Tom Sawyer (song)

"Tom Sawyer"
Single by Rush
from the album Moving Pictures
B-side "Witch Hunt" (USA)
"A Passage to Bangkok" (UK)
Released February 28, 1981
Format 7"
Recorded October - November 1980 at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec
Genre Progressive rock, hard rock
Length 4:33
Label Mercury
Writer(s) Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, Pye Dubois
Producer Rush and Terry Brown
Rush singles chronology
"Entre Nous"
(1980)		 "Tom Sawyer"
(1981)		 "Limelight"
(1981)
"Vital Signs"
(1981)
"Tom Sawyer" (Live)
(1981)
"Closer to the Heart" (Live)
(1981)
Moving Pictures track listing
Beginning of Album "Tom Sawyer"
(1)		 "Red Barchetta"
(2)
Exit...Stage Left track listing
"Freewill"
(11)		 "Tom Sawyer"
(12)		 "La Villa Strangiato"
(13)
Music sample
"Tom Sawyer"
"Tom Sawyer" from Moving Pictures.

"Tom Sawyer" is a song by Canadian rock band Rush, named after Mark Twain's literary character. The song was released on Mercury Records and PolyGram in 1981 on the Moving Pictures album and numerous compilations thereafter, such as 1990's Chronicles. It has also appeared on several live albums and bootlegs. 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 band's "defining piece of music...from the early '80s".[1] It is one of Rush's best-known songs and is a staple of classic rock radio. It reached 25 in the UK singles chart in October 1981.[2] and in the US peaked at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at 8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.[3] In 2009 it was named the 19th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[4] "Tom Sawyer" was one of five Rush songs inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010.[5]

Contents

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 Lawyer" (often cited as "Louis the Warrior")[6] 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 OB-X synthesizer.[7][8]

In the December 1985 Rush Backstage Club newsletter, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart said:

“ Tom Sawyer was a collaboration between myself and Pye Dubois, an excellent lyricist who wrote the lyrics for Max Webster. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful. I added the themes of reconciling the boy and man in myself, and the difference between what people are and what others perceive them to be - namely me I guess. ”

Alex Lifeson describes his guitar solo in "Tom Sawyer" in a 2007 interview:

“ I winged it. Honest! I came in, did five takes, then went off and had a cigarette. I'm at my best for the first two takes; after that, I overthink everything and I lose the spark. Actually, the solo you hear is composed together from various takes.[9] ”

In popular culture

In film

In television

Covers

(Alphabetized by artist)

Mashups

See also

References

  1. ^ Rush Press Conference in Puerto Rico, April 9, 2008
  2. ^ UK Charts 1981, accessed July 17, 2008
  3. ^ "Rush > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p5323/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved December 27, 2009 (2009-12-27). 
  4. ^ "spreadit.org music". http://music.spreadit.org/vh1-top-100-hard-rock-songs/. Retrieved February 7, 2009. 
  5. ^ Infantry, Ashante (2010-01-20). "(News) New home a place to sing praises of our songwriters". The Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/753007--new-home-a-place-to-sing-praises-of-our-songwriters. Retrieved 2010-06-16. 
  6. ^ Popoff, Martin. Contents Under Pressure: 30 Years of Rush at Home and Away. ECW Press. ISBN 1550226789. 
  7. ^ http://www.vintagesynth.com/oberheim/obx.shtml
  8. ^ http://www.rainycitynights.com/band/rush_stuff/tomsawyergrowl.htm
  9. ^ Joe Bosso (July 2007). "Vital Signs". Guitar World. 
  10. ^ Halloween Soundtrack on Amazon, accessed July 18, 2008
  11. ^ The Waterboy Soundtrack on Amazon, accessed July 18, 2008
  12. ^ http://andrewolson.com/Neil_Peart/adventures_of_power/interview.htm
  13. ^ Chuck Soundtrack on IMDb
  14. ^ Rush to Perform for the First Time on U.S. Television in Over 30 Years on 'The Colbert Report', PR Newswire, July 15, 2008
  15. ^ Rush in television Power Windows Website Accessed July 18, 2008
  16. ^ "Deadsy - Tom Sawyer". last.fm. http://www.last.fm/music/Deadsy/_/Tom+Sawyer. 
  17. ^ "Mindless Self Indulgence - Tom Sawyer". last.fm. http://www.last.fm/music/Mindless+Self+Indulgence/_/Tom+Sawyer. 
  18. ^ List of Cover Albums on Power Windows, accessed July 18, 2008 Archived July 16, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Subdivisions on Amazon, accessed July 18, 2008
  20. ^ "Small Soldiers soundtrack listing". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122718/soundtrack. 

External links