Closer to the Heart

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"Closer to the Heart"

Single by Rush
from the album A Farewell to Kings
Released	October 1977
Recorded	June 1977 at Rockfield Studios in South Wales, UK
Genre	Progressive Rock
Length	2:53
Label	Mercury Records
Rush singles chronology
"Fly by Night" (Live) (1976)	"Closer to the Heart" (1977)	"Cinderella Man" (1977)

"Tom Sawyer" (Live) (1981)	"Closer to the Heart" (Live) (1981)	"New World Man" (1982)
A Farewell to Kings track listing
"Xanadu" (Track 2)	"Closer to the Heart" (Track 3)	"Cinderella Man" (Track 4)

Closer to The Heart is a single by Rush, released 1977. It was the first Rush song to have an external co-writer, namely Peter Talbot, a friend of Neil Peart. Issued as a single at Christmas 1977, it was their first hit in the United Kingdom, reaching No.36 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1978, and sparked a dramatic chage in the band's fortunes outside of the United States. The B side is unusually larger than the A side; the B side consists of one track which is shorter than the others but two which exceed the length of Closer to the Heart by over a minute.

It is one of Rush's most popular, seeing a fair bit of radio airplay during a time when the band was in the middle of its 'epic song' days. The song has also been part of the set list on nearly every tour since 1977. The band dropped "Closer To The Heart" for the bulk of their recent tours in support of Vapor Trails and their 30th Anniversary because, according to Peart, "we got sick of it."

On their live albums A Show of Hands and Different Stages Rush appended several minutes of jam type playing at the end of the performance of this song.

On the original track and live performances from October, 1977 to May of 1983 and then again from November of 1996 to January of 2005, Peart played acoustic drums but used Simmons (then later DDrum) electronic drums in live performances of the track from June of 1984 to May of 1994.