“Neil Peart, that’s a whole other animal, another species of drummer,” Dave Grohl response on Rolling Stone 2018 about whether he could ever sit behind the kit for Rush.
Neil Peart is the Greatest Drummer of All Time, well according to fans, of course. However, that may be true, as Neil Peart left so many contributions to the world of rock n roll, besides being able to play a 41 piece drum kit — he was also a great songwriter — the majority of the lyrics of Rush’s songs were written by “The Professor.” We pay our tribute by listing down the 7 Rush Neil Peart Songs:
2112: Overture / The Temples of Syrinx
“2112 is based on a progression of some elements of society today, but projected 150 years into the future,” Peart told Circus. “It’s a cycle of songs about the rediscovery of music.” Surely, Peart showcased his monstrous drumming throughout the song.
Xanadu
The song idea was originally inspired by the movie Citizen Kane,” Peart said in 2010. “At the beginning of the movie, the opening lines from ‘Kubla Khan’ were quoted, ‘In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, a stately pleasure dome decree.’ As research, I looked up the poem, and I was so powerfully impressed by it that the poem took over the song.” Peart’s defies the laws of science with his ass-kicking power on this track.
The Trees
We all know that most rock drummers, especially from Peart’s generation, spend their free-time destroying hotel rooms, and getting freakishly high, but not Peart. “I was a kid,” he said. “Now I call myself a bleeding heart libertarian.” He spends his time reading a well-worn copy of Ayn Rand’s 1943 novel The Fountainhead while chilling in his hotel room — hence inspiration idea for “The Trees.”
The Spirit of Radio
‘”The Spirit of Radio’ could be called ‘The Spirit of Music,’” Peart said in 1980. “That particular song was written about a radio station that is a paragon; it’s called CFNY-FM and it’s in Toronto. And they are still what FM radio was 15 years ago. So I listen to it constantly when I’m home, and it represents something, maybe the precious last stronghold of something.” Neil Peart loves to listen a lot to Police, where he got the reggae-inspired groove from Stewart Copeland.
Subdivisions
Subdivisions is probably the most interesting and deep set of lyrics Peart ever wrote. Asked in 2017 by the Rolling Stone if the song was autobiographical, Peart answered, “Extremely! How we turn out as adults has a lot to do with the way others saw us in high school.”
YYZ
“That song came from in flying into Toronto one time and we heard the morse code rhythm coming in from the cockpit,” Peart said in 2012. “We felt it would make a good introduction to a song. And then cinematically we decided it was a song about airports, so we have exotic moods shifting around and the the gigantic crescendo of people being reunited.” This is a testament that Neil Peart was a daredevil behind the kit, the drum solo in the middle says it all!
Tom Sawyer
“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,” Peart said. “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.” Peart co-wrote the song with songwriter Pye Dubois.