"Force Ten" is a song written, produced and performed by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

rock band Rush, released as a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

from their album ''

Hold Your Fire ''Hold Your Fire'' is the twelfth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on September 8, 1987. It was recorded at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, Air Studios in Montserrat and McClear Place in Toronto. ...

''.Rush - Force Ten (Vinyl)

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

. Accessed from June 21, 2013. It was the last song written for the album. The song has been critically positively received, and peaked at number 3 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart.

Writing and composition

According to

Peart Peart is the surname of: *Alan Peart (1922–2018), New Zealand Second World War flying ace * Bob Peart (1926–1966), English football player *Charles Peart (1759–1798), British sculptor * Darrell Peart (born 1950), American furniture maker and ...

, the song describes the "storms of life," using storm level in the

Beaufort wind scale The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufo ...

as an analogy. Peart, a self described "weather fanatic", makes references to "the eye of the storm" and circling hurricanes in the lyrics. He also "express sappreciation" for the disproportionally small number of female fans at Rush shows "singing along, or air-drumming, or even dancing" in the lyric "cool and remote like dancing girls". "Force Ten" was written in three hours on December 14, 1986, the last day of pre-production for ''

''. With nine songs already written, producer Peter Collins felt it was important to have one more song for the album.

Pye Dubois Pye Dubois is a Canadian lyricist and poet. He has worked mainly with Kim Mitchell and Max Webster (with whom he was considered an unofficial fifth non-performing member), and occasionally Rush. Career Dubois accompanied Max Webster in the stu ...

, who previously worked with Rush on their song "

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

", had sent

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart OC (; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an ...

some lyrics for the song, and Peart would add more verses to it. Info from book adapted by th
Rush Vault
Accessed from June 24. 2013. Musically, "Force Ten" is composed in

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

, with changes into A major scale occurring in the song. The song is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

at a fast rock tempo.Force Ten Sheet Music
onlinesheetmusic.com. Accessed from June 21, 2013. Peart has said that

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the re ...

and

Alex Lifeson Aleksandar Živojinović, (born 27 August 1953), known professionally as Alex Lifeson (), is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that wo ...

were "trying to explore some musical areas that we hadn't covered yet," when writing the music for the song. Peart, Neil
Firework: The Making of "Hold Your Fire"
. 2112.net. Accessed from June 22, 2013. Lee performed bass chords in the song, inspired to do so by his friend

Jeff Berlin Jeffrey Arthur Berlin (born January 17, 1953) is an American jazz fusion bassist. He first came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the band Bruford led by drummer Bill Bruford. Musical career Berlin was born on January 17, 1953, in Quee ...

.Tolleson, Robin (November/December 1988)
Geddy Lee: Bass Is Still The Key
Bass Player. Accessed from June 24, 2013. The song was described by

The Cavalier Daily ''The Cavalier Daily'' is an independent, student-run daily news organization at the University of Virginia. Founded in 1890, under the name ''College Topics'', ''The Cavalier Daily'' is Virginia's oldest collegiate daily and the oldest daily new ...

as "intense".Arnold, Dave (October 8, 1987)
Lost urgency, strained vocals mark latest Rush LP

. Accessed from June 18, 2013.

Release and reception

"Force Ten" was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

as a 12"

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

one-track

in 1987. It is the opening track of Rush's

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'', and the song later appear on

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s such as ''

Chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed * '' The Idh ...

'', ''

Retrospective II ''Retrospective II: 1981 to 1987'' is a compilation album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1997 (see 1997 in music). The album features songs from the second decade of the band. This compilation album is now disc two of the 2006 Rush c ...

'', '' The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987'', ''

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

'', ''Icon'', and ''Sector 3''.Force Ten - Rush

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Accessed from June 24, 2013. It was performed live from the Hold Your Fire Tour through the

Test for Echo Tour Rush was a Canadian rock band formed in 1968 in Toronto, that was comprised primarily of Geddy Lee (bass, vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitar), and Neil Peart (drums, percussion, lyricist). The band formed in Toronto in 1968 by Lifeson, drummer John ...

, then later on the R30 Tour and

Clockwork Angels Tour The Clockwork Angels Tour was a concert tour in support of the 2012 album, ''Clockwork Angels'', by the Canadian rock band Rush. The tour included shows in Canada, the United States and throughout Europe. A nine-piece string ensemble accompanie ...

. The song received a favorable critical reception, with

calling it "the band's

ush Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...

most immediate number in years," rating the song an AMG pick track.Rivadavia, Eduardo
Hold Your Fire - Rush

. Accessed from June 21, 2013. The song would make it on the

Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

, peaking #3.

Charts

References

{{authority control 1987 songs Rush (band) songs Songs written by Geddy Lee Songs written by Alex Lifeson Songs written by Neil Peart Songs with lyrics by Pye Dubois Song recordings produced by Peter Collins (record producer)