Fundamental groove”: Geddy Lee on what he considers the quintessential Rush song

Sometimes, a song can just fall into place and become a widely adored hit among fans of a band or artist, and yet those who wrote the song just can’t put their finger on exactly why it has garnered so much praise. There are many examples where a song that was never supposed to become the band’s biggest hit has surpassed all expectations the band had of it, with notable examples being Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ and Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ both having been initially recorded as filler tracks for albums they were desperate to finish.

In the case of Canadian prog rock legends Rush, their biggest and best known song is the 1981 single tom sawyer and while the band had every bit of faith in the song when they wrote it, they had no idea that it had the potential to go on to become the track they would forever be known for.

Its chart performance at the time was nothing spectacular, largely due to the niche that the band had carved for themselves in the progressive rock scene not having much commercial potential, but it quickly became a cult favourite among those with a vested interest in the proggier new wave sound that the group were moving towards on their records at the time.

‘Tom Sawyer’ was outperformed in the charts by their 1982 single ‘New World Man’, but the former is the one that has managed to stand the test of time and gain all of the notoriety in the following years. Becoming one of the most-played songs of all time on US and Canadian rock radio stations and receiving an induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside four other Rush songs in 2010, the song is undoubtedly the one they are best known for from an outsider’s perspective.

Yet, the track named after the classic Mark Twain character  and its popularity is something that has puzzled Rush bassist and frontman Geddy Lee for years, and despite his pride in having helped write the song, he still struggles to place exactly why ‘Tom Sawyer’ became their best loved composition.

Speaking in a documentary about their classic albums 2112 and Moving Pictures, the latter of which ‘Tom Sawyer’ was taken from, Lee, alongside guitarist alex lifeson and producer Terry Brown discussed how it came to be so adored by Rush fans, all while scratching their heads at its popularity.

“I don’t really know what it is about this song that has just kind of become the quintessential Rush song,” mused Lee from behind a studio control desk. “It obviously has to do with the kind of playing that’s in it, you know. There’s a lot of emphasis on musicianship, but there’s something about the fundamental groove of the song that also is quite contagious.”

Lee is right in the sense that it has an undeniable groove, but more crucially it feels like the most pop-adjacent and accessible track the band ever chose to release as a single, with large amounts of their other work still retaining the complex and intricate songwriting they normally dealt in. Lifeson would then go on to further assess why the song resonated with so many listeners, instead focusing on a different aspect of the track.

“Everyone seems to connect with the whole spirit of the lyrics,” the guitarist explained. “That shooting from the hip, independence and individualism.” Upon finishing his statement, the trio sat contemplatively in silence for a few moments, before Lifeson chimed in again, humorously adding, “and it’s a catchy tune on top of that.” He couldn’t have summed it up more succinctly.