Tom Sawyer by Rush

Now at first glance, this may seem like an obvious choice being that I am a drummer and such, but the story for Tom Sawyer by Rush goes back much further than that. So let's set the wayback machine to 1982-1983 or so and I was 10-11 years old. Back then I had a friend named Chris who loved just down the block. I used to go over to Chris's house all the time. He was one of the first people I knew that had a personal computer at home. A Commodore 64 I think it was(I would have to look that one up to see if the dates match, so don't hold me to that). So anyway, I used to listen to tapes in his house. I was around music all the time but he had a tape that was much different from the stuff I had heard at my house. This one song in particular had the most amazing beginning with some cool keyboard sounds. The song was talking about some Tom Sawyer person (who I did not know of yet), but the best thing of all was the spectacular drum rolls that filled the middle of the song. Even then, a full 7 years before I would ever pick up a drum stick, I was blown away by this song. I remember asking Chris to play that (and YYZ) over and over again.

Now fast forward to the point where I did start playing drums. I was really into Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and other bands but I never really listened to Rush (mainly because my dad did not like them). Then one day I heard Tom Sawyer on the radio and the light bulb went off, I the memory if that song came flooding in. I immediately went out searching for the album containing that song. When I saw the album cover I vaguely remembered it from when I was younger. The album from front to back is probably their best (I did not say MY favorite). It was then that I switched from a Bonham style of drums to a Neil Peart style and have never looked back.

As a side note, I have practiced the majority of that album (sans Witch Hunt) and to this day Tom Sawyer is still very difficult for me to plays (for the record Neil said it was a challenge for him as well). The constant eighth notes on the hi-hat are a real test of stamina. If I practice often enough (which doesn't happen much anymore), I can build up that stamina but my hand is usually dying by the end of the solo of the song.

Another side note, I was in Best Buy one day and they had Rock Band set up there with a drum set. So I set up Tom Sawyer on expert level and started playing it. By the time the solos came around (which are very hard to do on those little sets and without double-bass) I had pretty much nailed it to that point and had an audience of a few people. It was pretty cool and I got to puff my chest out a bit on that.

Do you have a story about this song? If so please share with me. Thanks.

Xanadu by Rush

The Rush song Xanadu (lyrics) from the A Farewell to Kings album reminds me of my early drumming career. Once I discovered Rush, all bets were off. I dove in head first to emulate Neal Peart in every facet of my drumming style and it continues today (along with Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater). As I started collecting Rush albums, A Farewell to Kings just stuck with me. I loved the melodies, lyrics and other adventurous nature of the arrangements. It is still my favorite Rush album. The song Xanadu just blew me away. There are so many little parts that Peart throws in there. How can you not like a song where both guitar players have double-necked guitars (a very 70's thing)? This song took me an entire summer of practice to really get a handle on it. I wore out two cassettes because of constantly rewinding it. I was so wrapped up in this song I did research on what the lyrics meant and the history behind it (very cool stuff by the way).

As further proof of my devotion to this song, I was given a xylophone for my birthday to learn those parts as well. I would use mallets on my 22” ride cymbal as the gong on the song. I also purchased agogo bells to play this and other Rush songs. I then found other songs by Rush and others (like Jethro Tull's Baker Street Muse) to use my xylophone on. Another important factor in learning this song was the video Exit Stage Left. The video is from the Moving Pictures tour which was one of the last tours that Rush played Xanadu in its entirety. I was able to study this video over and over to see how Peart played a specific part. I incorporated a few of the fills Peart included that were not on the studio version. Of course the parts I really needed to see were not always shown (darn guitar solos :).
After all these years I still enjoy playing this song and album. The difference now is that I understand Xanadu's time signature changes much more than I did then so the parts have come together tighter. This song more than any other defined my style for most of my drumming career. Even when I was is a blues band, I would add little things to the songs that made them more fun to play and make them my own. Some people did not not like my “busy” style but you can't please everyone.

As a side note, I have since learned odd time signatures much better and can count the measures while I listen and play songs. For years the middle section of the song A Farewell to Kings always stumped me. Now I know why, the measures alternate between 7/8 and 5/8. It is one of the most difficult sections I have ever learned by Rush. Once again I just hunkered down and played it over and over again until I could play through more often than not.

Do you have story about this song? Please Let me know.