# Your favorite Rush Songs



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Admittedly, I'm not so familiar with their most recent stuff but here goes:

1. Closer to the Heart
2. Freewill
3. Time Stand Still (my favorite song as a child!)
4. Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
5. Limelight
6. Subdivisions
7. Fly by Night
8. 2112
9. The Spirit of Radio
10. Red Barchetta

Although I do like their long virtuosic epics and semi-epics, most of my favorites with this band tend to be short and sweet. I actually think Rush were most in their element with "radio-friendly" tunes.

Top 5 albums:

1. A Farewell to Kings (9/10)
2. Hemispheres (9/10)
3. Moving Pictures (8.5/10)
4. 2112 (8/10)
5. Permanent Waves (7/10)


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Probably take me a while to compile a favourite tracks list as I might take the trouble to choose just one extract from each of the _2112_ and _Hemispheres_ suites rather than naming the whole thing, but I can't argue with your top five albums - 76-81 was definitely my favourite era.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I have the top 5 albums listed in the OP, but although I love prog in general, Rush never fully clicked with me.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Xanadu
Cygnus X-1, and Book 2
Circumstances
Discovery
Lessons
Limelight
Red Barchetta
Free Will
Digital Man
New World Man
Mission
Second Nature
Prime Mover

I got off the bus after Hold Your Fire.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

The Spirit of Radio and Circumstances for me. I don't have many Rush albums, but those songs were on a mixtape I had in the early 80's.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Rush were a big favourite of mine. Saw them live many times from 1978 through to 1983ish.

2112 was the album that blew me away, initially.

Strangely, compared to a lot of fans, I really rated Power Windows and I still listen to it from time to time this day.

I also got off after Hold Your Fire

* RIP Neil ...........
*


*Top Tracks*

Red Barchetta
Tom Sawyer
Limelight
Vital Signs
Spirit Of Radio
Subdivisions
2112
Time Standstill
Anthem
Bastille Day
Cygnus X-1 Book 2
Cygnus X-1 Book 1
The Analogue Kid
Distant Early Warning
Afterimage
The Big Money
Force Ten
Marathon

Plus 3 or 4 more from Power Windows

*Top 5 Albums*

1. Moving Pictures 10/10
2. 2112 9.5/10
3. Signals 9/10
4. Hemispheres 8.75/10
5. Power Windows 8.5/10


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I liked everything through _Presto_. My list of favorite Rush songs would be very, very long.

https://www.talkclassical.com/41570-strange-magic-rush.html?highlight=strange+magic+rush


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Last year I made an attempt to get into some of their later music. I bought copies of Vapor Trails, and Clockwork Angels but it was a very short lived reunion. I couldn't get into the wall of sound production or the bland vocal melodies so I filed the CDs away. Being a child of the 70s I much prefer the Terry Brown productions that feature clarity and definition, and a great drum sound. And of course the songs are much better.


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

I think Clockwork Angels is a very good album. Have been a fan as a child since "Moving Pictures" came out and have every single one of their studio albums. Like Strange Magic, my list of favorite songs would be quite long indeed.

I have seen them live quite a few times. Recently, I saw them on their Clockwork Angels tour and their 40th Anniv Tour. By that time Neil was mailing in his performances. There was just no passion left. Little did we know how soon his end would arrive. Alex and Geddy are already talking about making new music but they would not call themselves RUSH anymore.

So many great albums through the years as well. Also, I would like to go on record that Alex Lifeson is perhaps the most UNDERRATED guitarist in all of R&R. The man is truly a great R&R guitarist.

V


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

"Xanadu" from _Farewell to Kings_ remains the essential Rush work for me. Granted I came to it through my interest in English Romantic poetry and S.T. Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" and have never become a Rush fan, but I did use "Xanadu" in class sessions when discussing the Coleridge poem. I've had a number of students who were big Rush fans and they often made recommendations to me, and even though I've amassed a rather large Rush collection, mainly on CD including remastered issues, the album I still turn to on occasion is the _...Kings_, which I have on a finely preserved vinyl copy which still sounds stunning through my system. I often consider I should spend a bit more time with some of those other Rush albums (I must have at least a dozen) of which I've only sampled bits and pieces over the years, and a thread like this reminds me that I'm overdue in exploring the group's music outside of "Xanadu".

Though I no longer lecture in English poetry, since I still read Coleridge, I suppose I should still listen to Rush. As I hope my students took away something of Coleridge from me, I would think they would be pleased to know I took something away of Rush from them and their various recommendations, which has led to what small collection of music by the band still graces my disc shelves.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I realised I couldn't select a highlight from either the _2112_ or _Hemispheres_ suites after all, so it's got to be the whole side-long tracks.

_What You're Doing_
_Anthem_
_Bastille Day_
_2112_
_Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage_
_Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres_
_The Spirit of Radio_
_Jacob's Ladder_
_Tom Sawyer_
_Witch Hunt_ (_Part III of "Fear"_)


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

What helps distinguish Rush from much of the rest of the pack are their lyrics, especially the social commentary. Also their drift away from their touch of Ayn Randian self-assertion towards more awareness of human vulnerability: many of the songs on _Grace Under Pressure_, for instance (Afterimage, etc.)


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Many other bands have interesting lyrics including Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Thinking Plague, and even Yes. Although Jon Anderson was the polar opposite of the materialist, Neil Peart. And the early Mothers were extremely subversive.


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## WNvXXT (Nov 22, 2020)

_though his mind is not for rent

don't put him down as arrogant_


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

My favorite songs and albums arranged chronologically. It's classic Rush. Rush fills me with nostalgia. Rush had a lot of radio airplay in Canada, and their songs take me back to my early days here. 

Songs:

Anthem
Fly by Night
2112
Closer to the Heart
Xanadu
Cygnus X-1 Book 1: The Voyage
Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres
La Villa Stangiato
YYZ
Spirit of Radio
Limelight
Tom Sawyer
Subdivisions

Albums:

Fly by Night
2112
A Farewell to Kings
Hemispheres
Permanent Waves
Moving Pictures


I get off the bus by the early 1980s.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

The one which touches me most deeply on a personal level is I Think I'm Going Bald.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

progmatist said:


> The one which touches me most deeply on a personal level is I Think I'm Going Bald.


I got over that 25 years ago. Luckily after the initial clumps of hair falling out in the shower, it subsided and I'm left with some hair like Alex Lifeson.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

My Rush tracklist is similar to Senza's (so I've cut and pasted a bit and then changed a few). I couldn't possibly put them in order so here goes...

Anthem
Finding My Way
By-Tor
Fly by Night
Working Man
2112
Closer to the Heart
Xanadu
La Villa Stangiato
Freewill
YYZ
Spirit of Radio
Entre Nous
Limelight
Tom Sawyer
What You're Doing

I jumped ship after Moving Pictures.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

*"All 167 Rush Songs Ranked Worst to Best"*

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/every-rush-song/

"The difficulty - and nerdy thrill - of ranking Rush's catalog is that you're essentially pitting several distinct bands against each other: the bluesy Led Zeppelin disciples, the conceptual prog-rock explorers, the arena-packing prog-pop stars of the early '80s and the metallic, middle-aged alt-rockers, among other variations."

"Compounding the problem is that Rush, unlike some of their prog contemporaries (we won't name names), managed to stay relevant - and musically compelling - as they aged. Sure, there have been embarrassing moments, and we're fully prepared to make fun of each one, but even Rush's worst LPs (like Roll the Bones and Test for Echo) have their redeeming qualities."

If it wasn't for the fact that I'm fairly certain that I didn't actually write this article I would be fairly certain that I may have actually written this article...

Note: this "Ultimate Classic Rock" site is actually pretty entertaining and worth a look.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/


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