RUSH's Geddy Lee Talks About Band's Material Being Entered In Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame - "Anytime Your Country Honours You Is Important, It’s Huge"
March 28, 2010, 14 years ago
Canuck hard rock legends RUSH are being entered into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame tonight (Sunday, March 28th), at a gala being held at the Toronto Centre For the Arts. The five Rush songs entering the Hall Of Fame are 'Tom Sawyer', 'The Spirit Of Radio', 'Limelight', 'Closer To The Heart' and 'Subdivisions'. As part of the induction, bands influenced by Rush will be performing renditions of their hits. ALEXISONFIRE will be taking on 'Tom Sawyer', PRIMUS frontman Les Claypool and his band will be playing 'The Spirit Of Radio', and JACOB MOON will be performing 'Subdivisions'.
Frontman Geddy Lee spoke with Greg Quill from Thestar.com about the band's material.
“Anytime your country honours you is important, it’s huge,” said Lee, adding that he feels he and his bandmates have often been overlooked as songwriters.“Not that winning awards is something we think about or discuss. We just try to keep moving forward ... it’s not very often we get a chance to look back at what we’ve created.
“It’s humbling, frankly, to be joining a group that includes JONI MITCHELL, LEONARD COHEN, GORDON LIGHTFOOT and so many other great songwriters.”
Among the vast Rush repertoire, enduring fan favourites 'Subdivisions' and 'The Spirit of Radio' are closer to his heart, Lee said.
“I’m not sure it was intended, but they seem to have a particularly Canadian perspective. `Subdivisions’ tells a story that could happen in the suburbs of any big North American city, but it has stood the test of time with home audiences because there’s some truth in the song they recognize. The content and the context ring true.“The same goes for `The Spirit of Radio.’ That’s a story Torontonians know ... about the freedom radio used to provide, before it all became pre-formatted, and the freedom was taken away.”
Read the entire interview here.
