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“Tom Sawyer” is a 1981 song by Canadian progressive rock band Rush named for Mark Twain’s literary character. The song relies heavily on Geddy Lee’s synthesizer playing and the techniques of drummer Neil Peart. Geddy Lee has referred to the track as the “quintessential Rush song”; It is one of Rush’s best-known songs and is a staple of classic rock radio. Notably, it reached Number 24 in the UK singles chart in May 1981 as a follow-up to their breakthrough hit “
The Spirit Of Radio”.
Origin
The song was written by Lee, Peart, and guitarist Alex Lifeson in collaboration with Canadian lyricist Pye Dubois (the lyricist of Max Webster), who also co-wrote other Rush songs such as “Force Ten,” “Between Sun and Moon,” and “Test for Echo.” According to the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an entire episode to the making of Moving Pictures), “Tom Sawyer” came about during a summer rehearsal holiday that Rush spent at Ronnie Hawkins’ farm outside Toronto. Peart was presented with a poem by Dubois named “Louis the Warrior” that he modified and expanded. Lee and Lifeson then helped set the poem to music. The unique growling sound heard in the song came from Lee’s fiddling with his Oberheim synthesizer.
Structure and fan reaction
Fans of Rush cite “Tom Sawyer (help·info)” as an example of Rush’s distinctive songwriting, blending intelligent lyrics with an intricate pattern of multiple time signatures.
The Spirit Of Radio”.Origin
The song was written by Lee, Peart, and guitarist Alex Lifeson in collaboration with Canadian lyricist Pye Dubois (the lyricist of Max Webster), who also co-wrote other Rush songs such as “
Force Ten,” “Between Sun and Moon,” and “Test for Echo.” According to the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an entire episode to the making of Moving Pictures), “Tom Sawyer” came about during a summer rehearsal holiday that Rush spent at Ronnie Hawkins’ farm outside Toronto. Peart was presented with a poem by Dubois named “Louis the Warrior” that he modified and expanded. Lee and Lifeson then helped set the poem to music. The unique growling sound heard in the song came from Lee’s fiddling with his Oberheim synthesizer.Structure and fan reaction
Fans of Rush cite “Tom Sawyer (help·info)” as an example of Rush’s distinctive songwriting, blending intelligent lyrics with an intricate pattern of multiple time signatures.
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Albums featuring this track
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Moving Pictures
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Shouts
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MadRangerMan wrote:
Greatest thing to come out of Canada next to Molson Golden! Tight band, So, So good!
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Antridian wrote:
The classic Rush tune that turned me onto their music. From their last great album. The eighties marked the end of the Fantasy-progressive rock that I love.
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scientist4u wrote:
the great rush ,aways delivers ,,,,
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NatzeZ wrote:
ftw
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crazytapout wrote:
one of my top 5 favorite
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misterBlonde84 wrote:
Epic!
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TrueBlood4ever wrote:
Utterly amazing what 3 extremely talented individuals can accomplish! :-)
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OLDCHAVYCAR2RED wrote:
a good tune
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FredKidd wrote:
Greatness !!!
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archange08 wrote:
yeahhh !!!
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RedNr4 wrote:
Mean mean pride
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dudecrazy108 wrote:
Todays Tom Sawyer
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johnTMcNeill wrote:
Love it. Looking forward to Huckleberry Finn...
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kemming wrote:
awesome
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OLdSKuul62 wrote:
Poetry at its Finest
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giania wrote:
The comments on this are comedy gold. :D This is my favorite tune of theirs.
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yubbauk wrote:
My favourate tract ever by them i love them in the 80,s and they havan,t aged at all, they did so well considering they got no air play in the 80's as they were to political
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mcclellen2020 wrote:
a part of classic rock's finest hour !!!!!
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Bamlaflamme wrote:
Woah, did they go into 5/4 for a second there? Wow, so progressive!
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Koelo wrote:
Obra de Arte.
Rush
Tom Sawyer
full track
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