59. Working Man by Rush

"Working Man" by Rush

Written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Produced by Rush
Released on Rush (March 1, 1974)
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A strong argument could be made that the version of Rush everyone knows and loves wasn't really formed until after they replaced their original drummer with Neil Peart. That's not to undermine the music they made on their first album. It's more an acknowledgement that despite the name not changing, the music they made certainly did.

The fandom and mythos that developed around Rush (with Neil Peart) has always fascinated me. I have always enjoyed their music, but I'm not sure I feel safe calling myself a "Rush Fan." Their fans are pretty passionate. Rush are not the only band with fans like this: The kind of fans that I always feel would want to test my fandom. Like they'd want to know if I was really into Rush or just someone who had "Spirit of the Radio" and "Tom Sawyer" on a playlist somewhere. I'm probably misconstruing Rush fans. I mean, they are Canadian, and Canadians are pretty nice. They'd probably just be happy to know I liked a few of their songs.

Rush (with Neil Peart) is fantastic, but sometimes I just like to rock out. Their music without Peart wasn't all straight ahead rockers, but Rush never rocked harder than they did on "Working Man."

If I was a baseball player, "Working Man" is almost certainly what I would choose for my walk-up music. Here's my imaginary top 5 walk-up song list, in no particular order:

1. "Working Man" by Rush
2. "Kickstart My Heart" by Motley Crew
3. "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour
4. "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica
5. The coda of "Suite Madam Blue" by Styx

For me walk-up music needs to feature great riffs, rocking guitar, and power. "Working Man" also adds a sense of heart to the proceedings. I've always romanticized the idea of the blue collar athlete (and the blue collar worker for that matter) who is all heart and grit and work. "Working Man" is more than just an ode to the blue collar man, it's a blue collar song, all heart and grit and heavy guitars. The liner notes for the album even say, "For best results play at maximum volume." So crank it up and enjoy .

Right now "Working Man" by Rush is (probably) my 59th favorite song of all time.