Geddy Lee Shares Touching Story About Robert Plant
Geddy Lee has shared a number of stories during his book tour in support of his memoir, My Effin’ Life. However, the story he shared about Robert Plant reaching out to him will truly tug at the heartstrings.
Per Classic Rock, Lee detailed during the Los Angeles stop of the book tour hosted by actor/musician Jack Black. Lee said he and Plant first met while the two were vacationing in Morocco at the same time during the mid ’90s. They met for dinner and got along really well.
Cut to 1998. Plant reached out to Rush’s management to get into contact with Lee. Even though Rush’s management thought it was a prank, they forwarded the message to Lee along with a phone number Plant left. It turns out that Plant wanted to invite Lee to his show with Jimmy Page in Toronto.
RELATED: Geddy Lee: Do Not Skip Chapter 3 of His Book
He also wanted to touch base with the Rush singer/bassist since the band was on hiatus. The five-year hiatus of Rush began after Neil Peart’s 19-year-old daughter, Selena Taylor, was killed in a car crash in August 1997. Less than a year later, Peart’s longtime partner, Jacqueline Taylor, died from cancer in June 1998.
When recalling talking to Plant, Lee said he told the Led Zeppelin singer that he didn’t know if he would be up for going to the gig just shortly after Peart lost his partner.
Lee noted, “And [Plant] said, ‘Look, I’ve had my own share of loss, and you have to get on with your life, and sooner is better than later. I want you to come down, call Alex [Lifeson] up, just come down.'”
Lee said he and Lifeson ended up taking up Plant on his offer and that he and Page “couldn’t have been nicer to us.” He noted the gesture “really lifted us, at a moment when we could have used the lifting.”
Rush: Their 50 Greatest Songs, Ranked
Rush's final LP, âClockwork Angels,â was a complex concept album. It saw them experimenting with a string section (which theyâd take on the road for the tour: it marked the first and only time they were ever accompanied by extra musicians). And on the âClockwork Angelsâ tour, they played a good chunk of songs from this album, to the delight of fans, who were still invested in the bandâs new music, nearly four decades after their debut. âThe Wreckersâ was one of the most arena-ready songs from the album.
Rush doesnât get a lot of credit for their sense of humor, and based on their songs, itâs not hard to see why that would be the case: most of their songs just arenât funny, or even lighthearted. An early exception to the rule was this obscure jam from their third album. âI Think Iâm Going Bald,â recorded while the band was relatively young and Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart were all in their twenties, poked fun at aging. But when Lee roared, âBut even when I am gray/Iâll still be gray my way!â it was prophetic. They called the shots up to their final bow.
Neil Peart has always been able to set a scene, and thatâs certainly true on this âClockwork Angelsâ jam: âA man could lose his life, in a country like this/Sunblind and friendless/Frozen and endless/And the nights grow longer, the farther I go/Wake to aching cold, and a deep Sahara of snow.â
The studio version of âIn The Endâ from 1975âs âFly By Night,â is great but this was really meant to be played live. When the intro fades out at about 1:50 into the song and Lee whispers, âone, two, buckle my shoe!â (another rare glimpse into their sense of humor!) and then Lifeson enters with his killer guitar riff, you have to imagine lighters filling the theater.
âBy-Tor And the Snow Dog,â from the previous album, âFly By Night,â saw the band moving into proggy territory: it was a four part Tolkien-esque tale of good vs. evil. âCaress Of Steelâ went even farther: âThe Fountain of Lamnethâ was six chapters, 20 minutes long and took up all of side two. What was it about? Itâs kind of tough to say, but band members did admit to smoking a lot during the making of the album.
Rush was never the âMTV Unpluggedâ guys: they didnât generally do the âstripped downâ thing. One exception was the live version of âResist,â which featured Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson strapping on acoustic guitars to accompany Geddyâs voice. Neil wasnât part of the performance, but his lyrics were: âI can learn to persist with anything but aiming low/I can learn to close my eyes to anything but injustice.â
Another Tolkien-y, multi-part prog-rock jam from âCaress of Steel,â this one is a bit shorter than âThe Necromancer,â though. Coming in at a tight three chapters and at just twelve and a half minutes, itâs actually a bit reminiscent of Led Zeppelinâs âNo Quarter,â another epic tale of travellers in dangerous lands.
A song that has made its way into a number of setlists over the years, and the performance always looks cool: the song lends itself to dry ice and weird lighting. But the studio version, drenched with Leeâs synthesizers and Peartâs electronic drums, is still the best take on the song.
Rush took a long hiatus in the late â90s; in fact, it wasnât a foregone conclusion that the band would ever work together again. Neil Peart lost his daughter (in a tragic car accident) and his wife (to cancer) within months of each other, and wasnât sure heâd ever return to playing drums, much less being in a band. He went on a long motorcycle trip that took him from Alaska to Belize (which he documented in his book, also called âGhost Riderâ). This song was obviously inspired by that journey. âPack up all those phantoms/Shoulder that invisible load/Keep on riding north and west/Haunting that wilderness road/Like a ghost rider.â
One of Rushâs sweetest and most wistful songs, it was written by Peart about a park where he spent time as a teenager.
A rocker written solely by Geddy Lee, the band played this one regularly on their first tour, before Peart joined the band. It wasnât just Peartâs drumming, but his lyrics that drove the band to greater heights, but itâs fun to listen to their early jams when they were still heavily in the throes of Zeppelin, Cream and Hendrix.
The original Rush at their bluesiest, this slow jam extended past seven minutes and, like many other songs from the era, had a huge Zep influence.
Rushâs first foray into multi-part epics, âBy-Tor And The Snow Dogâ was made up of four movements, but one of them had four of *its own* sub-movements! Thatâs right: there was I: âAt the Tobes Of Hades,â II: âAcross the Styx,â III: âOf The Battle,â which was split into i: âChallenge and Defiance,â ii: â7/4 War Furor,â iii: âAftermathâ and iv: âHymn of Triumph,â before wrapping with IV: âEpilogue.â Whew! And thatâs how you feel after the eight and a half minute epic. Fun fact: they got the name from two dogs owned by Rush's manager Ray Danniels (who was their manager up until the very end), which their lighting man Howard Ungerleider named âBiterâ and âSnow Dog.â
For years, âIn The Moodâ was the only song from âRushâ that made the setlist, and even in the â80s it must have seemed ancient. âHey, baby, itâs a quarter to eight, I feel Iâm in the mood/Hey baby, the hour is late/I feel Iâve got to move!â Ok, Geddy Lee as a lyricist is no Neil Peart, but how many party jams did Neil write?
In the â80s, Rush tended to lean heavily on Geddy Leeâs keyboards and synthesizers, sometimes at the expense of Alex Lifesonâs guitars, but here both instruments shine, particularly on Lifesonâs amazing solo.
For âForce Ten,â Neil Peart reconnected with Pye Dubois, with whom he co-wrote the lyrics to âTom Sawyer.â One of the best songs from the 1987 album âHold Your Fire,â it was always better live.
The first lyrics that Neil Peart ever wrote for Rush. Once Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson saw the first verse -- âTen score years ago, defeat the kingly foe/A wondrous dream came into being/Tame the trackless waste, no virgin land left chaste/All shining eyes, but never seeing,â they surely knew that the band was evolving quickly.
The first song from the first Rush album (although not their first release: their first single was a cover of Buddy Hollyâs âNot Fade Awayâ). Itâs a great album opener, with one of Alex Lifesonâs coolest riffs (and you kinda hear hints of the immortal âThe Spirit Of Radioâ in there).
A progressive rock epic, it ended one album and ended on cliffhanger note, leaving fans waiting about another year to find out what happened. (Hey, 1977 also saw the release of a little sci-fi flick called âStar Wars,â we had to wait a full *three* years until the follow-up âThe Empire Strikes Backâ!). In âBook One,â an explorer aboard the spaceship Rocinante journeys toward a black hole (called Cygnus X-1), to learn what lies beyond it. Alas, it draws his ship in, and the final lyrics are: "Sound and fury drown my heart/Every nerve is torn apart."
An 18 minute, six-part epic that took up all of side one of âHemispheres,â in âBook IIâ we learn that the narrator survived his journey into the black hole⊠but only after we meet Apollo, the Bringer Of Wisdom and Dionysis, the Bringer Of Love who are locked in battle. The traveller, as it turns out, is Cygnus, Bringer Of Balance. At the end of the lengthy but totally rocking tale, everyone kind of gets along. And that concluded Rushâs final multi-part epic, as the band began to strip down their sound and move away from cosmic lyrics.
A rather adult song, where Peart shuns the cheapening of the term âheroâ: âNot the handsome actor, who plays a heroâs role; not the glamor girl whoâd love to sell her soul.â Instead, he (somewhat obviously) points to the guy who âsaves a drowning child/cures a wasting disease/ lands the crippled airplane/solves great mysteries.â But the song is even more compelling when he looks at people living with dignity: particularly a family who lost a daughter to violence and try to make sense of it.
Rush had been using synthesizers for a few albums (they were very prominent on much of âMoving Picturesâ) but âSignalsâ had less of a hard rock and more of a ânew waveâ feel, particularly on this reggae-inspired track, which may have owed a bit of debt to the Police. It may have upset some fans, but itâs also the bandâs only Top 40 hit (it reached #21).
The studio version is from âFly By Night,â and is pretty great but this live version is even better. The lyrics were inspired by Ayn Randâs 1938 novel âAnthem.â It wasnât the last time her books would influence Peart (â2112â was another instance).
Neil Peart has said that the lyrics were the first time he tried to write non-fiction, but what really makes the song notable is Alex Lifesonâs mind-bending guitar solo, one of his finest.
One reason that the âClockwork Angelsâ tour was so amazing was that the band brought a string section out with them. And while most string sections accompanying rock bands sit down, the âClockwork Angels String Ensembleâ all stood, and rocked out when they drew their bows. They were mostly there for the songs on the âClockwork Angelsâ album, but they played a few other songs too, âDreamlineâ being a real highlight. The song, about the power of youth, has one of Peartâs most prescient lines: âweâre only immortal⊠for a limited time.â
Rush isnât the band who are always jamming with other artists and inviting guests on their records. So âTime Stands Stillâ stands out for the vocals of Aimee Mann -- at the time, she fronted new wave band âTil Tuesday (you might know their big hit, âVoices Carryâ), today sheâs a highly acclaimed solo singer-songwriter. Her voice and Geddy Leeâs worked remarkably well together on this song about trying to live in the moment.
âVital Signsâ had the creepy, foreboding vibe of other songs on âMoving Picturesâ (like âTom Sawyerâ and âWitch Huntâ) but also had the new wave influence of the following album, âSignals.â Lifesonâs rhythm guitar was clearly reggae influenced and Geddy Leeâs synthesizers were prominent here, as they would be on the next few albums.
Rushâs best song of the â90s. After years of piling on synthesizers, on âCounterparts,â they stuck mostly to guitar, bass and drums. And given that this album came out at the peak of the alternative rock explosion (in fact, it was released on the same day as Pearl Jamâs âVs.â), that was good timing. The band had been inspired by Primus, who opened for them on their most recent tour, and that edge showed up all over the album, particularly on âAnimate.â
Some of the biggest rock songs of 1977 were Electric Light Orchestraâs âSweet Talkinâ Woman,â Lynyrd Skynyrdâs âWhatâs Your Nameâ and Ram Jamâs âBlack Betty.â Odds are, none of them were inspired by the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, though! So even if âXanaduâ didnât get as much time on the airwaves as those tunes, at least it might have taught listeners a bit about the classic poem âKubla Khan.â Nerdy fact: Peart was originally writing lyrics inspired by the classic film âCitizen Kaneâ when he got distracted by a few lines of âKubla Khanâ: âTo seek the sacred river Alph / To Walk the caves of ice / To break my fast on honeydew / And drink the milk of Paradise.â
Some of Geddy Leeâs funkiest, bounciest bass playing propels this song, which seems more prescient every year: âBig money goes around the world/Big money give and take/Big money done a power of good/Big money make mistakes/Big money got a heavy hand/Big money take control/Big money got a mean streak/Big money got no soul.â Fans on the conservative side of the political aisle who loved Peartâs Ayn Rand influence a decade earlier likely didnât appreciate this jam quite as much as, say, âSomething for Nothing.â
One of Peartâs most moving lyrics. Originally from âSignals,â the song tells stories of a ballerina who could no longer dance and a writer who could no longer find the words. In an interview after Rushâs tour ended, he quoted the song, saying that he wouldnât want to be one of the characters in the song; he knew that he, and Rush retired at the top of their game. This live version was from one of the shows on Rushâs final tour, and they were joined for this performance by violinist Jonathan Dinklage (yes, brother of the âGame Of Thronesâ star), who was an alumni of the âClockwork Angels String Ensemble.â Geddy vocals donât quite match his singing on âSignals,â but that just gives the performance a bit more weight.
Surely one of Rushâs most powerful songs, Peart wrote the lyrics inspired in part by Geddy Leeâs motherâs experiences; she is a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. The song is originally from âGrace Under Pressure,â but the live version adds more urgency.
Originally from âHemispheres,â it was Rushâs first full-length instrumental piece⊠but for some reason, in this live version, Geddy Lee added lyrics to somewhat humorous effect. (Decades later, on âRush in Rio,â Alex added stream-of-conscious vocals, in a precursor to his infamous Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech.) The song was subtitled, âAn Exercise In Self-Indulgence,â and it certainly was that, but it also works remarkably well⊠with or without lyrics.
As the â80s were coming to a close, synthesizers were giving way to loud guitars in rock music, and âShow Donât Tellâ was a good example of this shift; the song felt influenced by heavy rock band Living Colour who debuted the year before with âVividâ (and who were huge Rush fans, particularly guitarist Vernon Reid).
It feels like an epic, but it clocks in at a very svelte 5:50. As Peart said in the tour program for the tour accompanying the LP, âThis song is one of our favourites on the album, as it seems to encapsulate everything that we want Rush to represent.â
One of the last songs where you can hear the Ayn Rand influence in Peartâs lyrics; here, he pretty much questions religion: âYou can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice/If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice/You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill/I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose freewill.â
The synth-heavy song features some of Peartâs most air-drumable playing (if youâve seen Rush perform this one live and you looked around the audience, youâll understand). And despite Peartâs ambivalence towards religion, the lyrics are inspired, in part, by a Biblical tale. Peart once explained that the âAbsalomâ reference comes from William Faulkners' 1936 book âAbsalom, Absalom!â Absalom, however, was the son of King David. He killed his half-brother and later tried to overthrow David. A battle resulted, and later, against David's wishes, Absalom was killed by King David's men. David mourned for his son, and Peart felt that the song was about compassion, and, as he said, âIt occurred to me that the Biblical story was applicable: David's lament for his son: 'Would God I had died for thee,' seemed to be the ultimate expression of compassion.â
A rare Geddy Lee/Neil Peart co-write (Alex Lifeson didnât contribute to the writing of the song), âFly By Nightâ was inspired by a trip to England that Peart took as a teenager. âLeaving my homeland, playing a lone hand/My life begins today,â he wrote. It was a prescient line: he and Rush would spend a lot of time on the road in the coming decades.
Inspired by the storming of the Bastille, which began the French Revolution, âBastille Dayâ was the bandâs opening song on tour for years (including on âAll The Worldâs A Stageâ; the original version is from âCaress of Steelâ). It serves as a hard rocking warning to any leaders who would utter the phrase, âThereâs no bread, let them eat cake.â
The opening track and lead single from âVapor Trails,â the lyrics were especially poignant in light of the fact that the band had effectively dissolved after the death of Neil Peartâs wife and daughter within months of each other. This was the song that they returned with. It was easy to imagine that Peart was writing the lyrics from his experience: âA certain amount of resistance/To the forces of the light and love/A certain measure of tolerance/A willingness to rise above⊠Celebrate the moment/As it turns into one more/Another chance at victory/Another chance to score.â Indeed, Peart did rise above his circumstances; he ultimately remarried and he and his wife had a daughter.
Half of the song feels like itâs another look into Peartâs path, but it could be about all of us: âOne day I feel I'm on top of the world, and the next it's falling in on me/I can get back on.â But the other half is a critique of society, and how we treat each other. This was a recurring theme on âSnakes and Arrowsâ: Peart tackled faith, fear, the association of religion and war, hope and despair, and the religious billboards he saw on a motorcycle trip across the US which he detailed in his fourth book âRoadshow: Landscape with Drums â A Concert Tour by Motorcycle.â The lyrics âIt's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit/âIt's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it,â might not appeal to Ayn Rand acolytes, but Peart had grown up.
If there was one song that most Rush fans related to, it would be this one. For better or worse, many Rush fans were suburban kids who didnât fit in with the âcoolâ culture in their towns. Of course, this was before they could find like-minded friends in online forums. And as Neil Peart admitted, â[It was] hugely autobiographical, of course.â
Rush isnât known for their blue collar anthems, but âWorking Manâ spoke as clearly as anthems by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger and John Mellencamp. And even though itâs stylistically much different than Rushâs subsequent classics, âWorking Manâ was their first song to get significant radio play.
As Rush were becoming more and more popular, Neil Peart was becoming more and more uncomfortable with fame. Even in their final years, as Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson did âmeet and greetsâ with fans, Peart didnât participate (and rarely granted interviews). It wasnât that he didnât appreciate his fans, or even that he didnât like them. But as he wrote, âCaught in the camera eye/I have no heart to lie/I can't pretend a stranger is a long awaited friend.â
âFly By Nightâ built some momentum for Rush, which totally fizzled out with âCaress Of Steel.â So what was Rushâs next move? âLetâs take up all of side one of our next album with a seven part twenty minute long super-epic!â Mercury Records must have been thrilled. But the funny thing was: it worked. The sci-fi based story, inspired by Ayn Randâs âAnthem,â takes place in 2112. The evil priests of the âTemples of Syrinxâ take their orders from computers, and of course, individualism and creativity are outlawed⊠and no one has heard music before.â Some guy finds an old guitar and learns to play it; sadly, the priests arenât as stoked about this discovery as he is and he gets banished. He eventually seems to commit suicide: âI donât think I can carry on/This cold and empty life/My spirits are low, in the depths of despair/My lifeblood spills over.â The songâs final movement, âVI: Grand Finaleâ ends with robotic voices saying, âAttention all Planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control!â A bit dramatic, sure, but it also resonated with teenage Rush fans, who felt that their band was the most important thing in the world and that life without them would be empty.
One of Rushâs most enduring songs on rock radio, Geddy Lee cites it as a game changer for the band: âIt was a hit as far as we've ever had a hit. It got us on the radio, the kinds of radio that would never normally associate with us, so it was as close as we ever came to a pop song, especially at that point.â
Rush recorded a lot of instrumental jams and this is the best of them all. The original version on âMoving Picturesâ is incredible, but the live version from âExit⊠Stage Leftâ is even better, mostly thanks to Peartâs iconic drum solo in the middle of the song.
Surely Rushâs most well known song -- and for good reason. The lyrics (co-written by Neil Peart and Pye Dubois) felt relatable. To Rush fans in the â80s (and â90s, and today) âNo, his mind is not for rent/To any god or government./Always hopeful, yet discontentâ was an identifying badge of honor. Peartâs drum fills are some of his most memorable, Geddy Leeâs synthesizers were so cool even the rock purists couldnât complain (but that might also be because the song boasts one of Alex Lifesonâs best guitar solos). And yes, weâre aware that a lot of fans would rank this at #1.
From the Beatlesâ âDrive My Carâ to White Zombieâs âBlack Sunshine,â rock and roll has a long and proud history of songs about cars and driving. But few really capture the joy and excitement of accelerating and driving fast in the way that âRed Barchettaâ does. Peartâs lyrics raise the stakes too: the song takes place in a future where a âmotor lawâ has banned cars. Luckily, the narratorâs uncle keeps his red barchetta at his country home. Peartâs lyrics describe the sensations beautifully, but the music does the job even more.
Powered by Alex Lifesonâs greatest riff (and featuring one of his best solos), no song captures the feeling of hearing that song that you love on the radio as much as this one. And yeah, we know thereâs a bit of a dig at radio in the song, but decades after the song first hit, weâre still your friendly voice to begin (or to spend) the day with, and the music we play âmakes your moodâ whether youâre in the car or listening online.