    last month

  • tophusker

    The essence of Rush. Brilliant.

    March 2012

  • KConn3711

    a masterpiece of sight and sound

    March 2012

  • darkwill1

    Thanx Canada...we love that northern border!!!!!

    February 2012

  • maxlharris

    Possibly my favorite song of all time. So many lyrics worthy of highlight. Blame is better to give than recieve. If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice. Predestination is an inherently religious belief. But you can hold religion with a spectator or even a mild interventionist deity and still not hold predestination. So, atheist anthem for atheists, but not inherently anti-religion. Kind of like me. I am not inherently anti-religion even though I am as devout an atheist as the next atheist. But, that said, I believe as Sting wrote" Men go crazy in congregations they only get better one by one" so I am not gonna attempt to talk anyone out of their beliefs.

    January 2012

  • TheDarkSide73

    I agree with the very smart woman below me..:-))

    January 2012

  • kemp678

    I'll tell you what I've decided.....I've decided that this is completely A-MAZING!!!!

    January 2012

  • leahped

    If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

    January 2012

  • Ryu12543

    This is the first Rush song I ever heard. It literally changed my life.

    December 2011

  • lammasabacthani

    &

    December 2011

  • Endymion85

    The bass in this is sick by Geddy and live the whole drum kit just shakes it's incredible!

    November 2011

  • SanitysRefuge

    I don't think this is so much an atheist anthem as it is about fate vs. freewill...to say that this was an atheist anthem is to say that there are no beliefs that incorporate god AND freewill. I believe in freewill (and am not an atheist), but in a limited scope. We all have choices to make, but we can only make one. In a sense there is only one possible path that time will ever walk down...only one thing that can happen. That almost sounds like fate to me, but it is as if freewill is the tool we were given to shape the very fate of reality. Them's my two cents.

    October 2011

  • GoodCompany95

    This was so good live... They have to tour again in the UK!

    August 2011

  • rotting_schntzl

    This is an atheist anthem [2], which makes it even better!

    August 2011

  • nicolasbj

    dat solo (2)

    August 2011

  • KingOSunsetTown

    As someone with pretty strong spiritual beliefs, I do have difficulty relating to this song's message, but I think I'm mature enough to appreciate it for its quality. And i do believe that everything is freewill, but also that there are consequences, good or bad, for our choices. No matter what, I'll always be a Rush fan.

    May 2011

  • Scaab

    @ Zeldadaft96 More like an Libertarian anthem. ^^

    May 2011
See all 173 shouts

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