"Tom Sawyer" is a song by Canadian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

, originally released on their 1981 album '' Moving Pictures'' as its opener. The band's lead singer, bassist, and keyboardist,

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 ...

, has referred to the track as the band's "defining piece ... from the early '80s". It is one of Rush's best-known songs and a staple of both

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

radio and Rush's live performances, having been played on every concert tour since its release.

Background and recording

The song was written by Geddy Lee, drummer

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 ...

, and guitarist

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 ...

in collaboration with lyricist

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 stud ...

of the band

Max Webster Max Webster was a Canadian hard rock band formed in Toronto in 1972. The band's founder, Kim Mitchell, enjoyed a long and successful solo career in their native Canada. Biography Initially a trio for their first gigs in December 1972, the orig ...

, who also co-wrote the Rush songs " Force Ten", "Between Sun and Moon", and "

Test for Echo ''Test for Echo'' is the sixteenth studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released on 10 September 1996 on Anthem Records. It is the final Rush work before the death of Neil Peart's daughter and wife that put the band on hiatus until the ...

". According to the US radio show ''

In the Studio with Redbeard ''In the Studio with Redbeard'' is a North American radio program, produced and hosted by Dallas, Texas, based rock and roll disc jockey Doug "Redbeard" Hill. The show is a weekly hour-long "rockumentary" interview with music program which looks ...

'' (which devoted an episode to the making of ''Moving Pictures''), "Tom Sawyer" came about during a summer rehearsal vacation that Rush spent at

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

' farm outside

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Peart was presented with a poem by Dubois named "Louis the Lawyer" (often incorrectly cited as "Louis the Warrior") that he modified and expanded. Lee and Lifeson then helped set the poem to music. The "growling"

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

sound heard in the song came from Lee experimenting with his

Oberheim OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim's OB-series polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was introduced to compete with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which had been successf ...

. For "Tom Sawyer", Lee switched from his

Rickenbacker 4001 The Rickenbacker 4001 is an electric bass that was manufactured by Rickenbacker as a two- pickup "deluxe" version of their first production bass, the single-pickup model 4000. This design, created by Roger Rossmeisl, was manufactured between 1 ...

to a

Fender Jazz Bass The Fender Jazz Bass (often shortened to ''J-Bass'') is the second model of Bass guitar, electric bass created by Leo Fender. It is distinct from the Fender Precision Bass, Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange a ...

he purchased from a pawn shop. In the December 1985 Rush Backstage Club newsletter, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart said: Alex Lifeson describes his guitar solo in "Tom Sawyer" in a 2007 interview:

Personnel

– vocals, bass guitar, keyboards *

– guitar *

– drums

Single release

The song peaked at number 24 in Canada, number 44 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number eight on the ''Billboard'' Top Tracks chart. The studio version of "Tom Sawyer", despite its popularity, did not see a single-release in other territories. In the UK, "Vital Signs" was chosen as the single from ''Moving Pictures''. "Tom Sawyer" is one of the most played songs on classic rock radio in the United States, is the most played Canadian song from before 1988 by Canadian rock radio stations during the Neilson BDS Era (which started in 1995), and is the fifth most downloaded Canadian digital song from the 1980s. In 2009, it placed 19th on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Songs of Hard Rock. "Tom Sawyer" was one of five Rush songs inducted into the

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (''Panthéon des Auteurs et Compositeurs canadiens'') is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their ''Hall of Fame'' within three different categori ...

on March 28, 2010. The live version of "Tom Sawyer" from '' Exit...Stage Left'' peaked at number 25 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in October 1981.

Charts

Weekly charts

References

External links

"Tom Sawyer"
at Rush'
Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tom Sawyer 1981 singles Rush (band) songs Music videos directed by Bruce Gowers Songs written by Alex Lifeson Songs written by Geddy Lee Songs written by Neil Peart Song recordings produced by Terry Brown (record producer) 1981 songs Mercury Records singles Songs with lyrics by Pye Dubois