The Rules
A year is a long time. A loooong time. You don’t really appreciate just how long, until you try to embark on some bonkers scheme, like trying to map one Rush song to one day, every day, for 366 consecutive days.
To keep myself sane, I gave myself some rules to follow:
Songs must be written, recorded, or performed by at least one member of Rush. I mean, the name of the newsletter IS One A Day Rush, after all. (I’ll break this rule only once, on Leap Day. But it’s a song about Rush, and one close to my heart, and I think you’ll like it, too.)
Use every studio version of a song once. Rush wrote and recorded more than 160 songs, as well as a few songs they recorded but didn’t write, and a few songs they wrote but didn’t record for an album. I’ve used each of those tracks once and only once.
No repeats of a given version of a song. I mean, I COULD fill an entire month of just the studio version of “Tom Sawyer” repeated over and over. But that feels like cheating, doesn’t it?
Live-only pieces count as separate songs. That includes: song medleys, Peart’s drum solos, Alex’s guitar jams, and even concert interstitials. After all, the live experience was a huge part of why so many of us are Rush fans!
Live versions of songs, however… I really struggled with the live recordings. To the point I just made, it would be easy to fill an entire week with different live performances of “Working Man.” Yet in concerts, the guys would often riff on their songs until the live version of a piece became a completely unique experience. (e.g., “Resist”) So to bridge the gap, I decided to judiciously use some live performances—primarily the ones from Different Stages, which for a long time was the last new Rush album many of us ever thought we’d see.
Solo & collab music = OK. Rush the band is so much more than the sum of its parts, but each of those three parts just so happened to be musical geniuses individually as well. Geddy and Alex both released solo albums that are really frickin’ good, and all three guys worked on solo projects and collaborations throughout the years. I’ve highlighted as many of these as I could, generally focusing on the ones in which the guys had the greatest involvement. (Meaning, if Lifeson just provided the guitar line for another band’s track, I didn’t include it. But if Lifeson, say, composed and played the theme song to a sci-fi TV show—well, check back on March 30th and find out!)
Covers are fine, once in a while. Dozens of hours on YouTube later, I can safely say that Rush is one of the most covered bands on the planet. I knew going in that I wanted to show off how many brilliant, talented musicians have been inspired by the band, but I also wanted to show off how universal their music really is. It’s not just old white guys who love Rush! So I’ve included a few covers — no more than two or three in a month, and the cover has to stand out in some way, whether that’s a different musical style, a cool interpretation, or a new generation of musician.
There are two other rules, which I followed mostly for the fun of it. Think of them like Easter eggs; maybe some of you will even be able to figure out what they are as the year progresses!
I hope you enjoy your year of Rush!