“Limelight” - In Honor of Neil Peart

This week marks the one year anniversary of the passing of Neil Peart, drummer for the Canadian band Rush. He is surely one of the greatest Rock & Roll drummers of all time. Rush was an amazing band. That they could get such music from 3 people was always astounding to me. I didn't like all of their music, but some of it is exceptional.

After the embedded music video, there is a link to an interview with Geddy Lee, the bassist and vocalist of Rush, about what was their final concert.

This is "Limelight" by Rush from their 1981 album Moving Pictures. It is one of the group's most popular songs. Not too surprising, since with Moving Pictures they made a conscious effort to write songs that were more "radio friendly," instead of the very long songs you found on their earlier albums.

Here is that interview with Geddy Lee. I always remember the way he looked in the 1980s, but we are all older than we were. Why did they end? Neil was not in the best of health, and Alex Lifeson, the guitar player, was beginning to suffer from arthritis.

If you're interested in how the song is put together (it includes a lot of shifting meters), there is a Rick Beato, "What Makes This Song Great?" video. This song changes time signature in the middle of the chorus. "Who does that?"

Here is a link to the post I put up last year when I found about Neil Peart's passing, it includes "Spirit Of Radio" and live video of a solo by Neil Peart. And finally here's a link to the post I put up when Rush announced their retirement. That post includes "Tom Sawyer."