The RUSH Thread

No, not THAT kind of "rush" - I'm talking about the secular band that one "Driven" is a very big fan of (and I know he's here after reading the topic)   

To the point:
I have never read Mark Twain's "Adventures of Tom Sawyer".  Having never read it, I have never understood the lyrics to Geddy's timeless song.
Can any of you other old rockers, or even Driven himself, give me an idea of what the song even means... I heard it earlier today and decided to read the lyrics - which left me in just as much confusion as before.

Interpret please:

A modern day warrior
 Mean, mean stride
 Today's Tom Sawyer
 Mean, mean pride
 Though his mind is not for rent
 Don't put him down as arrogant
 His reserve, a quiet defense
 Riding out the day's events
 The river
 What you say about his company
 Is what you say about society
 Catch the mist, catch the myth
 Catch the mystery, catch the drift
 The world is, the world is
 Love and life are deep
 Maybe as his skies are wide
 Today's Tom Sawyer
 He gets high on you
 And the space he invades
 He gets by on you
 No his mind is not for rent
 To any god or government
 Always hopeful, yet discontent
 He knows changes aren't permanent
 But change is
 What you say about his company
 Is what you say about society
 Catch the witness, catch the wit
 Catch the spirit, catch the spit
 The world is, the world is
 Love and life are deep
 Maybe as his eyes are wide
 Exit the warrior
 Today's Tom Sawyer
 He gets high on you
 And the energy you trade
 He gets right on to the friction of the day

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's about drugs...yeah that's it. Because we all know secular rock and roll is all about sex and drugs...and this certainly doesn't look like a song about sex, so it must be drugs.

I don't know Staybrite, he does say something about "friction".... jus sayin.....

Here's my interpretation:

A modern day warrior
Mean, mean stride
Today's Tom Sawyer
Mean, mean pride

We've come a long way since the days of Tom & Huck but he still loves adventure and is proud.

 Though his mind is not for rent
 Don't put him down as arrogant
 His reserve, a quiet defense
 Riding out the day's events
 The river

He doesn't believe everything he hears or sees but don't write him off as arrogant.  He reserves the right to remain silent and just get through the day.  Some days are smooth and others are like white water rafting.

 What you say about his company
 Is what you say about society
 Catch the mist, catch the myth
 Catch the mystery, catch the drift

His friends are a part of the average that make up the whole, and the gist of it all isn't something you can physically grasp or hold on to, but it's there.

 The world is, the world is
 Love and life are deep
 Maybe as his skies are wide

The world is and that's, that.  Love and life carry deep meaning and they may be as deep as the sky is wide.

 Today's Tom Sawyer
 He gets high on you
 And the space he invades
 He gets by on you

He doesn't do it alone.

 No his mind is not for rent
 To any god or government
 Always hopeful, yet discontent
 He knows changes aren't permanent
 But change is

He doesn't jump on any bandwagon.  He's full of hope yet he's discontent when he gets what he hopes for.  No change is permanent but the fact that everything changes is a permanent feature of life.

 What you say about his company
 Is what you say about society
 Catch the witness, catch the wit
 Catch the spirit, catch the spit

Again, sis friends are a part of the average that make up the whole, and in the big picture of things his busyness is spit.

 The world is, the world is
 Love and life are deep
 Maybe as his eyes are wide

The world still is and that's, that.  Love and life carry deep meaning and they leave him in wide eyed wonderment.

 Exit the warrior
 Today's Tom Sawyer
 He gets high on you
 And the energy you trade
 He gets right on to the friction of the day

He goes about his business, and with you as a friend, he tackles today's busyness.

That.
Was.
Deep.
XID, thank you for that.

I may be more confused than before. JK ! 
So basically Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were adventurists... and Geddy's describing "Today's" Tom Sawyer, "Today's adventure seeking man"....

hmmm... It may not be about drugs, but it may have been written under the influence    JK !

LOL you're welcome.  I may be way off of what they meant but if you just read the lyrics without looking at deeper meaning, they're silly.

Where I come from, that song meant Kerry Von Erich was coming to the ring.   

Love Rush. Just picked up All The World's & Exit on vinyl at a garage sale. Thought I also grabbed Hemispheres but when I got home I had The Knack instead! Doh! Must've snagged the wrong album!

M M M My Sharona

To be honest, without the explanation of this song, I would have never understood it.  Of course, I will speak rock blasphemy and say that I never got into this band at all.

alldatndensum wrote:

Of course, I will speak rock blasphemy and say that I never got into this band at all.

Yes you do, but we'll forgive you... At a time and place of our choosing.

metaldude wrote:

M M M My Sharona

And the problem with that it was the SECOND album, no My Sharona on it! Bummer!

Being Canadian I can't ignore Rush but I prefer Triumph

I never professed to know exactly what the lyrics to Tom Sawyer meant. I've played this song too much, so it's rare that I'll spin it. I much prefer Red Barchetta.

Cool Rush/Daniel Band trivia that I recently learned from Dan McCabe's wife on Facebook: both Geddy and Dan played a Rickenbacker 4001 (read: the most awesome bass guitar ever), and they both had it modified by the same guy.

Red Barchetta is one of my all time favs!

Mac wrote:

Being Canadian I can't ignore Rush but I prefer Triumph

Agreed!  Well I mean I'm not Canadian....but I do prefer Truimph.  

Xid wrote:

Red Barchetta is one of my all time favs!

I want to have a convertible and a winding back road to myself, and crank that song.

^^Yeah buddy!

Mac wrote:

Being Canadian I can't ignore Rush but I prefer Triumph

Oh yeahhhh!!! I love me some Triumph ! I prefer Triumph over Rush any day. Thunder Seven is my favorite album. Got it on vinyl and mp3.

Perhaps I should examine this... Triumph band...

I love Triumph, particularly the TR7s. Brilliant sports cars.